Shows
Truth, Lies and WorkIs HR really the enemy? With Ben Branson-Gateley from CharlieHR.comJoin us as we ask Ben Branson-Gateley, co-founder and CEO of Charlie HR if HR is really worth investing in and we investigate the nuances of creating impactful HR systems for small businesses. Hear the compelling story of Ben's entrepreneurial spirit, from overcoming dyslexia to spearheading innovation in the HR space.Main Talking Points:
Reshaping HR for Small Businesses: Insight into how Charlie HR fills a critical gap by providing tailored HR solutions that cater specifically to small businesses, ensuring they thrive against the odds.
Cultural Impact on Business Success: Explore how Ben's approach...2024-04-1137 min
The Culture Ops PodcastCan you really focus on employee happiness and still drive performance?Some may see a practical emphasis on employee emphasis as being in opposition to driving performance. Ryo Hanalei Zsun, the Culture Maestro at Zappos makes a compelling case against that mindset in this episode of The CultureOps podcast.2022-06-0940 minThe Culture Ops PodcastUnderstanding the true cost of a negative workplace cultureHow can you tell if your culture is a healthy and inclusive one founded on trust? How do you bring policies to life? Gemma McCall, CEO and co-founder of CultureShift joins us to discuss her experiences of negative workplace cultures, their impact and her expert advice on how to manage and combat them.2022-05-2635 minThe Culture Ops PodcastWhat matters more now - company culture or flexible working?We’re in the middle of the biggest shift in what people expect from work in the last 50 years. Team members are more willing to move jobs more quickly to maximise their compensation - so how can you as a business refresh your culture and policies to better hold onto top talent and attract the best?
Hung Lee, author of Recruiting Brainfood, joins us to share his thoughts and insights into how businesses can remain competitive even during the candidate shortage of present.2022-05-1940 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow compensation affects your cultureCompensation isn’t the only thing employees care about now - which is not to stay it’s not still vital to their experience, performance and happiness. Jonas Bøgh Larsen, Co-founder and CEO of Pento - CharlieHR’s new payroll partner, joins us to discuss how people should navigate compensation to boost performance, attraction and retention and support the culture you want to build.2022-05-1236 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow to codify and update your values to boost performanceYou've codified your values into a functional, high performing culture. But how do you move from an early stage, speed oriented culture into something that fits your current team and business goals? Chloe Bartle, Head of People and Culture at Trouva, came out of the pandemic of 2020 with a stronger team in need of a re-coding of their values which had become irrelevant to boosting performance and was driving away talent. She joins us to talk about how they turned things around at Trouva, and saved their culture by updating it.2022-05-0537 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow to build a culture that confronts racial biasIt can be tricky figuring out a framework and the key cogs of any organisation to work on to confront racial bias and rectify inequalities. Daisy Auger-Dominguez has been doing that good work at the likes of Google, Disney and now VICE Media, and has a new book on the subject out.
She joins us to share her knowledge on the subject and make a case for focussing in on managers when trying to build a culture that confronts racial bias.2022-04-2843 minThe Culture Ops PodcastWe'll be back soonThe CultureOps Podcast is going on a short mid-season break.
We’ll be back in a few weeks with new guests and new episodes on the nuts and bolts of building great company culture.2022-03-1600 min
Humanalytics with VicEpisode 5: Why CultureOps Could be the Most Important Ingredient to High-Performing CultureIn this Humanalytics episode, Vic A. and Ben Branson-Gateley talk about Why CultureOps Could be the Most Important Ingredient to High-Performing Culture."Creating a culture that allows people to be their best and allows people to thrive. So, I feel very fortunate that I get to do that as part of my job, and it brings me joy." - Ben Branson-Gateley, CEO and co-founder of CharlieHR.Culture is constantly evolving and adjusting, and every time we hire someone, there's a process involved, and every time you implement a policy, you're affecting your culture. In terms...2022-03-0732 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow to build a remote-first culture and prioritise the virtual employee experienceFor many, WFH is here to stay. Daphnée Laforest, an expert in remote-first organisation strategy and the Founder of Modern Leaders speaks to us about how you can build a great remote-first company with a strong, supportive culture that fosters inclusion, engagement and performance.2022-02-1744 minThe Culture Ops PodcastCrafting courageous, autonomous culturesHow do you build a culture that fosters courage, the understanding that each opinion matters and avoids the trap of leadership teams thinking they always know best?
