Reference checks: the hiring step everyone does but most recruiters think is dumb.
In this episode, James Lord breaks down what HR professionals can do differently to actually learn something meaningful about candidates when they do reference checks.
James (of RefApp) shares insights from years working with reference checking companies, including the uncomfortable truth that 8% of references are fraudulent. We need to protect ourselves!
We explore practical strategies for determining who to actually call, whether or not you should call, and navigating problems.
We discuss:
James also explains how smaller organizations without an ATS can access reference checking technology. It's easy of course.
For HR professionals tired of going through the motions with references that don't provide real insight, this conversation offers evidence-based alternatives to traditional approaches!
**Connect with James Lord**LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswlord/Email: james@refapp.comRefApp: https://www.refapp.com/**Connect with Andrea Adams**LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/Email: andrea@thehrhub.caThe HR Hub: https://thehrhub.ca/
We all want to hire the right person, but what if the skills you're looking for today won't matter in six months because AI is changing so much?
In this episode, I talk with Matt Alder, a talent acquisition futurist and host of the top-ranked Recruiting Future podcast, about how rapidly changing skill requirements are forcing us to rethink everything about hiring.
Matt breaks down the "half-life of skills" - why technical abilities are becoming outdated faster than ever, and which human capabilities will actually endure. We discuss hiring for a specific skill or focusing on someone's ability to learn and adapt.
It sounds a lot like hire for attitude and train for skill! Maybe that's here at last!?!?
In our discussion you'll hear:• How to figure out what skills you actually need (hint: stop trying to replace people like-for-like)• The messy reality of upskilling• Why assessment science is getting more accessible• How to predict future skill needs when everything is moving fast• The real role AI will play in jobs
This isn't about jargon or theory. Matt shares what's actually working for organizations right now, not just what's being talked about at conferences.
**Connect with Matt Alder:**Recruiting Future Podcast: https://recruitingfuture.com/Book: Digital Talent**Connect with me, Andrea Adams**The HR Hub - https://thehrhub.cahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Virtual team building could make anyone cringe. The invite shows up, eyes roll, and half the team is suddenly googling "how long does food poisoning last".
And most of us in HR were never actually trained for this. We're just handed the task on top of everything else.
So I talked with Lee Rubin, co-founder of Confetti, about what makes virtual events work (and what makes them flop).
We talked about what events can't fix (e.g. bad management). And we discuss the humanizing effect of seeing your intimidating boss laugh during a murder mystery game — how it's harder to reduce someone to a caricature when you've actually had fun with them.
Lee also shares her hot take: participating in team building is part of a remote workers job, as long as it's during paid hours and you're given real permission to disconnect. Team-building is part of anyone's job if they are paid to do it - there's a reason leadership spends money on it.
This episode is sponsored by Confetti. They've got a special offer for HR Hub listeners here:
https://try.withconfetti.com/oyze1
Get $75 off your first booking using code TRY75B
*** Connect with Lee ***
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubinl/
Check out Confetti: https://www.withconfetti.com/
*** Connect with Andrea ***
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
If you're in HR and deal with payroll - or just need to work closely with them - getting this wrong can damage your career. Steven Van Alstine from the National Payroll Institute walks us through what HR professionals need to understand about payroll to avoid costly mistakes. And to be more effective in that critical relationship!
We cover what payroll actually does beyond "paying people," the critical information you need to provide for new hires and employee changes, and why payroll professionals can seem so inflexible. Steven explains the real compliance risks, the staggering financial responsibility payroll carries, and what can happen if things go wrong.
You'll learn why manual payroll runs are not ideal, the difference between payroll dates and processing deadlines, and how to build a partnership with payroll that benefits everyone. Whether you're responsible for payroll yourself or just need to understand how it works, this episode will help you avoid the mistakes that damage employee trust and put your organization at compliance risk.
Key topics:
Guest: Steven Van Alstine, VP of Professional Standards and Education, National Payroll Institute
Resources: National Payroll Institute at payroll.ca, Learning Payroll courses for HR professionals
And this episode was requested by a listener! Let me know what other HR topics you'd like covered.
