Where can I listen to this podcast?

This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

Does this podcast accept guests?

Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

HR Voices

Claim This Podcast

by Rebecca Taylor

3.7(6 reviews)

89 episodes

Updated Daily

Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸

Podcast Overview

HR Voices is a scenario-based podcast for People Leaders who’ve actually had to make the call. Each episode brings experienced HR and People leaders into realistic, anonymized workplace scenarios—the kind you recognize immediately. Performance issues. Messy conflicts. Investigations that don’t fit neatly into a policy box. Instead of talking about their own companies, guests react to outside cases and walk through how they’d think it through in real time. There are no right answers here. What you’ll hear is judgment: how seasoned leaders balance risk, fairness, legal reality, and humanity when the stakes are high and the path isn’t obvious. HR Voices is for HR, People Ops, legal, and leaders who want to hear how other smart humans actually handle employee relations—without confidentiality breaches, hypotheticals that feel fake, or a lecture on “best practices.”

Language

🇺🇲

Publishing Since

8/18/2025

Visit Website View on Apple Podcasts RSS Feed

1 verified contact email on file for HR Voices

Pitch yourself as a guest, propose sponsorships, or reach out directly to the host.

See contact details

Recent Episodes

June 25, 2026

The Assumption That HR Needs to Solve

SummaryOn HR Voices, host Rebecca Taylor sits down with Chad Thompson, Chief People Officer at LanzaTech, to work through a scenario every people leader will recognize: a manager discloses an employee's performance improvement plan in a team meeting, and a confidentiality complaint follows. The conversation opens into the bigger questions underneath it. Is HR confidentiality even real? How do you balance being an employee advocate and a business partner at the same time? And why does HR keep getting cast as the policeman instead of the strategist? Chad makes the case that HR's credibility problems are largely self-inflicted, and fixable. This one is for HR and people ops leaders who are tired of being blamed first and valued last. Chapters00:00 Intro00:45 The broken confidentiality scenario03:15 Why most PIPs are given reluctantly07:05 The confidentiality promise HR can't keep10:50 Scapegoats, linemen, and the HR tightrope14:30 Who you talk to first in a complaint18:30 When to involve legal, and the harassment flag20:00 A PIP is redeeming the investment you made24:00 The benched quarterback: failing in public29:30 The assumption about HR that needs to die Takeaways1. Once a rating is in the performance system, confidentiality is largely fiction, so set honest expectations instead of promising secrecy you can't keep.2. A PIP, done right, is the most genuine attempt to redeem a hire you spent real money to make, not a shortcut to firing.3. The core skill of HR is holding two opposing loyalties at once: employee advocate and business partner.4. Public failure, like a visible PIP, can make a fair evaluation more possible, not less, because it ends the pretending.5. HR earns its strategic seat by bringing a business point of view, not by running process and waiting to be valued. Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-thompson-b200028/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-thompson-b200028/</a>Website: <a href="https://lanzatech.com">https://lanzatech.com</a> SponsorAllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems, just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations. It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires. See a demo at <a href="https://www.allvoices.co/">https://www.allvoices.co/</a>

June 23, 2026

The Manager Who Broke the Rule and Was Right

SummaryOn HR Voices, Rebecca Taylor and Kandi Gongora, Chief Transformation and People Officer at The Car Group, work through a forced ranking system that's falling apart: managers are required to put 10% of every team in the bottom tier each year, one manager refuses and certifies in writing that her whole team exceeds expectations, and discrimination complaints reveal the bottom tiers skew by race. Kandi makes the case that the bottom 10% is a leadership failure, not an employee verdict, and that the "insubordinate" manager is the company's best early warning. It's a clear-eyed look at performance management, disparate-impact risk, and what to build instead of a curve. For HR leaders, people ops teams, and any manager who owns performance reviews.Chapters00:00 Intro01:20 The scenario: forced ranking meets a manager who says no02:35 The first question: what are you trying to achieve?03:55 Why companies still force-rank06:15 Whose fault is the bottom 10%?12:45 The insubordinate manager as a data point15:45 Vague ratings and the disparate-impact risk19:00 The difficult high performer who gets buried23:15 Making the case to change the system28:45 HR protects the company by protecting employeesTakeaways1. A true bottom-tier performer points upstream to hiring, onboarding, development, and unclear expectations, not down to the employee.2. The manager who refused to force-rank her team is a data point and a risk signal, not just an insubordination case.3. Forced ranking usually substitutes for the courage and skill to have honest performance conversations, and sometimes for funding raises.4. Vague rating labels like "exceeds" and "meets" invite bias; define behaviors, metrics, and growth instead.5. HR protects the company by protecting employees, and changing a biased system does both at once.Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kandigongora/Company: The Car Group (Norm Reeves), https://www.normreeves.comSponsorAllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems, just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations. It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires. See a demo at https://www.allvoices.co/

