
Latest insights, best-practice and innovation with HR and Finance Leaders.

Legal Sector Survey- Key Themes
Video
"How are Law Firms using Data, Analytics and Technology to deliver HR strategies?"
Hosted by Beverley Sorsby and Becky Statham.
Aired 13 April 2021
People in Law, Veran Performance and MHR have collaborated on a survey to help Law Firms measure and improve the effectiveness of HR. This session highlights the key themes from the survey that was collected between November 2020 and February 2021.
Embarking on a Workday transformation project
Video
"Part One: How to drive truly successful Workday Programmes"
Featuring Aly Seyfried, Principal Consultant at Veran Performance
Aired 16 March 2021
An interview with one of the longest standing Workday Programme Directors, with experience of global and complex Workday Projects to learn how best to succeed and get outstanding results from a Workday investment.
Performance Management
Podcast
"Performance Management under the microscope"
Road to Recovery Series
Episode 01
Featuring Heather Brown, HR Director
Aired 28 January 2021
Episode 01 of the Road to Recovery series features Heather Brown and Tom Holmes discussing why now is the time to change and advance our Performance Management processes to keep up with the changing world. Our clients are changing and the way we work is changing, so our Performance Management process must align accordingly.
Pharmaceuticals
Podcast
"How ambition, technology and culture are shaping the future"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep010
With Claire Harding, Global VP of Human Resources.
Aired 12 December 2020
Claire joins Tom to share her inspiring story as she looks to adapt the HR service to provide the right infrastructure in line with the company's goal to grow significantly in the not too distant future.
Automation in HR & Finance
Podcast
"Automation in practice: Meet the expert"
With Tom Holmes and Automation expert Ellie Homan.
Aired 04 November 2020
We speak to Elie Homan, our Automation expert who shares her views on the benefits of implementing automation in HR and Finance and how different tools can fit in to your overall strategy and roadmap.
Financial Services
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep05
With Kate Griffiths-Lambeth, Director of HR at Charles Stanley.
Aired 01 October 2020
Kate and Tom discuss adapting to meet the needs of our customers, the business considerations when taking on new starters and graduates, and how the digital age might hide our body language and reactions.
Cultural Relations & Education
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep02
With Chaitali Hireker, HR Transformation Director, and Janet Huckvale, Progamme Manager at the British Council.
Aired 20 August 2020
Our very own Becky Statham spoke to Chaitali and Janet about the highs and lows of the crisis, how the business went live with Recruitment despite budget changes and resource limitations, and how they are keeping on target with their plans to go live with more modules later this year.
Construction
Podcast
'Anatomy of a crisis'
S01 Ep16
Harvey Francis, Executive Vice President and Chief HR Officer at Skanska UK
Aired 16 July 2020
Harvey speaks of how company values, technology and consistent communication with all employees has enabled Skanska UK to remain stable and positive. throughout the crisis. Understand how the team have prepared themselves for the future and perhaps even the "second wave" that is in the current news.
Estate Agency
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S02 Ep13
With Sarah Mason, Chief People Officer at Foxtons
Aired 25 June 2020
Renowned for their Mini Cooper's and cafe-style offices, we spoke to Sarah Mason who has been Cheif People Officer at Foxtons for the last 2 years. Sarah shares how Foxtons have taken extra measures with health and safety to reassure both their customers and their employees, and how their employee engagement survey showed a consistent and positive result.
Beauty & Retail
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep10
With Bola Ogun, Head of Reward at Natura &Co
Aired 04 June 2020
Bola is an innovative HR Leader who has spent his career creating agile, sustainable and transformational reward and talent management frameworks. Having led teams in some of the largest and most successful companies in the world including Dell/EMC, Reckitt Benckiser and Visa, Bola is now excited and humbled to be leading the Reward function across four iconic beauty firms: Avon, Natura, The Body Shop and Aesop, which together, are Natura &CO.
Bola joined us for the 10th Episode of Anatomy of a crisis, to discuss the practical challenges of Furlough and Returning to Work in a global organisation where each country is so different, and how the crisis has impacted their triple bottom line; People, Planet, Profit.
