Future of Work, a Workday Podcast

The world of work hasn’t just changed; it’s being radically redefined. Between the surge of AI, shifting workforce expectations, and the dawn of human-machine collaboration, the old leadership playbooks are obsolete.

The Future of Work Podcast moves beyond the buzzwords to deliver raw, high-stakes insights from the architects of the new work day. Each episode, we sit down with C-suite executives, AI innovators, and industry pioneers to expose the friction between legacy thinking and the future of business.

We ignore the tech specs to focus on what matters: the industry trends, cultural shifts, and leadership opportunities required to thrive in an unpredictable landscape. This isn't a conversation about tools—it's a conversation about the future of your organization. Stop guessing and start leading.

Listen on:

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  • PlayerFM

Episodes

5 days ago

Learn why the next era of SaaS isn't about more features, but about removing the human friction from the business process.Workday President of Product and Technology Gerrit Kazmaier joins Justin Furby, Workday's vice president of investor relations, to discuss the shift toward agentic AI that personifies reasoning, moving beyond simple automation to create systems that finally deliver on the ROI promise of the cloud. He explores how, by opening the platform with thousands of AI-ready connectors, the future of SaaS is an intelligent, interconnected ecosystem that acts as a proactive collaborator, not just a database.

Tuesday Feb 17, 2026

Is your organization actually getting value from AI, or are you just measuring logins? In this episode, Workday Ventures leaders sit down with the founders of AI-first companies Laurel and Uplimit to pull back the curtain on enterprise AI. We move beyond the hype to discuss why "adoption" is a vanity metric and how to identify the "aha moments" that turn skeptical employees into power users.

Tuesday Feb 10, 2026

For decades, we’ve used technology to help us check boxes faster. But what happens when the boxes start checking themselves? In this episode, Workday leaders Peter Bailis, Jerry Ting, and Clare Hickie explore the leap from generative AI to agentic AI, a shift that moves us beyond the "blinking cursor" and into a world of autonomous digital labor.

Tuesday Feb 03, 2026

Workday's Liz Jennings is joined by Kunal Sethi, vice president of HR Digital Strategy at Medtronic, to explore how AI is reshaping the future of human resources. From early wins across more than 200 AI use cases to building a unified HR strategy, this conversation highlights how Medtronic is turning AI into a catalyst for both efficiency and human impact.

Tuesday Jan 27, 2026

Workday’s Chris Ernst and Carrie Varoquiers discuss the impact of AI on the workplace and their search for solutions to a “crisis of loneliness and disconnection.”

Tuesday Jan 20, 2026

Workday’s Ashley Goldsmith and NatWest Group’s Eleanor Priestley have a candid conversation on designing AI around people, measuring real impact, and making change stick at enterprise scale.
In this episode, Ashley Goldsmith, Chief People Officer at Workday, engages in a conversation with Eleanor Priestley, Group COO Capabilities Lead at NatWest Group, about the transformative impact of AI on business operations. They discuss how Agentic AI can streamline processes, reduce friction, and create opportunities for more meaningful work. Eleanor shares insights from her extensive experience at NatWest, highlighting the importance of HR leadership in fostering a successful human-AI partnership and the strategies employed to help employees adapt to this technological shift.

Tuesday Jan 13, 2026

Legal doesn’t have to be the “department of no.” Aine Lyons, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Workday, and Vanessa Candela, chief legal and trust officer at Celonis, explore how trust-first frameworks help AI move faster and more responsibly.

Tuesday Dec 16, 2025

Workday’s Kathy Pham sits down with former IBM CHRO Diane Gherson to explore how AI can elevate human work. Together, they unpack the skills, workflows, and leadership models needed to make work more meaningful in the AI era.

Tuesday Dec 09, 2025

This episode explores why payroll is entering a “golden age.” Join analyst Pete A. Tiliakos and Workday’s Cristina Goldt to unpack how modern tools, workforce data, and AI are elevating payroll into a strategic driver of business performance. Learn what’s changing, why it matters, and how payroll leaders can seize the moment.
To download the report on insights to unlock your payroll engine, visit: https://forms.workday.com/en-us/reports/roi-of-modern-payroll/form.html?step=step1_default

Tuesday Dec 02, 2025

Workday CIO Rani Johnson and AI Advisory Board Chair Toby Stuart unpack what it really takes for CIOs to lead through the accelerating AI era. From redefining roles to rethinking ROI, they explore how to build a confident, future-ready organization.

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