Inside the Workroom Podcast

Ben Thompson and Russell Dias on why using AI at work makes so many people feel guilty, and how to use it in hiring without losing trust.
Employment Hero’s AI Paradox Report found that 41% of UK workers feel guilty about using AI to produce work, rising to 51% among Gen Z. Kevin Fitzgerald, UK Managing Director of Employment Hero, asks co-founder and CEO Ben Thompson and Russell Dias, Product Manager for AI, where that guilt comes from and why it is up to leaders to deal with it.
They also look at why AI-core businesses are growing entry-level headcount. Ben says AI gives businesses more capacity, and more capacity means more reason to hire. Russell names a job he thinks could exist within five years: managing a fleet of AI agents.
What you’ll learn:
What leaders can do about the stigma of using AI at work, and why understanding the output separates AI-assisted work from cheating
Why a human has to stay in the loop in AI hiring, and why judgement matters more as people manage more AI agents
How showing the working won over hiring managers who did not trust a bare AI candidate score
Where businesses go wrong with AI adoption: giving people tools to do the same jobs, rather than redesigning how the business works
Employment Hero helps growing UK businesses hire, onboard and manage their people in one place. See how it works: https://employmenthero.com/uk/
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Bad hires cost more as employment rights arrive sooner. Zinc's Sam Norman and Tom Jewell on pre-employment checks, re-checking staff and keeping culture intact.
Zinc is a pre-employment screening company. Its software automates identity and background checks so HR and talent teams can spend their time finding and keeping good people. Sam Norman, Zinc's COO, and Tom Jewell, Zinc's Chief Customer Officer, join Kevin to talk about what goes wrong in hiring and how to avoid it.
They cover why background checks are too often treated as a box to tick at the end of the process, how AI-polished CVs are making screening harder, and why the Employment Rights Act's move towards six-month rights could push employers to run checks earlier. They also explain why checking staff once is not enough, and why Zinc offers the DBS Update Service free of charge.
The second half turns to what happens to company culture when a business grows. Zinc has gone from nine people in 2022 to 170 today. Sam explains how the team keeps people connected, and why first-time managers carry so much of the culture. Tom explains why autonomy needs more support and context as a business scales.
The pressure to grow is real for UK small businesses. Employment Hero's Employment Index shows 35% of the SME leaders surveyed plan to expand headcount over the next 12 months, while 32% report high or critical operating pressure (Apr–Jun 2026 survey, run with GWI).
What you'll learn:
Why pre-employment checks work best as part of the hiring process, not a final tick-box
How AI-polished CVs are changing what employers need to verify
What the Employment Rights Act's six-month rights could mean for when employers run checks
Why one-off background checks leave gaps, and what re-checking staff looks like in practice
How Zinc keeps people connected as it grows, including randomised Monday team lunches
Why first-time managers shape company culture, and why autonomy needs more support as a business scales
[00:00] Introduction: Kevin welcomes Sam Norman and Tom Jewell [01:35] What Zinc does: automated pre-employment screening [02:30] The UK hiring market: AI-first growth, funding squeezes and regulated sectors [04:26] Scaling from nine to 170 people in 2026's hiring climate [07:57] Why background checks are not a box-ticking exercise [10:34] The Employment Rights Act and why six-month rights could bring checks forward [11:48] Zinc's candidate report: why HR teams feel they can't afford a bad hire [14:53] How do you protect culture as a company grows? [16:05] Randomised Monday lunches and staying small by design [16:53] Empowering first-time managers and "relaxed professionalism" [18:11] Why autonomy needs more support as a business grows [20:38] Why background checks should not be a one-off: the case for re-checking [24:06] Why Zinc offers the DBS Update Service free of charge [25:34] The one thing UK businesses should change about hiring compliance
Employment Hero helps growing UK businesses hire, onboard and manage their people in one place. See how it works: https://employmenthero.com/uk/
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The Fair Work Agency launched in April 2026 with new powers to enforce employment rights. Its CEO, Lisa Pinney MBE, joins us to tell UK SMEs exactly what to expect.
The Fair Work Agency is the UK government's new enforcement body, created under the Employment Rights Act 2025 to bring existing enforcement functions together into one place. For UK employers, especially small businesses, understanding what it does, what triggers an investigation and how to reduce your risk isn't optional.
Lisa Pinney MBE is the Fair Work Agency's Chief Executive. She spent over 20 years at the Environment Agency in senior enforcement and regulatory roles before leading the Mining Remediation Authority as CEO. She brings practical experience of how government enforcement bodies work, not just in theory.
What you'll learn:
What the Fair Work Agency is and how it differs from previous enforcement bodies
What triggers an FWA investigation and what legitimate businesses should watch out for
Where the FWA is focusing first: National Minimum Wage, employment agency compliance, holiday pay and statutory sick pay
Why the FWA is encouraging self-reporting and what that means if you've made a mistake
How AI could be used to analyse payroll and working time data at scale
What UK SMEs can do right now to reduce their compliance risk

