What can HR learn from private equity, where talent, culture, and leadership are part of the deal thesis from day one?

In many organisations, the connection between people strategy and business outcomes is still taking shape. In private equity, however, that connection is immediate and unmistakable, with leadership quality, organisational design, workforce capability, and culture being central to the value-creation plan, with clear timelines, defined expectations, and measurable results.

So, in this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, host David Green speaks with Angela Geffre, Head of Human Capital at GrowthCurve Capital, to discuss what this looks like on the ground.

Together, they explore what it really means to run HR in a private equity environment, and what the broader HR profession can learn from it. So tune in, and learn more about:

• The key people questions to ask when assessing a new portfolio company
• How HR contributes to value creation during a 3–5 year investment horizon
• What truly drives performance and retention across industries and organisation sizes
• How HR must adapt when moving from large enterprises to fast-moving portfolio businesses
• How AI is reshaping products, operating models, and early-career pathways
• Why HR must lead the responsible and ethical adoption of AI, not just manage its impact

This episode is sponsored by HiBob.

HiBob brings HR, Payroll, and Finance together into a single platform that employees actually use. With AI throughout, you move faster, work smarter, and empower your people to power your business.

Sapient Insights recognises HiBob’s AI vision, citing the Bob AI Companion for making everyday work faster and easier. Fosway Group also names HiBob a 2025 9-Grid™ Core Leader, recognising the strongest AI vision among Core Leaders.

HiBob. All-in-one HCM for HR, Payroll, and Finance.

​​​Learn all about HiBob’s modern HR platform here

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Most organisations say Strategic Workforce Planning is a priority. Far fewer are prepared for what that actually requires.

Because the challenge isn’t just predicting how many people you’ll need. It’s understanding how work itself is changing, how skills are shifting beneath stable job titles, and how today’s hiring, reskilling, and entry-level decisions are quietly shaping capability and leadership risk years into the future.

In this episode of the Digital HR Leaders podcast, David Green is joined by Vincent Barat, Founder and CEO of Albert, to explore whether organisations are thinking about Strategic Workforce Planning at the right level - and what it really means to make workforce planning truly strategic in today’s environment.

Drawing on Vincent’s experience working at the intersection of business strategy, skills, and workforce dynamics, this conversation explores:

• Why SWP is shifting from a planning exercise to a capability and risk discipline
• What truly puts the “strategic” in Strategic Workforce Planning beyond headcount and budgeting
• Where organisations most often struggle when trying to move from SWP theory to execution
• How AI is reshaping skills and tasks beneath job titles, and the implications for reskilling and redeployment
• Why reduced entry-level hiring today could create leadership and succession challenges tomorrow
• The practical priorities HR and people analytics leaders should focus on right now

This episode is sponsored by Albert.

Albert is your strategic workforce planning co-pilot, built for global HR leaders who are done with Excel, chaos, and finance-led headcount cuts.

Albert helps you decode complex people data, anticipate change, and make confident, cost-saving decisions on skills and hiring without hiring a single analyst.

Discover how to handle the people side of your long-range plan with zero guesswork at albertapp.com/davidgreen

Links to resources:

The SWP Cookbook

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People analytics has spent years building credibility through data. Now the pressure is different. Business leaders aren’t just asking for insight - they’re expecting direction. Where should we invest? What should we stop doing? What risks are we not seeing yet?

But many teams still find themselves pulled back into reporting cycles, ad-hoc requests, and an overemphasis on metrics that don’t always lead to better decisions.

So what shifts when people analytics starts operating more like a product and less like a project function?

In this episode, David Green is joined by Ashar Khan, Head of People Insights and Solution Design at Autodesk, to explore how the function evolves from delivering data to shaping choices at scale.

Join this conversation as they discuss:

• The skills and mindsets modern people analytics teams need beyond technical expertise
• What an effective people analytics operating model looks like in practice
• The core capabilities required to bridge HR technology and HR strategy
• Where “metric fixation” leads organisations toward false confidence and poor decisions
• Why the assumption that AI automatically means “fewer people” misses the bigger picture
• Practical advice for CHROs building or redesigning a people analytics function today

This episode is sponsored by Worklytics.

How productive is your organisation, really? Worklytics makes it clear - with privacy-first insights from everyday work data. See how meeting volume, manager effectiveness, collaboration health, and AI adoption are impacting your team’s focus, efficiency, and outcomes - so you can make smarter decisions, faster.

No surveys. No assumptions. Just clear insight into work. Right now, Worklytics is offering podcast listeners a free 30-day trial of their productivity analytics dashboard.

Learn more at worklytics.co/productivity

Link to resources:

• The Strategic Workforce Planning Handbook
• David Edwards’ Dark Artistry Newsletter

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