I need to understand our employees.... but what is the best way to REALLY do this?

How do you create a consistent workplace culture with multiple sites & hard-to-reach employees? With Ruth Jackson

In this episode, Ruth Jackson, Chief People Officer at The Gym Group, discusses workplace culture and how to engage frontline staff across 260 UK sites and over 2,000 employees - most of whom aren't desk based. She covers a raft of practical strategies such as centring on the employee life cycle, which is at the heart of the government's Keep Britain Working approach - of which the Gym Group is a vanguard. She also touches on communication formats and the importance of managers cascading messages and anchoring to company purpose. Time line of conversation: 00:00 Welcome to the podcast 00:44 The Multi Site Challenge 02:41 Reaching Frontline Teams 04:09 Managers as Comms Hubs 04:54 Female Health First Pilot 07:08 Grassroots Channels That Scale 09:38 Life Cycle Wellbeing Strategy 12:02 Running ERGs Across Sites 13:19 Face to Face and Tech Blend 14:49 Purpose Brought to Life 19:55 Measuring Culture and Retention 22:24 Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring 24:19 Future Culture Priorities 26:18 The Alien Question Finale 27:54 Wrap Up and Subscribe

How can employers boost social wellbeing at work? With Welcome Break's Nic Marshall

In this latest MAD Leaders Club Podcast, Nic Marshall, People Director, shares how Welcome Break has cultivated connection between employees - especially different generations, and made people feel valued and recognised. She also explains the importance of employees getting behind the values and purpose of the organisation and how she's done this.  And she covers why success depends heavily on approachable managers who recruit for attitude and guide younger workers while enabling reverse mentoring across generations.  This focus on building social wellbeing has led to teams that have a sense of pride and camaraderie, and that work better together. She shares, too, how Welcome Break encourages employees to take part in community volunteering and how those that do are more engaged at work. Nic touches on practical steps she's taken to embed social wellbeing as well as reward and recognition. Time stamp of conversation: 00:00 Welcome to Leaders Podcast 00:44 The Connection Challenge 01:19 Meet Nic Marshall 03:32 Connection Through Purpose 05:17 Creating Space on Site 06:41 Recruiting for Attitude 07:59 Generations and Mentoring 11:27 Volunteering and Community 13:35 Peer Recognition Postcards 17:01 Little and Often Rewards 19:36 Unlimited Budget Ideas 21:17 Hybrid Work and Inclusion 24:09 Are We All Social 25:28 The Alien Pitch Finale 26:34 Wrap Up and Subscribe

How & why senior dads must parent more visibly for true culture change, with Elliott Rae

In this episode, we discuss how family-friendly employers can encourage senior dads to be visible as parents with Elliott Rae, Founder of Parenting Out Loud, Equal Parenting Week and Working Dads Summit.  Rae argues senior leaders strongly shape workplace culture and dads’ willingness to take enhanced paternity leave or work flexibly, and explains how fear of judgement and presenteeism drives concealment of caregiving.  He links equal parenting to reducing the motherhood penalty and gender pay gap, and outlines practical actions employers can take across policy, culture and leadership. This wide ranging conversation also touches on traditional masculinity,  the ‘masculinity crisis’, creating safe spaces for male leaders through storytelling, and proposes societal investments such as shared parental leave, a four-day week, affordable childcare and cost-of-living reforms. Time Stamp of Conversation 00:00 Welcome to Leaders 00:49 The Senior Dads Challenge 01:55 Why Leaders Shape Culture 04:34 The Case for Equal Parenting 05:58 Policy Fixes That Work 07:38 Flexible Work Beyond Hybrid 09:21 Culture and Manager Influence 11:35 Why Men Stay Silent 13:11 Stories That Shift Leaders 17:08 Make the Business Case 18:39 Tailor and Measure Actions 21:11 Progress Takes Time 22:05 Is There a Masculinity Crisis 25:19 Alien Budget Big Ideas 28:56 Final Thanks and Subscribe

How can I make Rewards & Benefits something that changes culture, not just transactional? With BA's Josephina Smith

If you’re in any doubt that Reward & Benefits can transform culture, or how, and looking for creative inspiration to replicate BA’s success at your organisation, then this episode is a must-listen. Josephina Smith is Reward and Recognition Director at the airline and has boundless enthusiasm for this topic. A former CPO, she sees herself as not a “reward professional” but as a “reward change professional”. This distinction informs the way she operates and, particularly, her drive to communicate the discipline’s strategic advantage across the company, from function to function.  Time stamp of conversation: 00:00 Welcome to Leaders Podcast 00:44 This Week’s Challenge 01:06 Meet Josephina Smith 03:18 Reward as Culture Change 04:50 Cost Conscious Not Cutting 06:57 Trends Shaping Benefits 09:21 BA Global Benefits Overhaul 11:11 Trust Through Face Time 12:16 Reward Psychology and Creativity 13:18 Cross Functional Influence 14:54 Comms Clarity and Personalization 18:11 Personalized Total Reward Video 22:04 Digital Buzz and Suppliers 24:27 AI Powered Benefits Future 26:42 Advice for Reward Pros 28:04 The Alien Budget Question 29:28 Wrap Up and Subscribe

Working parents are more stressed than ever, but how can employers genuinely support them? With Carly Stanley

New figures released on Parent Mental Health Day on January 30th confirmed the hunch that working parents are feeling the strain more than ever. (We wrote about the findings, here, on www.makeadifference.media [https://makeadifference.media/culture/parents-are-at-breaking-point-heres-what-employers-can-do/]). But it can be tricky for employers to know how to support working parents, and how involved to get. Today's podcast guest is trailblazing HR professional Carly Stanley, Chief People Officer at outdoor advertising company, JC Decaux. In this episode, she talks us through - with her trademark honest how her company - shifted from a hierarchical, presenteeism culture to one focused on psychological safety. As she explains, this starts with listening, building trust with leaders, understanding the business and using data plus coaching to unblock difficult conversations (something she believes employers who want to effect real culture change must embrace, however uncomfortable). She emphasises there is no 'magic pill'  but shares her experience and the actions she's taken, including a raft of progressive benefits. 00:00 Welcome to Leaders Podcast 00:44 Working Parents Under Pressure 01:29 Meet Carly Stanley 04:29 Building Trust First 07:33 Listen Then Use Data 09:15 Coaching for Safety 11:15 Support in Practice 13:27 Policy Versus Culture 16:29 Fertility and Pregnancy Benefits 21:38 Return to Work Program 23:26 Milestones and Impact 24:16 The Alien Budget Question 26:07 Wrap Up and Subscribe