Charity Sector
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep08
With Debbie Coulson & Brian O'Donoghue at Marie Curie
Aired 21 May 2020
Our two friends and HR leaders at Marie Curie share the impact of the crisis on the charity sector and how they adapted to ride out the storm.
Brian O'Donoghue, Director of People, talks about the impact on the organisation from the strategy through to the daily operations. Debbie Coulson, People Transformation Lead, shares how the charity has re-framed yet continued their inflight HR transformation programme.
FS & Legal Sector
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep02
With David Williams, Partner at Kemp Little
Aired 09 April 2020
Friend and co-founder of the FS HR & Compliance group, David Williams, joined us to bring his views on the crisis from his his professional and personal perspective. David is Head of Employment and Partner at Kemp Little, a boutique technology-focused law firm.
HR Characteristics, Engagement & Data
Podcast
"Changing HR Characteristics, Employee Engagement & the Role of Data"
Featuring Hazel Hendley, People Director at Ordnance Survey.
Aired 25 March 2021
Hazel Hendley, People Director at Ordnance Survey joins Tom Holmes to discuss the changes to the characteristics of her HR team, the engagement rollercoaster she has been on and the role data and analytics has played and will play in the future of work.
HR & Finance come together - Oracle Panel Session
Video
"Lessons on Leveraging a Unified Back Office"
Featuring Brian O'Donoghue, Director of People at Marie Curie and Yazad Dalal, EMEA HCM Strategy Lead at Oracle.
Aired 23 February 2021
Tom Holmes, Founding Director of Veran Performance, joined an Oracle panel session as we learn from Marie Curie on how a unified back office is helping stabilise their organisation in an unstable world. Host Kerry Nutley, HCM Strategy Director at Oracle, is joined by Tom Holmes and Yazad Dalal, EMEA HCM Strategy Lead at Oracle as they speak to Brian O’Donoghue, Director of People at Marie Curie about their HR Transformation and how a joint approach with finance was key to their journey.
Financial Services HR & Compliance Network
Podcast
"Financial regulatory challenges following Brexit and Covid-19"
FS HR & Compliance Network
Featuring Amanda Collins, David Williams, Lucy Sorell, Jacob Ghanty and Tom Holmes.
Aired 26 January 2021
The Financial Services HR and Compliance Network discuss the regulatory challenges that HR and compliance teams are facing following Brexit and Covid-19. Zoe Avenell and David Williams are joined by Amanda Collins from SG Kleinwort Hambros, Tom Holmes from Veran Performance, and Lucy Sorell and Jacob Ghanty from Kemp Little.
Workforce Planning
Podcast
"Workforce Planning is the spider in the web"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep09
With Kerry Nutley, Strategy Director at Oracle HCM.
Aired 26 November 2020
Kerry is passionate about the current trends in HR and joins our Founding Director Tom Holmes to discuss why workforce planning has become increasingly relevant.
Agile Working
Podcast
"Agile is THE way of working in the new world"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep07
With Nebel Crowhurst, People & Culture Director at Roche Diabetes Care.
Aired 29 October 2020
Being Agile has gone from a luxury that only the most innovative companies had mastered, to an essential way to work and make decisions, and now that we’re used to working in this way, why would we ever go back? Hear from Nebel Crowhurst who has been promoting Agile working for years, at Virgin Holidays, River Island and now Roche.
HR Senior Leader on the Crisis
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep04
With Ralph Tribe, previously Chief People Officer at Ascential Plc and Sky UK & Ireland.
Aired 19 September 2020
This highly energetic podcast hears Ralph and Becky discuss everything from youth employment, career development, working locations predicting the death of the city, through to unemployment driving entrepreneurialism, and how the crisis has highlighted the good and bad managers and management styles.
Civil Service
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep01
With Sheridan Whalley, Deputy Director Civil Service HR at the Department for Education.
Aired 06 August 2020
Moving forward, businesses are keen to understand how to get going again with their activities. Sheridan shared how the Department continued with the implementation of the new Payroll software during the crisis and her top tip for anyone thinking about implementing a new HR, Payroll or Finance system.
