Does flexible working actually work? Or are today’s ways of working stuck in the past?

Alex Hirst and Lizzie Penny, who jointly ranked at #4 in our HR Most Influential thinkers list 2025, call for a radical rethink of our approach to work, to better meet employee and business needs in the digital age.

Hirst and Penny – business partners, authors and changemakers – co-founded the consultancy Hoxby, and created the concept of ‘workstyle’, ensuring that people have the autonomy to choose when, where and how they work.

Listen to Hirst and Penny challenge the current status quo, arguing why and how personalisation can boost workplace performance.

Are employers doing enough to support the nearly three million people in the UK who juggle unpaid care and work? Natalie Quilter, HR magazine’s #4 HR Most Influential Practitioner 2025, addresses this question and more, drawing from both her personal and professional experience.

Quilter – currently head of reward, wellbeing and benefits for housing provider The Hyde Group – is a passionate advocate for unpaid carers. In this episode, she shares her expertise to help HR leaders better understand what being a working carer means, and the practical ways in which HR can support them.

Tim Pointer, HR magazine's #1 Most Influential HR practitioner for 2025, focuses on the transformational power of agility in business, offering tips on how to adapt to succeed.

Pointer, who is portfolio chief people officer and operating partner for the asset management business Three Hills, argues that, to stay ahead of the curve, HR must supercharge transformation and become even better at navigating change.

Drawing on his extensive experiences of boardrooms around the world, Pointer offers tips for HR leaders on how to become more agile, and how to adapt to succeed in business.