The WorkOps Podcast

The WorkOps Podcast is your weekly conversation with HR leaders and People Ops practitioners doing the real work. In every episode we dig into one story. A process that went sideways, a system that just didn't work, and what someone actually did about it. Packed with practical lessons you'll want to bring back to your team. Whether you're supporting 500 employees or 5,000, this is how the best People leaders are building for what comes next.

The WorkOps Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts The WorkOps Podcast, a business show with 0 episodes published.

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  Episode #21

  The direct deposit lesson: why HR survives every automation wave

  Aug 11, 202636 min

  Summary What happens when a CHRO treats AI like a brainstorming wall instead of a threat? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukherjee sits down with Jason Desentz, Chief Human Resource Officer at Toshiba America, to unpack why AI is an enhancement story, not a replacement story. Jason shares the history lesson behind his optimism, from direct deposit to factory robots to Ford's reversed AI layoffs, then goes inside Toshiba's HR Shark Tank, where cross functional teams built working Copilot agents like Payroll Princess and Time Tamer in 60 days. He also lays out his two goalpost framework for every AI decision and warns about the integration trap that could fragment HR tech stacks all over again. A practical conversation for HR and operations leaders who want to experiment with AI without disrupting the business. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:45 From police academy to CHRO 05:50 Why AI will deepen HR expertise instead of replacing it 08:50 The direct deposit lesson 13:55 Starting small with proof of concept 16:35 Inside Toshiba's HR Shark Tank 20:00 Build, borrow, or bot 21:30 The two goalposts and the integration trap 28:55 FOBO and getting people AI ready 32:55 From curious to cautious Takeaways -AI will change how HR work looks, not whether it exists. Like computers, direct deposit, and factory robots before it, it enhances the function and creates new work. -Start small instead of trying to do everything at once. Pick one proof of concept and give it a full cycle, a year to 18 months, before judging whether it worked. -Cross functional experimentation multiplies value. Toshiba's HR Shark Tank mixed payroll, field HR, business partners, and L&D to build real -Copilot agents on top of their day jobs. -Every AI decision has to pass two goalposts: little to zero disruption to the business and a genuine improvement to the employee experience. -Watch the integration trap. HR spent 15 years consolidating eight systems down to three, and bolting on AI point solutions risks recreating the same fragmentation. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-desentz/ Website: https://www.toshiba.com/ Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com

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  Episode #20

  Why SurveyMonkey moved payroll into HR

  Aug 4, 202637 min

  Summary Payroll problems were blowing up Slack channels at SurveyMonkey, and employees weren't taking them to finance. In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji talks with Becky Cantieri, Chief People Officer at SurveyMonkey, about the decision to hit the blow-up button and move payroll out of finance and into HR, how a willing CFO and one simple question (who is willing to talk to the employee?) made the handoff a slam dunk, and why the defining skill for HR leaders right now is metabolizing change: finding signal in noise fast enough to prioritize, pivot, and keep up in the AI era. A practical listen for people leaders, HR operations teams, and anyone rethinking who should own the employee experience. Chapters 00:00 Cold open 01:16 From the Nordstrom sales floor to CPO 06:37 Fifteen years of reinvention 09:26 Metabolizing change 14:22 The payroll problem 18:31 Winning over the CFO 21:44 Rebuilding the team 28:03 The AI champion at SurveyMonkey 32:51 Refusing to wait in the AI queue 35:21 Permission, capability, agency Takeaways -Employees don't think in org charts. When something breaks, they go to whoever usually answers, so design ownership around the employee experience, not department history. -The team willing to talk to employees should own the employee-facing function. SurveyMonkey moved payroll into HR when it became clear finance didn't want those conversations. -Make handoffs safe with data: SurveyMonkey's HR team committed to SLAs and email volume reporting while banking controls stayed with finance. -The defining HR skill right now is metabolizing change: finding signal in noise fast enough to prioritize, pivot, and keep up with AI. -Metabolizing is teachable. It starts with curiosity, a growth mindset, and the willingness to throw out a process you built and are proud of. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-cantieri-85654a/ Website: https://www.surveymonkey.com Sponsor