Find me, Andrea Adams on Linkedin or my Website https://thehrhub.ca
Is your HR strategy isn't aligned with your business strategy? You might think it is, but when Nadia Uberoi walks through what alignment actually looks like - the quarterly planning meetings, the initiative prioritization, the pushback on random requests - it becomes clear most of us are just reacting, not strategizing.
Nadia heads people operations at Garner Health. It's a rapidly growing 400-person healthcare tech company with a Big Hairy Audacious Goal: transforming the US healthcare economy. No small task. But what's fascinating is how she's builds an HR infrastructure that enables that mission instead of just supporting it.
We dig into her planning hierarchy that connects everything from their mission down to what HR works on this Tuesday. She breaks down her concept of "run the machine vs improve the machine" which was a refreshing look at the day-to-day vs strategy. Running payroll? That's running the machine - non-negotiable. Redesigning your performance management process? That's improving the machine - and it needs to connect to business strategy.
The conversation was particularly interesting when we talked about managing our "customer service" mindset in HR. It has it's uses but is overdone when we jump at every request. Nadia's take: look at how every other function prioritizes. They don't drop everything because of one request. Why should we?
She also shared what she wishes Garner had prioritized earlier (employer branding) and walked through their actual quarterly planning cadence - who meets when, what gets discussed, and how HR initiatives actually get resourced.
For mid-level HR professionals trying to be more strategic and less reactive, this episode gives you some substance to work with.
Topics covered:
About Nadia:Nadia Uberoi is Head of People at Garner Health, a healthcare technology company focused on helping people get the best care at the best price. She previously spent four years at Chewy.
About Andrea
I am an HR consultant to small and medium businesses in addition to running my Podcast & YouTube channel. My sweet spot is organizations with people-related crisis AND a commitment to learning.
Why can't employers find workers when talented people can't find jobs??Dr. Nita Chhinzer from the University of Guelph joins me to unpack what's happening in job markets right now. Employers are drowning in thousands of identical AI-polished resumes while qualified candidates are locked out of opportunities.So how do we fix that? Well part of it is assessments. Nita's research identifies four things employers actually hire for that never show up in job ads: professional maturity, attitude/coachability, willingness to work, and time management. Companies are going back to employee referrals and networking events, essentially crowdsourcing their recruitment because of the problem they have finding good people.On top of that, entry-level jobs have are disappearing which will bite sooner or later. Most promotions are internal... so where are the people they are going to promote? We've eliminated the pipeline and then wonder about bench strength. There's more... like AI. AI is not the sole reason there is so much restructuring. We're seeing the effects of geopolitical uncertainty, demographic shifts, and companies moving from talent hoarding to "just-in-time" hiring to avoid the exposure of carrying so many employees. AI is only a part.For new grads wondering where their entry point went, Nita talks about piecing together a career through contract work, internships, and building your personal brand. It may be tiring but, in today's market, it's what employees need to do. At least, if they do that, they have more control. For HR folks doing hiring, we need to do things different too and some of the answers are in the discussion. But this will continue to evolve.
**Find Dr. Nita Chhinzer in the following places**https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitachhinzer/https://nitachhinzer.com/https://www.uoguelph.ca/lang/people/nita-chhinzer**Find Andrea Adams in the following places**https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/https://thehrhub.ca
Feeling overwhelmed at work isn't the same as feeling burned out. What's happening right now might be worse.
Josh Cardoz, Chief Creative and Learning Officer at Sponge, recently wrote a white paper called "Mobilising Generation Numb" that captures what's he believes is really going on in workplaces. And it resonates.
People are showing up but they're detached. They're going through the motions without bringing their best selves. And it's not just a few people - it's happening at scale.
We talk about the data showing that employees are cynical, exhausted, overwhelmed, and seeking community in ways we haven't seen before. Twenty percent of the workforce experiences daily loneliness. Forty-five percent of organizations report low trust cultures. During the pandemic, we saw five years of digital transformation happen in 30 days, and that pace never slowed down.