Legal Sector
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep15
With Caroline Ward, Head of Culture & Communications at Slater and Gordon
Aired 09 July 2020
Caroline, Head of Culture & Communications speaks of the trust people have for their business, even more so than the Government for updates and guidelines. In the conversation, she also discusses the principles Slater and Gordon have agreed to enable ‘Smart Working’ for the future. Take a listen to learn how they are preparing for future work.
Insurance
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep12
With Jonathan Kohler, Head of Change, Control & Governance at MS Amlin.
Aired 18 June 2020
We spoke to Jonathan Kohler to find out how a leading insurer and re-insurer with 1700 employees across 7 countries has adapted to meet the challenges the crisis presented.
Jonathan is responsible for the HR team's management meetings and programme of work, as well as HR's overall change portfolio. An interesting position to be in during a crisis!
HR Director
Watch now
Continuing Compassionate Leaders post-Covid19 | with Tali Shlomo
Aired 01 June 2020
Our lived experience through the pandemic has brought to life the impact that ‘Leading with Compassion’ has in the workplace. How will we sustain this new way of leading and what role do we all have in leading with compassion?
We spoke to Tali Shlomo, an internationally recognised HR Director, Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) and Wellbeing thought leader whose achievements were recognised in the 2020 Insurance Business Global 100 Influential People for creating inclusive workplace cultures.
We explored examples of compassionate leadership observed during the crisis and the challenges and opportunities that exist for all HR professionals in preserving this refreshing way of motivating and supporting each other, not just leading from the top.
TV & Production
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep07
With Faran Johnson, Chief People Officer at Channel 4
Aired 14 May 2020
As the lockdown continues, the demand on broadcasting channels becomes more competitive. We are joined by Chief People Officer at Channel 4, Faran Johnson who has been re-planning for the future of Channel 4 for the past six weeks and is on a mission to keep the country entertained. As a forward thinker herself, Faran will be shared her thoughts on the short and long term impact on people leaders, teams and the wider world of work.
HR Leadership
Watch now
'Adapting HR in a Crisis'
by MyHRCareers Extra! featuring
Becky Hogan and Victoria Evans
Aired 07 April 2020
We have been spending time talking with HR Leaders to understand how they are adapting and supporting their businesses during the crisis. We shared two perspectives with our community.
Financial Regulatory Update & "No Jab, No Job"
Podcast
"Brexit, Passporting & Making Vaccines Mandatory"
Featuring Osborne Clarke, Veran Performance and Quilter.
Aired 24 March 2021
We are joined by Anna Perry, Chris Ratcliffe and Prianca Patel from Osborne Clarke to provide an update on financial regulations including Brexit, Passporting and what it means for HR teams in the industry. Olivia Sinfield, Associate Director at Osborne Clarke then hosts a panel discussion with Phil Trevillion, SMCR Business Lead at Quilter, and Tom Holmes, Change & Technology Transformation Director at Veran Performance, sharing their views on whether employers can make their employees have the vaccine as part of their return to work strategy and are employees required to share whether they have had the vaccine or not?
Making change happen
Podcast
"Making change happen"
Road to Recovery Series
Episode 02
Featuring Mark Cardy, Head of Reward & HR Operations at Credit Agricole
Aired 25 February 2021
In this episode, Tom is joined by HR Leader and member of myHRcareers and Financial Services HR & Compliance Network, Mark Cardy to discuss how to become an Agile team and how to create the right environment to enable our team to work efficiently and with motivation.
Framing the Future
Podcast
"Reflections, Predictions and the Roaring Twenties"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep011
With Olivia Sinfield and David Peach.
Aired 17 December 2020
Tom Holmes is joined by Olivia Sinfield, Associate Director at Osborne Clarke and David Peach, Managing Director of HR at River and Mercantile, to round up yet another fantastic series, reflecting on the changes in the workplace over the last 10 years, making some predictions on trends to look out for and debating whether we could be about to witness the Roaring Twenties all over again.