Setting unrealistic growth targets doesn't just hurt results. It breaks your team's trust in you. Alex Olley, Co-Founder of Reachdesk, learnt that the hard way.
After Reachdesk raised $43 million in a Series B and delivered 600% growth, the board asked for more. Alex said yes without properly interrogating whether it was achievable. What followed cost him trust with his team. He talks through what he did to turn it around, and what he'd tell any leader facing the same pressure from investors or boards.
Alex Olley is Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Reachdesk, a B2B gifting platform that's scaled through some of the toughest conditions in the tech sector. He's also a Forbes Business Council member and Executive Member at Pavilion.
Research from the CIPD Good Work Index shows workers with poor managers are 50% more likely to say work harms their mental health, a reminder that this isn't just a performance issue.
What you'll learn:
Why agreeing to unrealistic targets is a leadership failure, not a sign of ambition
How to build a stress-tested, data-grounded plan your team can actually believe in
What "wartime revenue leaders" means and why it matters for how you hire
Why the rise of AI has made human connection in business more valuable, not less

Charlie Boss stepped in as CEO of Bristol City FC with a three-season Premier League plan, a head coach to replace and a fanbase watching every move. Here's what he learnt.
 
The first weeks in a new leadership role are unlike anything else. Decisions stack up fast, trust has to be built quickly and the pressure to deliver is immediate. For Charlie Boss, that reality played out in full public view.
 
Charlie arrived with nearly a decade at Disney, senior roles at the Jockey Club (including Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National) and experience at Southampton FC through relegation and then promotion back to the Premier League. None of that fully prepared him for what came next.
 
He shares what he did immediately: aligning the board on a clear vision, bringing his direct reports together to present a three-season plan built around three pillars: football success, developing talent from within and becoming the number one sports brand in the region.
 
What you'll learn:
 
Why board alignment in the first days is everything for a new CEO
How to build a strategic plan fast without cutting corners on buy-in
What honest gap analysis looks like and why it builds trust rather than undermining it
What any leader stepping into a new role can take from Charlie's first month
 
[00:00] Introduction [01:14] What the first four weeks have been like [02:04] Why things moved fast: board alignment from day one [03:59] The three-pillar club plan: football success, developing talent, number one sports brand in the region [05:42] What makes football leadership unique [07:24] Lessons from the Jockey Club and horse racing [10:17] What goes into making match day actually happen [13:16] People, culture and the biggest opportunity at Bristol City [17:17] The fan advisory board: making supporter voice structural [24:31] Final question: how Charlie wants supporters to feel
 
Employment Hero helps UK businesses build the HR and people processes that high-performance leadership needs. Book a demo: https://employmenthero.com/uk/request-a-demo/
 
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What does leading a Premiership rugby club teach you about running a business? Tom Tainton, CEO of Bristol Bears, has some answers worth hearing.
 
High-performance leadership looks different when the scoreboard is public, the fans are vocal and every decision is scrutinised in real time. But the fundamentals (team culture, community accountability, strategic clarity) aren't so different from any growing business. 
 
Tom Tainton is one of the youngest chief executives in Premiership Rugby history. He shares what he's learnt building a high-performance organisation rooted in community, and why Bristol Bears see themselves as something bigger than a rugby club.
 
The episode also unpacks new Employment Hero research on UK regional business confidence: two in three UK business leaders would recommend their region as the best place to start a business. In the South West, 84% actively chose a local supplier over a cheaper alternative, the highest rate in the country.
 
What you'll learn:
 
What high-performance leadership means when results are public and scrutiny is constant
Why community accountability makes businesses stronger, not more cautious
How Bristol Bears balance sporting ambition with commercial reality
What the data says about regional business confidence across the UK
 
[00:15] Introduction [01:00] Tom's journey from fan to CEO of Bristol Bears [03:56] Separating emotion from the rollercoaster of professional sport [05:15] The three strategic drivers: rugby success, Bears Way and homegrown talent [08:32] Duty to Bristol: community as a competitive responsibility [09:01] Leading alongside Director of Rugby Pat Lamb [12:05] Monday all-staff meetings and the culture of accountability [13:04] Balancing growth ambition with financial sustainability [17:41] What tests Tom most as CEO [20:13] Protecting culture: love, voice and the thousand-piece jigsaw [23:16] Where professional rugby needs to adapt as a commercial sport [27:10] What Bristol Bears means to the city and beyond
 
Employment Hero works with ambitious businesses across the UK. See what's possible: https://employmenthero.com/uk/
 
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