Josh explains what "enshittification" means and how it's affecting our work lives. He also offers practical advice for HR professionals who want to actually help their people instead of just checking compliance boxes.
This is about understanding what's really happening with your workforce and doing something useful about it.
**Connect with Josh and Sponge**White paper: https://www.spongelearning.com/en/meet-generation-numbConnect with Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcardoz/Sponge Learning: https://www.spongelearning.com/**Connect with Andrea**Website: https://thehrhub.ca/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Working moms are burning out at higher rates than almost any other group in the workforce. The reasons are complicated, but it will clearly impact organizations.
In this episode, I talk with Dr. Rosina McAlpine about what's really happening with working parents and what might actually help.
Dr. Rosina is a work and family wellbeing expert who works with HR leaders to build family-friendly workplaces. She runs Win Win Parenting and has developed workplace programs that help organizations support their working parents.
We dig into why moms are more stressed than dads, why generic wellness programs don't work for parents, and what the statistics tell us about working parent burnout across the globe (!!). Rosina shares her five-step framework for HR leaders who want to create workplaces where parents can thrive, not just survive.
We also tackle the tough questions:
If you're an HR professional trying to figure out how to support working parents, or if you're a working parent yourself looking for validation and solutions, this conversation has something for you.
Topics we cover:
** This is a link to Dr. McAlpine's 5-point Guide:
https://www.winwinparenting.com/closing-the-gap-in-parent-support-guide
**Find Dr. Rosina McAlpine**
Win Win Parenting: https://winwinparenting.com
For working parents: https://drrosina.com
**Find Andrea Adams**
https://thehrhub.ca
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
I have often heard comments of someone blaming workplace problems on another generation. Baby Boomers won't change. Gen X is disengaged. Millennials are needy. Gen Z won't work hard.
And I have always wondered if this was mostly wrong. Turns out, it is.
Generational researcher Cam Marston has spent decades studying how different age groups work together, and he joined me to bust some myths. In this conversation, we get into what's actually true about generational differences versus what's just convenient stereotyping.
The big revelation: most of what we label as "generational" is actually about *life stages*—and those life stages are happening five years later than, say, 30 years ago. A 25-year-old today is more like a 20-year-old from previous generations in terms of independence, career clarity, and adult responsibilities.
Cam explains why this matters for how our leaders lead, give feedback, and build teams. It matters a lot of HR when we hear the complaints about generations. Now you'll have some facts!!
Here's some facts that I will pull out in future conversations:
- Org culture beats generational differences every time.
- When you have strong leadership and a good workplace environment, these supposed generational conflicts mostly disappear.
- It's FAR easier to blame "kids these days" than our leaders to examine their leadership
- Different age groups receive feedback differently and this is a LIFESTAGE.
If you've ever heard a leader complaining about a particular generation at work, this episode will give you better tools for understanding what's really going on and how to coach for different results!
Guest: Cam Marston - generational researcher, speaker, and author of five books on workplace generations
Topics:
**Connect with Cam Marston**Website: https:/CamMarston.comPodcast: What's Working with Cam Marston**Connect with Andrea Adams**LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
Are reference checks worth the effort?
Most HR professionals have never actually changed a hiring decision based on a reference check. So are we wasting our time, or are we doing wrong?
James Lord has spent 10 years in the reference checking industry and argues we're missing the point entirely. Instead of using references to confirm decisions we've already made, he explains how to turn them into a hiring tool that reveals information you can't get anywhere else.
In this episode:
About James Lord:James works with RefApp and has been in the talent industry for over a decade, specifically focusing on reference checking companies.
Connect with James:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswlord/Email: james@refapp.comWebsite: refapp.com
Connect with Andrea:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Email: andrea@thehrhub.ca
Website https://thehrhub.ca
As an HR Consultant I'm commonly asked "how much severance should I pay?" and the answer is it depends and maybe you should consult a lawyer.
This episode is for Americans. I spoke with employment lawyer Leah Stiegler from Woods Rogers who outlined what drives severance decisions in America.
We cover the critical difference between what you're legally required to pay (often nothing) and what makes business sense when you're trying to avoid litigation which is likely to cost you a lot more than severance.