Rail & Transport
Podcast
"The future of our public transport network"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep08
With Richard Smith, Transformation Director, previously with First Group and Network Rail
Aired 12 November 2020
Tom is joined by Richard Smith, an experienced Transformation Director who has worked for the last ten years in the Transport sector focusing on delivering programmes of change across people, culture and digital. They discuss the significant impact the pandemic has had on the rail and transport industry, what 2021 could look like for the sector and what this might mean for people, work and customers.
Legal Sector
Podcast
"Diversity & Inclusion"
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep06
With Olivia Sinfield, Associate Director at Osborne Clarke.
Aired 15 October 2020
Olivia joins Tom to discuss the impact Covid-19 has had on our Diversity and Inclusion strategies, how to bring it back on to our priority lists and practical tips on putting ideas in to action.
Legal Sector
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On'
S02 Ep03
With Beverley Sorsby, HR Director at Ropes & Gray LLP.
Aired 03 September 2020
We spoke to Beverley about how her and her team successsfully launched their exciting new recruitment platform amidst a pandemic. Hear the challenges they overcame, how they adapted to the crisis and what the rest of the year has in stall for them.
HR Leaders
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep17
With Jonathan Kohler from MS Amlin and Brian O'Donoghue from Marie Curie.
Aired 30 July 2020
We rounded up this epic series and invited back some of our favourite speakers to hear how things have changed since we last spoke, and to reflect as a group on what the future may hold.
This final episode comes ahead of the launch of our new series "Anatomy of a Crisis, Life Goes On" starting Thursday 06 August at 10:00.
Hospitality & Training
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep14
With Beth Aarons, Global Director at Dorchester Collection Academy
Aired 02 July 2020
Dorchester Collection has luxury hotels worldwide and the academy is a new business aiding with the training of the hospitality industry. In a significantly hit industry, this refreshing conversation focuses on how they have stayed loyal to their company values through the crisis. Speaking on the importance of their customers and their employees, they have managed to create and implement new processes which keeps in-line to their customer-centric values and brand.
Legal Sector
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep11
With Kevin Hogarth, Global Head of People & Culture at Norton Rose Fulbright
Aired 11 June 2020
We are delighted to welcome Kevin Hogarth, Global Director of People and Culture at Norton Rose Fulbright; a top 20 global law firm with over 4000 lawyers in more than 50 cities worldwide. Quite the challenge in a global pandemic!
Kevin has 30+ years’ experience leading HR functions in businesses including National and Provincial, Santander, EY and Freshfields.
With a particular strength and interest in organisational change and the attraction, retention and development of world class talent, Kevin shared the positive impact that the crisis has had on the business, including increased productivity, and the challenges of managing and engaging employees situated all over the world.
Government
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep09
Rupert McNeil, Government Chief People Officer for the Civil Service
Aired 28 May 2020
As Government Chief People Officer, Rupert is responsible for delivery of the Civil Service People Strategy, which sets out what the Civil Service needs to do to attract the most capable and public-spirited people, and build a culture and ways of working that are as good, if not better, than anything on offer anywhere else. He provides leadership on the full range of people issues including talent, capability, inclusion, capacity, leadership, pay, performance, employee relations, culture and behaviours.
We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to speak with Rupert who shared how their preparations for EU Exit meant the Civil Service was ready to reorganise and stay ahead to cope with the current crisis.
Financial Services
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep06
With Janet Thomas and David Williams
Aired 07 May 2020
David Williams, Partner at Kemp Little, as back to share practical challenges and insights around returning to work from a legal perspective. We were also joined by Janet Thomas, who has fascinating views on the economic and political factors that will shape how businesses re-plan for the future.
Business Psychology
Podcast
'Anatomy of a Crisis'
S01 Ep01
With Becky Statham, Principal Consultant at Veran Performance
Aired 02 April 2020
Tom Holmes, our Founding Director, speaks to industry experts to help us recognise the anatomy of a crisis. In this first episode, Tom is joined by Business Psychologist enthusiast and colleague, Becky Statham.