Karin Hurt, CEO of Let’s Grow Leaders and author of Courageous Cultures joins us to discuss the tools and necessity of building a courageous, autonomous culture.2022-02-0336 minThe Culture Ops PodcastBuilding a continually self-improving culture through feedbackShivani Berry, CEO & Founder of Ascend says the best leaders are feedback magnets. But how can you turn what is often a scary thing, into something beneficial for the company and culture you’re crafting?2022-01-2039 minThe Culture Ops PodcastWhy inauthentic cultures fail, and how to build a real one.Camilla Boyer, head of internal communications and culture at Hopin, joins us to discuss why a safe and diverse space along with building trust is crucial to crafting a genuine culture for your business.2022-01-1334 minThe Culture Ops PodcastThe importance of culture in the cohesion of high performing teamsKhoi Tu, author of SuperTeams joins us to talk about high performing teams, and why leaders are vital to trust, cohesion and inclusivity in team construction. Without them, you can’t build a business or a high performing team that will go the distance and hit business milestones.2021-12-0945 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow Oatly’s culture of purpose affects discretionary effort and employee engagementLaura Wyatt, People and Culture Manager at Oatly has never seen an employee resign. In the wake of COVID and with many companies experiencing ‘the great resignation’, businesses need to be more creative and intentional with employee engagement than ever before.
In this episode we dive into how Oatly’s culture of purpose and intention has impacted employee engagement, retention, motivation and discretionary effort.2021-11-2434 min
The Mindful BusinessEpisode 23: How leaders are well-being sherpas - with Ben Branson-GateleyBen Branson-Gateley is currently the co-founder & CEO of CharlieHR, previously the founder & COO of Born Social and The Eleven. Ben is a thought leader in the company culture space and is passionate about mental health, progressive policies and supporting teams to enable their best work. Find him on Twitter at @gateley or hosting the CultureOps podcast. In this episode we talk about: - The importance of being an open, vulnerable leader - Do you need to have experienced poor mental health to understand it in your employees? - Why business leaders...2021-11-1633 min
Power of Why with Naomi HaileDo It Your Way - SEASON 3 RECAPSubscribe to the Power of Why on Apple Podcasts.
Welcome to a special *recap*episode of the Power of Why. We are officially wrapping up season 3 of the show with some conversations that we’ve had this season with creatives, executives, business operators.
These are all conversations captured on the Power of Why with guests who are so focused, brave, creative and thoughtful. Here they are:
Joanne Bezzubetz [1:02 – 2:39]
Mussie Hailu [2:39 – 4:10]
Lola Plaku [4:10 – 5:30]
Vanessa Griffiths [5:30 – 6:44]
Victory Omotayo [6:44 – 8:12]
Trishala Pillai [8:12 – 9:20]
Paula Whitelocke [9:20 – 11:17]
Natasha Roy [11:17 – 12:23]
Erin Blaskie [12:23 – 14:00]
Tim Salau [14:00 – 15:12]
Ben Branson-Gateley [15:12 – 17:42]
Mari Galloway [17:42 – 18:33]
If there is a particular episode that...2021-07-2919 min
Power of Why with Naomi HaileHow to Build a Workplace Culture that Attracts the Best Talent with Ben Branson-GateleyBen Branson-Gateley is Founder and CEO and founder of Charlie HR. Charlie HR is a market leading Human Resources Information System (HRIS) platform for small businesses in the UK. Ben has experience building 3 companies during his working years and then started Charlie HR, alongside his 2 co-founders back in 2015.
Ben is also the host of the Culture Ops podcast where he speaks to founders, operators, heads of People and HR about their work experiences.