What you'll learn:
Leah is engaging and shared why paying severance without a legal release is like giving someone a bonus and then letting them sue you anyway. We also talked about disparagement clauses - how do you enforce them anyhow?
No matter why you are terminating, this episode gives you a framework for thinking through the risks and costs involved.
About Leah Stiegler Leah is a management-side employment lawyer and partner at Woods Rogers. She hosts the YouTube series "What's the Tea in L&E" and was recently interviewed by the New York Times for her workplace romance article (also a podcast episode!).
Find me at https://thehrhub.ca
Have you ever wondered why payroll seems so inflexible? Even annoying? Or why they seem to get upset over minor things? I certainly have.
Steven Van Alstine from the National Payroll Institute joined me to break down the typical relationship between HR and payroll departments. And, of course, give us advice.
In this episode:
There were insight behind the payroll scenes as well as tactical advice. Pay is at the heart of the customer experience and we, in HR, have an obligation to get this right.
About Steven Van Alstine:Steven is the Vice President of Professional Standards and Education at the National Payroll Institute. He's worked in payroll for decades and recently presented at the National Payroll Conference on HR-payroll collaboration.
Connect with me:This is The HR Hub - practical insights for mid-level HR professionals who want to advance their careers and do better work. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts for weekly episodes with HR experts.
The hybrid work debate isn't going away, so we need to consider the research. Most companies sent people home during the pandemic and didn't do much to support a different work style. And they haven't fixed this post-pandemic either. Spoiler alert: it's not working.
Dr. Peter Cappelli, Director of Wharton's Centre for Human Resources, and workplace strategist Dr. Ranya Nehmeh joined me to discuss their new book "In Praise of the Office: The Limits to Hybrid and Remote Work."
This isn't about forcing everyone back to the office - it's about being honest about what's actually happening in most hybrid workplaces.
What we unpack:
The bottom line: Flexibility can work, but we cannot assume that hybrid or remote work manages itself. Whether you're defending remote work or pushing for office returns, this conversation will challenge your assumptions and give you practical tools for whatever arrangement you choose.
"In Praise of the Office" releases September 30th, 2025
Find me, Andrea, https://thehrhub.ca
Is AI in recruiting revolutionizing or just hype? Matt Alder, talent acquisition futurist and host of the top 1.5% Recruiting Future podcast, separates fact from fiction in this conversation about what AI can actually do for your hiring process right now.
If you've been wondering whether the hype is worth paying attention to - or if you're tired of vendors promising AI will solve all your hiring problems - listen up.
What we cover:
Matt explains
- where AI is genuinely useful today (interview scheduling, candidate communication, standardized job descriptions) versus where it's still mostly hype.
-why putting resumes into ChatGPT is a legal and privacy nightmare waiting to happen. Some dedicated companies are already being held accountable!
- interview intelligence - AI that records interviews and coaches interviewers.
We also discuss if AI can handle entire interviews. Well it can, but should it? Matt uses the airplane pilot analogy - autopilot can technically fly the whole flight, but passengers still want a human in the cockpit. The same principle applies to recruiting.
Find Matt on LinkedIn, his website or via his book.
Find me at https://thehrhub.ca
Is AI going to replace your entire workforce or transform how we perform talent management. To some degree? The answer is more nuanced than the extreme hype would suggest.
Dr. Reece Akhtar, organizational psychologist and CEO of Deeper Signals, cut through the hype to talk about what's actually happening in talent management. As someone who teaches at NYU and writes for Forbes and Harvard Business Review, Reece brings both academic rigor and practical experience.
In this episode, we talked how AI will impact virtually every stage of the employee journey - from recruitment to development to succession planning. But instead of the usual "AI will change everything" narrative we typically hear , Reece explained why he thinks it will be somewere in between and why soft skills are so important.
What we cover:
Key takeaway: The future isn't about humans vs. machines - it's about humans WITH machines doing better work together.
