Employee Experience Podcasts by EX Labs

12.5 years inside Workday’s office of the CHRO, 6,000+ customers served, and a front-row seat to every HR tech trend from social and gamification to skills-based organizations to agentic AI. What actually had staying power, and what was just noise? And why did she just walk away from all of it, at the end of June, to go figure out what’s next? What a conversation!Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.We continue our most successful season so far “From the Workbook of an HR Leader” where I am talking to experienced colleagues in our field about their daily working routine and what and how they are going about the various challenges they have to face each day.I am a tireless believer that we can all be better if we learn from each other, but there are not many opportunities to actually do that - yes, there are conferences, but how often can you attend one in a year? Yes, there are peer-to-peer connections, but how many do you manage to keep running?I am a firm believer that we can all do a better job if we learn from each other and so I am inviting seasoned HR experts from various fields and companies to tell us about their workday and how they go about the challenges of today.Today I am talking to Aashna Kircher. Aashna’s path into enterprise HR software wasn’t exactly obvious — she studied psychology at Duke, went on to business school, and from there was drawn to Workday, not because she set out to work in HR tech, but because of the sheer scale of impact the role could have on people’s day-to-day working lives. What followed was 12.5 years and, by her own count, more chapters than she ever expected to stay for: scaling the platform for the largest organizations in the world, launching adjacent HR products, championing and integrating acquisitions, and most recently, leading through what she calls the biggest inflection point of her career — the AI transformation of HR and finance.Aashna and I go back a long way, through years of exchanges as customer and partner, and it made for a conversation that went refreshingly deep and refreshingly honest. We talked about which of the big 2010s HR tech trends — cloud, mobile, social, gamification, people analytics, skills-based organizations — actually stood the test of time, and which turned out to be hype. We talked candidly about the gap between great product ideas and operational reality, about why data definition is about to become the single biggest lever for CHROs navigating AI, and about what genuinely keeps her up at night when it comes to AI, trust, and the next generation entering the workforce. And of course, having just left Workday after 12.5 years, we talked about why now, and what she’s looking for next.But why am I telling you everything already here and now — listen for yourself: Aashna Kircher.Music by Bensound.

Almost arrested in the UN General Assembly for protesting. From there to 18 years fixing and transforming HR and Employee Experience functions inside private-equity-owned companies — including a big Swiss bank in the middle of being taken over by another one. And a very clear, very direct message: stop demanding a seat at the table, and start making yourself impossible not to invite. What a conversation!Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.We continue our most successful season so far "From the Workbook of an HR Leader" where I am talking to experienced colleagues in our field about their daily working routine and what and how they are going about the various challenges they have to face each day.I am a tireless believer that we can all be better if we learn from each other, but there are not many opportunities to actually do that - yes, there are conferences, but how often can you attend one in a year? Yes, there are peer-to-peer connections, but how many do you manage to keep running?I am a firm believer that we can all do a better job if we learn from each other and so I am inviting seasoned HR experts from various fields and companies to tell us about their workday and how they go about the challenges of today.Today I am talking to Martijn Seijsener. Martijn never actually planned to end up in HR at all — he started out chasing a career in international development, interning at the UN, until a protest at the UN General Assembly became the moment he decided that path wasn't for him. He pivoted into human capital consulting, and for the last 18 years has been the person private-equity-owned companies call in to build, rebuild and transform their HR and Employee Experience functions from the ground up — most recently inside one of the biggest Swiss banks, right as it was being absorbed by another one.Martijn brings a refreshingly direct, self-described "rebel" lens to Employee Experience: why most EX leaders are only fluent in one of the three languages they actually need — the human, the economics and the end-to-end ownership — and why that's the real reason EX so often ends up as a nice little feature on top rather than a seat at the table. We went deep on cost to serve, on why HR needs to speak the language of finance to be taken seriously, and of course on AI — and why bolting AI onto a fragmented organization just scales the fragmentation faster.But why am I telling you everything already here and now — listen for yourself: Martijn Seijsener.Music by Bensound

What does watching World Cup games at 2am have to do with building an AI platform? What does selling your second startup teach you that you can only really use on your third? And why would someone tell you not to buy more AI agents — but to rip out the layer underneath them instead?Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.Today's episode is a true addition to our Start-up and AI series — and honestly, back to the classic format. After a few episodes that went in different directions, today I'm talking to a founder again, building AI-native HR technology from day one.I had the pleasure to talk to Carl Hoffman, Co-Founder & CEO of Ahron. Carl studied at TU Munich, founded his first HR tech startup, Job Crowd, roughly 15 years ago, later founded Talentry, which he sold about four years ago, and stayed on at Clever Connect for another three years before starting Ahron about a year ago. So this is very much his third rodeo — and it shows.We went deep on why Ahron isn't building another out-of-the-box AI agent, but a context and control layer that sits on top of the 120-plus HR systems a typical global company already has. We talked about the partnership with Celonis for process intelligence, where AI actually belongs across talent acquisition, employee services and payroll — and Carl's genuinely provocative take on who should really be nervous about agentic AI in HR. Spoiler: it's not Workday, SAP or Oracle. It's the Accentures and Genpacts of the world running shared service centers.Music by Bensound

The recruitment tech market is going crazy - there is one tool after the other, and all of them are AI powered. Most of them are competing on features and are implementing new features based on the technology available. You can even argue that they throw technology in without considering if this actually solves a problem. I had a similar conversation just recently with Jason from Workday. And so it is quite refreshing to speak with a start-up that is focused on the problem solving and comes from a rich functional background and experience.Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.Today's episode is an addition to our Start up and AI series we are running. And after some special episodes we are abck to basics: AI and Start-up. We are talking today about Theia Jobs. A start-up that is looking to simplify the recruitment process but also making sure you find the true best candidate. I could also say "CVs are so 90s..."  I had the pleasure to talk to Luis Luciani, the founder of Theia Jobs. You will learn quickly that Luis is an absolute Recruitment Professional and brings a rich experience to the table that is refreshing. We went deep into Recruitment and what are some of the main shortcomings today. And of course we went deep into AI and how it can enable better experiences and better outcomes.But why am I telling you everything already here and now: Listen for yourself: Luis Luciani, Founder Theia Jobs.Music by Bensound

What is the connection between the Emmies and AI? What is the connection between TV jingles and AI advisory? And how does film-school land you in Technology? - I could go on and on and on about this in today's episode. Welcome to another Employee Experience Labs podcast from the Munich Podcast studio. Employee Experience Labs Podcasts are about HR Tech, Employee Experience, Shared Service and other interesting topics around HR at the workplace.Today's episode is an addition to our Start up and AI series we are running. But it is very different than what you have watched before. Today I am not talking to a founder. I am talking to an AI advisor, someone that helps company leaders drive AI transformation: Shelly Palmer, Professor of advanced media, one of LinkedIns top voices and AI advisor and coach to business leaders.Shelly has a very interesting background and path towards AI which illustrates how he got all his knowledge and experience. He was one of the early ones IN AI and continues to stay on top. We went deep on AI and how to transform your company with AI - and spoiler, Shelly has a hot take on the late mover advantage, so if you are not yet in with AI, you haven't lost anything yet.But what am I talking here - listen and watch for yourself: Shelly Palmer, CEO The Palmer Group...Music by Bensound