This episode is for you if:
You are curious about building a strong workplace culture when you don’t have the of...2021-07-1537 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow to harness and support career journeys to boost business and individual performanceLaurie Ruettimann, author of ‘Betting On You’, joins us to discuss how to find the sweet spot of allowing people to work with purpose, meaning and career growth in a way that impacts profitability and revenue.2021-05-2736 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow we’re shaping our culture at CharlieHRThe Charlie Team dig into the journey culture within the team has changed, grown and been codified, as CultureOps, over the years.
5 years of learnings and iterating on the core values our policies and processes are measured against turned over by CharlieHR’s CEO Ben Gateley, Chief of Staff Amy Cowpe, Product Manager Oyinda Bamgbose and Growth Editor Melanie Schmeelke.2021-05-2048 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow your lack of diversity is hurting your business’s culture and performanceHow do you deal with diversity debt and the pressures from investors to hit milestones and find growth at almost all costs?
Chacho Valadez, Principal at Backstage Capital, joins us to dig into those big, important issues that affect not just business performance but culture, retention and attraction too.2021-05-1338 min
This Much I Know - The Seedcamp PodcastCOO Stories — Building Community through ConsistencyBeing a leader is a lonely journey. COOs, due to their incredibly diverse job descriptions, are particularly at-risk of feeling lonely and unable to confide in people within their teams. This is what seasoned COO-turned-CEO Ben Branson-Gateley from Seedcamp portfolio company CharlieHR and Kelsey Traher from Marvel felt. In search of a community that didn't exist, they teamed up to start their own support group. What started as a small pub meet-up in 2015 has now evolved into COO Stories, a London community of over 200 Ops Leaders. From that one community, there is now a collection of different communities across the...2021-05-1136 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow and why you should maximise autonomy in your teamEvgeny Shadchnev the founder and ex-CEO of Makers makes the argument that autonomy alone isn’t what will benefit your team most.
Evgeny shares their wealth of experience and advice on what aspects are most key to developing a culture which supports growth and business success in this episode of The CultureOps Podcast.2021-04-2929 minThe Culture Ops PodcastHow to implement a culture of authenticity and encourage team candourWebflow’s Sean Page joins us to discuss how they’ve made space for vulnerability and authenticity to attract culture adds and improve team wellbeing.2021-04-1549 min
The World of Work PodcastOrg Culture and Remote Working (w Ben Branson-Gateley)James and Jane are joined by Ben, CEO of Charlie HR, to speak about organizational cultures. The conversation explores what cultures are, what shapes them, key levers we can use to influence them and how we need to think about them when working remotely. As ever, the discussion combines theory with practical advice for those in the world of work.2021-03-2250 min
The Culture Ops PodcastOOO - Back Soon!We're going on a short mid-season break to make sure we're always bringing you the best content we can. See you in April!2021-03-1801 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to craft a parent-friendly culture.Small businesses can’t afford to continue to hire predominantly young, childless team members. But it’s impossible to hire smart, driven people who have children without developing a culture that welcomes and enables them to do their best work.
Rachel Carrell, Founder of Koru Kids, shares her insights, advice and experiences of building a parent-friendly culture that enables a team to perform to their fullest potential.2021-02-2536 min
The Culture Ops PodcastDoes having a purpose improve business performance?Dr. Marcia Goddard, Neuroscientist & Culture Lead at Tony’s Chocolonely, discusses the positive effects and trade-offs on retention, attraction and performance of teams guided by an overarching company mission that feels impactful in the wider-world.2021-02-1837 min
The Culture Ops PodcastCan a 4 day work week really work?4 day work weeks, fully remote, fully distributed and high performing - everyone knows Buffer’s team are on the forefront of progressive policies. But how is a policy of a 4 day work week affecting their team and their business?
Nicole Miller, People Operations Manager at Buffer reflects on the impacts, successes and short comings of the policy she helped implement.2021-02-1145 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to consciously craft your culture for a creative, productive workplace.Bruce Daisley was the VP for Twitter Europe for 8 years and is a key player in the workplace revolution as a best selling author in the space. Achieving successful outcomes goes hand in hand with a creative workplace. Ben speaks to Bruce about the importance of actively crafting a motivating culture that emphasises choice, creativity and productivity.2021-02-0438 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow do you build a culture where people “care personally” ?Kim Scott is the author of the best-selling book Radical Candor. Kim shares her experiences of developing a growth mindset, digging into the real examples that led to the creation of the Radical Candor framework. Listen in to the advice which has helped many businesses craft cultures of feedback and enable their teams to perform to their best potential.2021-01-2845 min
There's This Thing At WorkHow do you manage the challenges to company culture as you grow?Our panel dive into the most common challenges to scaling company culture as you grow. Heading into a period of expansion and rapid hiring can instils fear of losing that close-knit, candid and productive team culture. But how can you manage that culture shift?