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  Episode #19

  The three levels of work: Where AI belongs, and where it never will

  Jul 28, 202635 min

  Summary What happens when a CEO hands unlimited AI access to every employee, and adoption still stalls? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji sits down with Kimberly Nerpouni, Global VP of People & International Operations at Pearl, the parent company of JustAnswer. Kimberly shares why AI transformation is a human enablement problem rather than a technology problem, how her People Ops team built Pearl's AI accelerator and a 1 to 10 adoption scale with no bad scores, and her three levels of work framework for deciding what AI should absorb first. She also explains the feedback facilitator agent her team is building, the hard line she draws (AI never gives feedback, it helps managers facilitate it), and why PIPs don't exist at Pearl. This conversation is for people leaders, HR teams, and anyone navigating AI adoption inside their organization. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:45 From IT manager to people operations 04:25 JustAnswer, Pearl, and human plus AI 06:15 Inside Pearl's AI accelerator 10:55 Build, buy, or borrow 13:15 The three levels of work 17:05 AI that facilitates feedback instead of giving it 19:50 The AI agent hub and transparency 23:35 Why PIPs don't work and what replaces them 35:05 Don't wait, just do Takeaways -AI adoption is a human enablement problem, not a technology problem, and people ops is uniquely positioned to lead it. -Move AI into level one work first, the tasks that don't require your expertise, so your team can focus on level two and level three work. -Build, buy, or borrow: piloting with AI startups can reveal exactly what's worth building bespoke in-house. -AI should facilitate feedback conversations by scanning context and prompting managers, but it should never give the feedback itself. -Front-load clarity with job descriptions, career ladders, and employee-owned development plans so PIPs are never needed. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlypignolet/ Website: https://www.pearl.com Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com

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  Episode #18

  When Your HR AI Pilot Works Too Well to Stay a Pilot

  Jul 23, 202636 min

  Summary What happens when your AI pilot works too well to stay a pilot? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji talks with Ivan Nosov, Head of HR Tech and Global Total Rewards Director at Campari Group, about taking AI in HR from proof of concept to production. Ivan shares why he started with Copilot Studio knowing it wouldn't last, where RAG breaks down at enterprise scale, and how his team built a digital twin router app on Claude that loads only the context each question needs. He also lays out the adoption playbook that made it stick: winning over regional directors and COE champions first, running hackathons for awareness, and addressing the work people hate instead of the work they love. A practical conversation for HR, people ops, and workplace technology leaders navigating AI transformation. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:30 From IT engineer to HR leader 03:45 Should AI transformation sit in HR or IT 05:55 How non technical HR can get started 07:20 Copilot Studio as a proof of concept tool 09:30 Harness, routing, and the limits of RAG 15:00 Building the digital twin router app on Claude 17:40 Context engineering and distilling tacit knowledge 19:30 Winning adoption through champions 29:55 The future of junior roles and build versus buy Takeaways Start with the accessible tool to prove the concept, then move on. Copilot Studio validated Campari Group's AI ideas, but production required control over the harness that abstracted platforms can't offer. Routing beats RAG at scale. Loading only the relevant context for each question makes AI more targeted, more efficient, and far less likely to hallucinate. Campari Group's digital twin runs on Claude with deliberate model selection: Sonnet for efficiency, Haiku for helper queries, and Opus for final artifacts because of its design taste. Adoption spreads through champions. Win over regional directors and COE heads first, stay with them until the outputs click, and they will share it further than any rollout plan. Context engineering is the real work. Distill tacit knowledge into a compact, unambiguous knowledge base: 250,000 tokens in total, with no session loading more than 50,000. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-nosov/ Website: https://www.camparigroup.com/ Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com

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  Episode #14

  High agency, low ego, and the future of HR at Tubi

  Jul 17, 202630 min

  Summary On this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukergi sits down with Natasha Valani, Chief People Officer at Tubi, the number one free ad-supported streaming service in the US. Natasha shares how her people team built a live calibration tool in Replit in just two days, connecting it back to Workday and saving roughly two weeks during year end review season. The conversation goes well beyond one tool: Natasha unpacks how she hires for high agency and low ego, why subtraction is her favorite leadership discipline, and how she sees junior and people roles evolving as AI takes on more of the routine work. It's a practical, candid look at running a lean, builder-minded HR function, ideal for people leaders, HR practitioners, and anyone rethinking how their team operates in the AI age. Chapters 0:45 Welcome and Natasha's story 1:45 From 26 schools to belonging and the people space 3:45 Building a culture where everyone builds 6:45 Hiring for high agency and low ego 9:45 The year end calibration problem 10:45 The two day tool built in Replit 15:45 Why build instead of buy 19:45 Trade-offs and the power of subtraction 21:45 The honest gap, headcount management 26:45 The future of junior roles in the AI age Takeaways -You don't need a vendor RFP to solve an HR problem. Someone who knows the guts of the process built a live calibration tool in Replit in two days and connected it to Workday, saving roughly two weeks. -High agency is the differentiator in the AI age. Natasha screens for it with one question: tell me about a time you built a solution nobody asked you to. -Pair high agency with low ego. Stay curious and ask questions, but don't assume nothing good existed before you. -Subtraction is a strategy. Force-rank priorities, openly showcase what you removed, and protect your team's bandwidth by refusing to do everything. -Junior roles won't disappear, they'll shift. The people closest to the guts of a workflow become operational advisors and orchestrators, and AI still needs a human eye to catch the slop. Connect with the Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-valani-1758a418/ Website: https://tubitv.com Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR. See more at kinfolkhq.com

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