150 episodes listed below
HR tech news and interviews that pin down the jargon.
Two series share this feed: HRExaminer Executive Conversations, where John Sumser interviews leaders from companies such as Paychex, O'Reilly Media and JoyousHQ, and HRTech Weekly, a news conversation about the industry with Stacey Harris. The talk stays practical and keeps asking what terms like 'chatbot' and 'automation' actually cover inside HR software.
PRESS PLAY
HR Examiner Podcasts with John Sumser gathers more than one HR technology series in a single feed, and the two that fill the episodes in view work quite differently. HRExaminer Executive Conversations is a one-guest interview hosted by Sumser. HRTech Weekly is a two-voice news conversation in which Stacey Harris and Sumser go through what the industry has been doing. The interview guests come from very different corners of the business. Laura Baldwin, president of O'Reilly Media, describes a company that has been on a remote track for twenty years, where clear goals count for more than shared desks. What she misses is serendipity: running into a colleague in the hallway who sits outside the daily workflow. Even so, she does not expect a return to the old arrangement. Michael Carden, co-founder of JoyousHQ, comes with a history the host lays out: he founded Sonar 6 in 2006 and sold it to Cornerstone six years later. With him, the talk turns to how feedback gets routed: to a squad, a tribe or a subject matter expert, rather than simply up to a manager. Mike Gioja of Paychex, back for another appearance, is asked to define 'chatbot' before the AI discussion goes anywhere. He answers with Flex Assistant, its language processing and machine learning, and the rush to load fast-changing regulations into the bot. HRTech Weekly feels different. In the episodes in view, it opens with weather and lockdown notes traded between Harris in North Carolina and Sumser in California before the news begins. SHRM reselling a pay service enabled by Money Network is set beside similar pushes by ADP, Ceridian, Workday and Oracle. A vendor's entry into the RPA market ties into a wider point: process automation is just scripting, and it assumes a factory-like consistency that service work may not have. Skills taxonomies raise a related worry, that each vendor is building its own tower of Babel with no check on whether the definitions agree. For a worker moving between systems, that means no way to know whether two products mean the same thing by a skill. Across both series, the pressure falls on vocabulary, on what chatbot, automation and skills actually cover. The episodes in view carry November 2020 dates, so lockdown and remote work keep coming up. An Executive Conversations episode gives one company's thinking in depth, while HRTech Weekly gives the pair's running argument about the market.
Made for: Suits a listener who follows HR software and wants vendor news and executive interviews that press on what terms like chatbot, automation and skills actually mean.
What sets it apart: It puts two formats in one feed, single-executive interviews and a two-host news conversation. In both, the questions keep coming back to definitions: what a chatbot is, whether automation is more than scripting, and whether vendors' skills taxonomies agree.
The complete collection of HR Examiner Podcasts from John Sumser, including HR Examiner Executive Conversations, HR Tech Weekly, and HRx Big Ideas. Each show is a 30-minute conversation about emerging ideas in HR Tech with a focus on AI and Intelligent Tools.
John Sumser asks what 'chatbot' means before you have to sit through another AI demo.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded look at remote work's quiet social cost: the hallway encounter technology still has trouble replacing.
Laura Baldwin, president of O'Reilly Media, brings a practical technology lens to this HR Examiner conversation. Remote work was already part of O'Reilly's operating model before 2020 pushed more organizations into distributed habits, and Baldwin is clearest when she talks about…
A clear, grounded review of skills taxonomies, employee mobility, and the ethics of worker data.
HR tech's promise of portability meets a stubborn infrastructure problem in this single-episode review: skills taxonomies can help companies organize talent, but they can also make movement between employers harder.
A clear, practical conversation about workplace feedback, trust, and where hard signals should go.
The Executive Conversation with Michael Carden gives Joyous HQ a useful frame: workplace feedback is only as good as the route it can take. Carden, who founded Sonar 6, describes a model where feedback can move to a squad, a tribe, or the right subject matter expert while…
A post-HR Tech discussion about where automation fits and where service work resists it.
HR Tech Weekly uses the post-conference rush to ask what HR technology can realistically take on. Stacey Harris and John begin with the unusual follow-up conversations after HR Tech, then move into service work, its changing shape, and the limits of calling process automation AI…
A Paychex technology veteran explains how its AI support stack handles customer help.
Paychex's support technology is the focus as Mike Gioia explains how the company brings a chatbot, enterprise search, RPA, voice assistance, and OCR together in its Flex Assistant Intelligence Engine.
Tech news, traced to strategy.
Apple silicon, its rivals, and the fight over Twitter.
China's tech news, explained by the reporters who cover it.
Hosts discuss HR technology news, including the annual HR system survey data cleaning process.
John Sumser and Stacey Harris discuss the evolving role of HR, focusing on ethics and AI in the workplace.
John Sumser and Stacey Harris discuss the impact of AI and intelligent tools on HR technology, sharing personal reflections on work-life balance during the pandemic.
John Sumser interviews Cecile Alpern-Larue about HR technology, AI, and the impact of the Ultimate Software-Kronos merger.
John Sumser and Stacey Harris discuss current events and preparations for fall HR tech conferences, with a focus on AI work.
Laura Baldwin, president of O'Reilly Media, says the company has spent years turning books, conferences, and case studies into a learning platform used by 5,000 enterprise customers and 2.5 million unique users.
Stacey Harris and John Sumser open on four virtual analyst conferences — Ultimate, Ceridian, iSIMS, and Degreed — plus acquisition news involving Outmatch, Checkster, Easy Recru, and SamePage.
John Sumser speaks with Michael Carden, co-founder of Joyous HQ and former founder of Sonar6, a company known for its 'performance reviews suck' T-shirts and later sold to Cornerstone in 2012.
Stacey Harris says the virtual HR Tech conference drew more SMB outreach, because organizations that would not spend $1,200 or $1,500 on an in-person ticket could still participate.
John Sumser interviews Mike Gioia, Senior Vice President of IP and Product Development at Paychex, about how the company handles HR, payroll, benefits, and human capital management.
HR Tech Weekly with Stacey Harris and John Sumser #291 centers on November 2020 HR tech news, with pandemic fatigue and election uncertainty framing the conversation.
HRTech Weekly #290 on October 30, 2020 wraps the first virtual HR Technology Conference with Stacey Harris and John Sumser comparing conference noise, better food, and surprisingly strong keynote attendance of roughly 1,500 to 2,000 people per keynote.
John Sumser and Gina Killey use the annual HR Tech preview to focus on 2020's shift from conference excitement to pandemic-era workplace safety, empathy, and resilience.
HR Tech Weekly with Stacey Harris and John Sumser, episode #289 from Oct.
Stacey Harris and John Sumser frame HR Tech Weekly #288 around the 2020 HR Tech Conference, the annual HR System Survey white paper, and a market where trade-show routines have been interrupted.
John Sumser and Stacey Harris discuss the latest HR technology news and the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace.
A weekly podcast covering HR technology news and emerging ideas, hosted by John Sumser and Stacey Harris.
John Sumser and Stacey Harris discuss HR tech news and the impact of lockdown on work.