Experiences, advice and insights in conversation with Rajeeb Dey (Founder & CEO of Learnerbly), April Williams (MCIPD) (Founder of Can?Did!, HR & Talent Consultant), Charlotte Hamill (COO of Born Social) and Ben Branson-Gateley (CEO & Co-founder of CharlieHR).2020-12-1735 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to build and scale a business with a culture of performance and accountability.In this episode we discuss the truths unearthed from the typical startup mantras of culture and performance. Lessons in culture and its importance from a veteran of business building.
Alex Depledge has founded and built two successful businesses from scratch. Through the years, they’ve made mistakes in building a culture of excellence and accountability while also trying run a business people really wanted to work for.2020-12-1134 min
Scaling So Far... with Charlie HR's Ben Branson-Gateley, CEO and Co-Founder In episode #11 of “Scaling So Far”, Marisa Bryan is joined by Ben Branson Gateley – CEO and Co-Founder of Charlie HR.
Charlie HR is the HR software for small teams with big ideas. They believe that while building a company is hard - running one shouldn’t be.
Ben shares some fantastic advice and learnings from his experience founding and scaling teams for both Charlie HR and award-winning social media agency Born Social.
Music from Pixabay.2020-11-2730 min
There's This Thing At WorkHow to receive feedback well even if you hate it.This is one for both employees and managers - because both the individual and business performance will suffer if individuals take feedback poorly.
Practical advice on how to receive feedback well by reframing it in your mind and how to give feedback to someone who you know struggles to receive it.
Experiences, advice and insights in conversation with Rajeeb Dey (Founder & CEO of Learnerbly), Ben Branson-Gateley (CEO and Co-Founder of CharlieHR), Charlotte Hamill (COO of Born Social) and Jessica Hayes (VP People & Talent at Whereby).2020-11-1937 min
The Culture Ops PodcastWe were wrong about culture fit, we should be hiring for values fit.We thought the key to building strong culture through hiring was screening for culture fit. Turns out, we were wrong - it’s a value fit that will be the greatest asset to your team and business.
We speak to Bretton Putter, author and CEO of CultureGene, about how and why companies should be screening for values fit when hiring - and how to define, embed and manage your culture.2020-10-0130 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to build a culture that is both professional and allows people to be themselves.It can be difficult and seemingly impossible to build a culture that is professional and tuned in, but also open to quirks and people enjoying their days at work. One that is both focussed on business success but also gives room for real relationships to form and for people to have fun with their colleagues.
We speak to Angela Bradbury the Chief of Staff at Farewill about how they’ve found that balance and nurtured it in their team, even though they’re in the business of death.2020-09-1034 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to get your company talking about their mental health.How can you encourage and equip your team leaders to have supportive, constructive conversations with their teams about their mental health? It’s impossible to leave your mental health at the door every morning, so it’s vital that companies do more to support and talk about it.
We speak to James Routledge the founder and CEO of Sanctus, a company on a mission to open up the conversation around mental health at work about how you can do that.2020-09-0337 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to use one-to-ones to improve your culture, remotely.The effects of a good one-to-one on your culture and personal relationships at work can be enormous. But in the current work climate of high-intensity, remote work, it’s even harder and more important to do them well.
We speak to Phill Burton, the COO of Bloom & Wild about how one-to-ones have worked for them in a remote setting and strengthened their team and business.2020-08-2036 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to enable your team to bring their emotions to the workplace.Bringing your full self to work is in our opinion both difficult and important. Building a culture of openness and support can help your team feel safe, and achieve those ‘productivity gains’ in the healthiest way possible. Because no one can be a ‘good, productive employee’ 100% of the time.
