The Louise Kennedy Podcast

How can we address mental health issues in the workplace? In this episode of Real World HR, host Louise Kennedy is joined by the self-acclaimed busiest barber in the world: Tom Chapman. After a decade working at Toni & Guy, Tom founded his own hair studio in 2011. After losing a friend to suicide, he quickly realised that his salon/barbershop provided a safe environment in which he could reall...

Real World HR is back for season 3! We’re kicking off with Team Oculus HR discussing hot topics within the world of HR at the moment. We’re delving into the subject of team culture. Can you put into words what your company’s culture is? Sometimes it’s difficult to grasp the true feeling of the workplace, but defining your workplace culture is important to allow efficiency and passion to grow withi...

How can you reduce your biological age to work healthier and longer? In this episode of Real World HR, host Louise Kennedy is joined by Dr Alka Patel, the Health Hacktivation Doctor. Dr Alka’s mission is to provide you with the latest information and innovations in health so you can tap into your mind and body’s innate capacity to evolve, meaning you L.I.V.E. with Longevity, Impact, Vitality and E...

When you’re scaling a business, people should be your priority. In this episode of Real World HR, host Louise Kennedy is joined by Steve Rawlingson, Founder and Group CEO of recruitment company Samuel Knight International. Steve has scaled his business to a muti-million pound global success, earning multiple awards and employing over 100 people. On the podcast, we explore what it takes to scale a...

How can we tackle unconscious bias in the workplace? In this episode of Real World HR, host Louise Kennedy is joined by Kelly Charles-Collins – all the way from sunny Florida! Keynote speaker and author Kelly is passionate about revolutionising the way leaders and employees address the issues of justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace. Within this, Kelly advocates bui...

Have you ever considered the impact mindset has on your workplace culture and business growth? On this episode of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by transformational life and business coach Julie Turnbull. Julie is passionate about empowering teams and leaders and creating a high-energy culture to drive performance. As the co-founder at Activated Mindset, Julie supports bu...

In this special episode of Real World HR, we're celebrating Oculus HR's 10th birthday! Founder Louise Kennedy is interviewed by Sophie Milliken MBE, looking back on the past decade and reflecting on her business journey. Louise shares the story behind founding Oculus HR, what makes the business so special and has given it longevity, looks at their growth over the past decade, and then shares plans...

To kick off season two of Real World HR, Team Oculus HR is back to discuss on-trend HR topics, along with what’s been going on in our world since we last recorded a podcast together. Our discussions include: a recent rise in cases of grievances and dismissals and how HR support in this area; getting your policies and procedures in place and aligning these with your culture; supporting employees’ m...

In this episode of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by culture change, behavioural and people expert Sarah Callender, to dive into the leadership debate. Sarah is COO at Duo Global Consulting, where she works with growth-focused businesses to lead and navigate strategic change. As part of this, Sarah is passionate about effective leadership and runs initiatives to support a...

Developing a culture that works for your business and its people is not as easy as it seems. So much hinges on company culture – including employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. In episode five of the Real World HR podcast, host Louise Kennedy is joined by the founder and creative director at Rowen Homes, Alice Hall. Alice exited her first business, Pink Boutique, after scaling it to...

One of the most vital wheels in the cog for business growth is an effective recruitment strategy. This doesn't just include getting talent into your business but retaining it too. Episode four of the Real World HR podcast features talent acquisition expert Sam Spoors. Sam is an award-winning entrepreneur. With her business Talentheads, she provides specialist support on talent and recruitment. In...

On episode three of the Real World HR podcast, we’re joined by Occupational Health expert John Devitt to discuss these pertinent issues of mental health and substance misuse in the workplace. In his role as CEO at Recovery4Life, John specialises in offering support with sensitive, complex health and wellbeing issues such as drugs and alcohol. John believes in the importance of personal enterprise...

Menopause affects 100% of people. That’s right – it’s the least exclusive club on the planet. With this being the case, why is menopause still not part a concrete feature of the wellbeing at work agenda? Join us for episode two of the Real World HR podcast, where we investigate this and more with menopause educator Sharon MacArthur. Sharon’s own lived experiences of menopause ultimately ended up w...

Ever dreaded having an awkward conversation with an employee or your manager? Or lost sleep worrying about a situation you’re in at work? The first episode of the Real World HR podcast will equip you with solutions to face these issues. Join HR expert and host Louise Kennedy as she shines the spotlight on her team at Oculus HR. The team share their journeys and why they love working in HR. Then th...

The Real World HR podcast is all about putting the human back into HR. Take your first step into the real world of HR with the podcast trailer, where HR expert Louise Kennedy explains her mission and what's to come in the podcast.