CIPD

AI governance, the framework that ensures AI is deployed ethically, transparently and with proper accountability, is no longer a secondary concern. It is foundational to organisational stability and trust. Yet governance has not kept pace with implementation, exposing organisations to real business risks: loss of trust, reputational damage or litigation. But good AI governance doesn’t slow innovation. It establishes the foundations that make innovation possible.

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month's guests – Helen Dutta, Director of Governance & HR at DACS; Ray Eitel-Porter, AI expert, Senior Research Associate at Jesus College Cambridge and award-winning author; and Sharon Hill, Director of People at Pay.UK, as we explore how organisations can overcome the perception that governance stifles innovation, and instead build the guardrails that make AI investment and exploration sustainable.

In this episode, our panel explores:

Why AI governance has lagged AI implementation, and the implications for organisations and workforces
The importance of ensuring AI governance is a continuous, people-centred process that evolves alongside technology and ways of working
Why effective AI governance acts as an enabler of innovation, through creating confidence and trust

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Your next listen:
CIPD Podcast 229: From AI experimentation to AI maturity
HR People Pod – Ep 57: Innovation | Is ‘resilience’ a tainted word? | Dealing with AI grievances
CIPD Podcast 219: Dealing with AI use in recruitment and job applications

More from this episode:
AI in the workplace: Insights, guides, case studies
Guide: How people professionals can develop, deploy and use AI in an ethical, legal and sustainable way
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The CIPD’s latest Resourcing and talent planning 2026 report, supported by Omni, reveals that an increasing number of organisations are extending their workforce planning timeframes from the short to the medium term. Overall, 24% take a short-term approach (up to six months), down from 31% in 2024. However just a fraction of organisations (16%) are planning more than two years into the future.

So how can organisations build a strategic workforce plan for three to five years out, when the pace of change makes even the near future hard to predict?

Plus, as recent City & Guilds research suggests that a shortage of so called ‘soft skills’ is restricting productivity and growth – how should we be recruiting and developing those skills in the workforce?

And finally, hear more on whether these HR leaders would bring an iced coffee to a job interview...
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What does it really mean for an organisation to know its culture, and is it possible to borrow the best bits of someone else’s? Who should hold responsibility for shaping culture when roles and structures are shifting so fast? And as AI transforms the workplace, can it be a genuine ally in culture change rather than a threat to it?

Leah De Silva, Senior Programme Manager for the CIPD Trust, is joined by authors of Rapid Reculturing, Alex Bailey, award-winning psychologist, and Kerri O’Neill, Chief People Officer at Ipsos UK and Ireland, and two-time CIPD HR30 recipient.

Recorded: 18 September 2026

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Additional resources:

Tool: Quick wins to improve workplace culture
Factsheet: Organisational climate and culture
People Management: Why measuring organisational culture often goes wrong
Book: Rapid reculturing: Transforming organizations at pace and scale

Your next listen:

CIPD Podcast 220: Do leaders establish culture, or are they a product of it?
HR People Pod 46: Measuring culture, driving performance – with Hani Nabeel
CIPD Podcast 233: Courageous conversations
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According to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are approximately 548,400 refugees in the UK – yet many highly qualified, experienced people remain locked out of meaningful work. Not by ability, but by structural barriers: recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates, unrecognised or unfamiliar qualifications, and in many cases, a basic misconception among employers about whether refugees can legally be employed at all.

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month's guests – Jenny Walton, CEO at Refugee Employment Network; Nikki von Bulow, Director of HR Consultancy Services and CIPD Trust Rebuilding Futures Mentor; and Oksana Hulyk, Legal Adviser and HR Professional – as they draw on lived and professional experience to explore how people professionals can remove these barriers and open up meaningful employment for refugee talent.

In this episode, our panel explores:

What role people professionals can play in removing barriers to refugee employment, from right-to-work misconceptions to recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates
Why supporting refugee employment is a workforce strategy, not a philanthropic gesture
How to equip line managers with the skills and confidence to support refugee talent once they’re in post

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Your next listen:
CIPD Podcast 226 – Closing skill gaps from within: the case for internal mobility
CIPD Podcast 217 – Willing and able: Unlocking opportunities for prison leavers

More from this episode:
Guide: Hiring refugees – Guide for people professionals (CIPD Trust)
Case study: Rebuilding Futures and forming a friendship that goes beyond mentoring (CIPD Trust)
Website: Refugee Employment Network
Refugee Employment Network: Training for Employers
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When it comes to AI-generated grievances, is this really a new problem for the profession, or a familiar one that AI has simply thrown into the spotlight? Has ‘resilience’ become a bit of a tainted word, quietly placing all the onus on the individual to cope? And during a period of labour market stagnation, how do organisations create the conditions for innovation to thrive without relying on an inflow of new talent?

CIPD Head of Membership, Oli Howard, is joined by Rebecca Monk, Chief People Officer at Softcat plc and Trish Hewitt, Founder and Managing Director at Haylo HR and CEO of Resolution at Work.

Recorded: 04 September 2026

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Additional resources:

Report | Labour Market Outlook – Summer 2026
Guide | Resilience: Guide for people professionals to support employees
Employment Law | AI and technology in the workplace: UK employment law
Resources | AI in the workplace


Your next listen:

CIPD Podcast - Episode 233: Courageous conversations
HR People Pod – Ep 39: Rewriting the rules on workplace conflict – with David Liddle
HR People Pod – Ep 28: Hilary Scarlett special – Neuroscience for organisational change
CIPD Podcast – Episode 223: Beyond learning - Mobilising L&D for organisational change
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