We speak to Carolyn Stransky, a software developer, journalist and advocate of mental health in the workplace, about her experiences as an employee and how businesses can do better and support the emotional wellbeing of their teams.2020-08-0633 min
The Culture Ops PodcastOn remote working; don’t give up your office just yet.The environment in which our teams work has a huge impact on productivity, motivation and business success. Many companies have been taking their teams fully remote, but that may not be the best choice for all.
We speak to Tushar Agarwal the CEO and Co-Founder of Hubble and Forbes 30 under 30, about why the office isn’t dead, and how teams and businesses might benefit still from a physical presence of their teams at work.2020-07-3036 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to run probation periods fairly and productively.The most important element of a new hire’s probation period is communicating correctly. How do you set expectations, measure success and utilise two-way feedback in a way that is most beneficial to your new hire and your business?
We speak to Chris Edson, the CEO and Co-Founder of Second Nature and a Forbes 30 under 30, about how they have improved the way in which they use and approach probation periods for fair employee and business growth.2020-07-2238 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to hire for the future, remotely.COVID-19 has not only changed hiring and growth at present, it has arguably also changed the future of team-makeup hiring.
Following on from our discussion last week about how the demands on your team makeup are changing - we speak to Phillip Blaydes, the Founder and Co-CEO of Talentful about how to build that team you’ll need, remotely and fairly.2020-07-0830 min
The Culture Ops PodcastIs the team you needed in the past, the team you’ll need for the future?A company without a successful team can never become a successful company. So how can you build a team that operates as a growth engine for the new, future-looking ways of work and avoid creating a bottleneck that inhibits progress moving forward?
We speak to Charlotte Melkert, Co-Founder and CEO at Equalture about how you can optimise your team for the new ways of work through assessing skills, personalities and reactive responses.2020-07-0131 min
The Culture Ops PodcastThe role of therapy in the workplaceTherapy can be a means to improving employee wellness, and therefore business health - which begs the question - should workplaces be looking to provide therapy for their employees?
We speak to Philippa Richardson, the Founder of The Circle Line, about how and why businesses should consider therapy for all employees an essential part of their wellness and business plans.2020-06-2234 min
The Culture Ops PodcastShould businesses be responsible for employee financial wellbeing?In the age of mass furlough, many staff members have had to absorb a 20% reduction in their pay. These tough decisions may have helped businesses stay afloat, but there are also ways your company can help your employees - furloughed or not, weather the storm.
We spoke to Grace Tolley-Smith, co-founder and CPO at Bippit, about how and why businesses should think about their employees' financial wellbeing2020-06-1529 min
The Culture Ops PodcastGetting communication right and aligning your business when remote working.The vital factor to making a culture of autonomy and trust work, is communication.
Now that many teams are remote, aligning everyone and nailing that seamless communication is both key and difficult to productivity and maintaining that culture of trust.
We speak to Sarah Mourtada Sich, the Head of Marketing at Work.Life about how they’re maintaining clear, open, productive communication with their team through these remote-working times.2020-06-0436 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow Bulb built an agile culture that took them from the office to remote work.How do you define an agile culture that runs through every team at your company and prepares you for quick, dynamic shifts? Most teams and businesses have faced a dramatic shift in working styles - and the implications big and small, business and personal, are wide-ranging.
We speak to Tom Fraine the Chief People Officer at Bulb about how they managed to shift their 750 person team from being in the office every day, to being fully remote overnight with the help of an agile culture.2020-05-2833 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to support the mental and emotional wellbeing of your team during COVID-19How can small business leaders lookout for the emotional and mental wellbeing of their teams remotely and during this period of increased stress and tension?
We talk to Robert Rees, Director of The Grove Practice, an accredited psychotherapist, about mental health and its role in the COVID-10 pandemic, and how to deal with your own and support that of your teams.2020-05-1231 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow small businesses will survive and thrive after COVID-19How can small business leaders overcome the shock their companies and teams are suffering during this pandemic - and think about how to develop strong teams and cultures in the long-term that will get us through the short term?