June 18, 2026

When the Data Tells a Different Story Than the Manager

SummaryOn HR Voices, Rebecca Taylor and guest Stacy Winsett, Chief People Officer at RATP Dev USA, work through a termination scenario that collapses into a six-figure settlement. A manager fires an employee after a heated call, then backdates the performance notes, and metadata in discovery exposes it. Stacy argues the real failure runs deeper than the firing: a manager carrying two open headcount gaps and fourteen direct reports was never flagged as a risk. The conversation moves from documentation discipline to psychological safety to workforce planning. Essential listening for HR and people-ops leaders who want to prevent these failures, not just clean them up.Chapters00:00 Welcome and the shortcut termination scenario02:15 Why missing documentation is the biggest risk04:20 Where the investigation begins: prove up everything07:45 De-escalation in the heat: let's talk tomorrow10:05 The code word that buys psychological safety12:05 Cultural blind spots and folk legalisms14:45 Metadata and the moment the case collapses16:45 Workforce planning and span of control24:00 Over-functioning, boundaries, and the cost27:45 One HR assumption that needs challengingTakeaways<ol><li>An undocumented termination is legally a non-event, and backdated notes caught by metadata destroy credibility entirely.</li><li>Documentation the employee never received barely counts; fair process means they had a real chance to improve.</li><li>Psychological safety is risk management, because fear pushes stretched managers to fire first and document later.</li><li>Span of control is a leading risk indicator that belongs in regular workforce planning, not at the bottom of the list.</li><li>Over-functioning managers get rewarded until the workload comes due; someone has to ask if they're okay.</li></ol> Connect with the GuestLinkedIn: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacywinsett/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacywinsett/</a>Website: <a href="https://www.ratpdev.com/en/usa/">https://www.ratpdev.com/en/usa/</a> SponsorAllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems — just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations. It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires.See a demo at <a href="https://www.allvoices.co/">https://www.allvoices.co/</a>

89 total episodes available

Deep-dive analytics for HR Voices

Frequently asked questions

Have a different question and can't find the answer you're looking for? Reach out to our support team by sending us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

What is HR Voices?: HR Voices is a scenario-based podcast for People Leaders who’ve actually had to make the call.

Each episode brings experienced HR and People leaders into realistic, anonymized workplace scenarios—the kind you recognize immediately. Performance issues. Messy conflicts. Investigations that don’t fit neatly into a policy box. Instead of talking about their own companies, guests react to outside cases and walk through how they’d think it through in real time.

There are no right answers here. What you’ll hear is judgment: how seasoned leaders balance risk, fairness, legal reality, and humanity when the stakes are high and the path isn’t obvious.

HR Voices is for HR, People Ops, legal, and leaders who want to hear how other smart humans actually handle employee relations—without confidentiality breaches, hypotheticals that feel fake, or a lecture on “best practices.”
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

Legal Disclaimer

Pod Engine is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected with any of the podcasts displayed on this platform. We operate independently as a podcast discovery and analytics service.

All podcast artwork, thumbnails, and content displayed on this page are the property of their respective owners and are protected by applicable copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to, podcast cover art, episode artwork, show descriptions, episode titles, transcripts, audio snippets, and any other content originating from the podcast creators or their licensors.

We display this content under fair use principles and/or implied license for the purpose of podcast discovery, information, and commentary. We make no claim of ownership over any podcast content, artwork, or related materials shown on this platform. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

While we strive to ensure all content usage is properly authorized, if you are a rights holder and believe your content is being used inappropriately or without proper authorization, please contact us immediately at hey@podengine.ai for prompt review and appropriate action, which may include content removal or proper attribution.

By accessing and using this platform, you acknowledge and agree to respect all applicable copyright laws and intellectual property rights of content owners. Any unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or commercial use of the content displayed on this platform is strictly prohibited.