Connect with Reece on LinkedIn or visit deepersignals.com
Find me andrea@thehrhub.ca or via LinkedIn
#TalentManagement #AIinHR #FutureOfWork #EmployeeEngagement #HRStrategy
60% of people have been in a workplace romance - and 43% of those apparently end in marriage! So maybe we shouldn't be trying so hard to prevent them? But we should take precautions.
Management-side attorney Leah Stiegler from Woods Rogers joined me to discuss the messiest workplace romance situations she's encountered (think: affairs, stalking, and executives caught on video with prostitutes). More importantly, we cover what HR should actually be doing about workplace relationships.
In this episode:
Guest: Leah Stiegler, Partner at Woods Rogers law firm and creator of "What's the Tea in L&E" video series
Do you have a workplace romance horror story? Please comment! Preferably keeping it safe for work - even if things happened at work! LOL
I always wondered if my workaholic dad's habits were healthy. Or if he was driven by the urge to be a dedicated provider?
Turns out there's a big difference between working hard and being a workaholic - and workaholics could be costing organizations.
Dr. Catherine Connelly from McMaster University is shared more eye-opening research on an HR topics - this time workaholism and the connection to workplace ethics. We talked about why your most dedicated employees might actually be the ones cutting ethical corners.
In this episode:
Catherine's research challenges what we think we know about workplace dedication. Sometimes the people most invested in "organizational success" are the ones who'll justify anything to achieve it.
This is a must-listen for any HR professional managing high performers or trying to build truly healthy cultures. Plus, Catherine's research is open source, so you can dive deeper after listening.
Connect with Dr. Catherine Connelly on LinkedIn or at : connellyresearch.com .
What's your experience with workaholism in your workplace? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
So I just learned about PEOs (Professional Employer Organizations) and these are so well established in the USA but news to me!
Paul Aemisegeo from Payroll Mart gave me the straight talk on what PEOs actually do versus what they promise to do. If you're a smaller organization dealing with expensive health insurance, multi-state compliance headaches, or just trying to offer competitive benefits without the enterprise budget, this one's for you.
The key insight? PEOs can solve your benefits and compliance backend, but don't expect them to handle your day-to-day HR tasks. That performance conversation? Still yours. That tricky leave situation? Also, still yours.
We dive into who should consider a PEO (spoiler: if you're in New York with under 100 employees, definitely listen), how to evaluate them, and why so many companies end up switching PEOs multiple times.
Plus Paul shares the real considerations if you're thinking about leaving a PEO - because apparently that's a whole thing too.
Perfect listen if you're evaluating HR vendors or wondering if there's a better way to handle benefits and compliance.
Find Paul on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulaemisegeo/ or at Payroll Marthttps://payrollmart.com/As usual you can find me on Linkedin or through my website https://thehrhub.ca/
Most retention strategies are just expensive band-aids.
This week I spoke with Dr. Roger Gerard, who spent 23 years as Chief Learning Officer in healthcare and has a refreshingly simple perspective on how to keep people around.
Roger breaks it down to five promises that leaders need to make - and more importantly, keep. Those promises have to do with listening with respect, helping people grow, helping them be successful, competitive compensation, and having their back when things go wrong.
But we also talked about the tension within the promises. For example, we're not going have someone's back when they've done something deeply unethical.
We also dig into why so many organizations have created a loyalty problem. Employers expect it from employees but don't appear to it back.
If you're dealing with retention issues and tired of surface-level solutions, this conversation will give you some ideas.
Find Roger at rogergerard.com and check out his book "Lead with Purpose." Find me at thehrhub.ca
How does HR impact a company's sale price? Lindsay Osmond, former VP of HR and current business optimization expert, discusses the role HR plays in making companies 'sellable'.
From employment contract liabilities to cultural red flags that derail deals, Lindsay explains what buyers really look at when they are making a decision. The information she shares can help position you as a strategic business partner in the process.
Key takeaways include the specific metrics buyers care about, why people are your only true competitive advantage, and how to navigate the complex post-merger integration process.
Find Lindsay at https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsay-osmond-ba-bmgmt-cphr-a399064/Find Andrea at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/ or https://thehrhub.ca/