We speak to Charlotte Hamill the COO of Born Social about how she’s thinking about what comes next, what policies and processes we need to be thinking about in a post-COVID world and acting on the fact that our teams need our support now more than ever.2020-05-0538 min
The Culture Ops PodcastShould you be prioritising team development during COVID-19?How do you look at the context of the business, the individual and the situation to decide where your focus should lie right now? Whether honing in on personal development is not just the right thing to drive for with the individual, but for overall business health?
We speak to Tom Marsden the CEO of Saberr to dig into a question we’ve been receiving over and over again since our working lives changed. Is now the right time to be focussing on your team's development?2020-04-2830 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to tackle furloughing the right way.For the health and survival of many small businesses, furloughing staff is necessary in these turbulent times.
But how do you minimise the number of jobs lost, accurately calculate the cost and practicality of your minimum ‘skeleton team’ to keep the business going while taking the best possible care of both your team and company?
We talk to Lewis Tasker, COO of JustPark about how to get furloughing right.2020-04-2136 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to nurture a remote culture.Now that the vast majority of small businesses are officially working from home, different lifestyles, communication styles and work elements can lead to serious negative impacts on work culture, productivity and mental health.
We talk to Nick Matthews, the VP and General Manager of Culture Amp to find out how small business leaders can create a positive and sustainable remote working culture.2020-04-0737 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to look after your team's morale, when we're all struggling.We speak with Sam Clarke, the founder of happiness consultancy Samanthaand.co about how you can prevent morale from sliding when social distancing is weighing heavily on everyone’s mind. This is how you support and elevate your team to be happy and continue to be productive in a measurable and sustainable way.2020-03-2734 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to adapt your leadership style in a time of crisis.It’s hard to get remote working right - in a way that supports your business, and your team wherever they may be. Leadership styles in times of crisis can be instrumental in making remote businesses work. We speak to Perri Lewis, the CEO of Mastered, about how leaders can step up and give their teams what they need without over complicating things, from afar.2020-03-2437 min
The Culture Ops PodcastCulture - The good, the bad and the ugly.Eliza Eddison, previously of Palantir Technologies, shares her experiences of the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to high-performance company culture.
The culture at work can be hard to shape. As a leader, it’s your job to plan ahead for challenges that may come up against your convictions and may be detrimental to your business and people. How do you, and just how important, is building a high-performance team that also benefits from a positive, supportive work culture?2020-03-1032 min
The Culture Ops PodcastPerformance reviews are changing - here’s how to get them right.Performance reviews can be employee-led or company-centric - but which will enable people to perform? Ginni Lisk, People and Culture Partner at Unleashed, goes over how you can build productive performance reviews through conversations and respecting psychological contracts. This is how to get performance reviews right.2020-03-0333 min
The Culture Ops PodcastHow to build a high performance culture - without perks.Jess Ruben had to develop a high performance culture. As a part of that, she decided to roll back a load of perks at JudoPay. When she took on the role, she made the decision to retract their unlimited holiday, £1000/year tax-free travel budgets and Sanctus subscriptions. It was a bold move in a bid to genuinely improve employee experience, motivation and performance.
In this episode, we discuss why Jess felt the need to role back those heavy-hitting perks, what she introduced, what the effects were and how she felt at each stage of the process.2020-02-2433 min
The Culture Ops PodcastWe f*cked up and hired someone too junior.In 2019 we hired Jack into a position that had too few resources to support and help him grow. He was a strong grad, and a strong culture fit - so it was rough when we had to let him go because we’d made a hiring mistake. In this episode, we cover the effect it had on him, and what it meant for his career and confidence.2020-02-1830 min
The Culture Ops PodcastWhat it felt like to fire a whole team with Kelsey TraherKelsey, the COO at Marvel, had to fire their entire outbound sales team.
Having read a book that many in the tech startup/scale-up world take as a roadmap to success, they made the decision to take what seemed like the best next step for the growth of Marvel - hiring a strong outbound sales team. Their culture grew with their team size so much so that when the conclusion was drawn that the outbound sales team didn’t make sense for their business, firing the entire team was also a blow to the company culture that had flourished.
We ge...2020-02-1228 min