HR & Payroll 2.0

In this special episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Amy Dufrane Ed.D, CEO of the HRCI (HR Certification Institute), live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX! 

Amy shares how HRCI is evolving beyond certification to become a broader career partner for HR professionals, including its global work around HR standards, its collaboration with WorldatWork, and its role in helping practitioners navigate a profession being reshaped by technology, AI, and rising business expectations.

The discussion explores why payroll deserves deeper strategic integration with HR and the business, how AI is changing learning needs across the profession, and why credentials still matter in an era where access to information is becoming more democratized. Amy also highlights the growing importance of organizational design, job redesign, change management, and technology upskilling as HR leaders work to build the capabilities required for what comes next.

The group also digs into the talent pipeline challenge facing HR and payroll, including how early-career credentialing, university partnerships, and even high school exposure can help bring the next generation into the profession sooner.

Connect with Amy and the HRCI:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amydufrane/

HRCI: https://www.hrci.org/home

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0 

X: @PeteTiliakos 

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! 

G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ 

OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90

Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

In this special episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Chelsea Hamilton and Sam Thomeier, live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX! 

Chelsea and Sam unpack why pay transparency remains one of the biggest issues facing total rewards leaders, and why the shift is being driven by more than legislation. From generational expectations and candidate behavior to the long-standing culture of secrecy around pay, the conversation explores why employers can no longer afford to treat compensation as a closed-door topic.  

The discussion also gets practical, covering why compensation structure is never truly “done,” how organizations should approach change management before communicating pay philosophy, and why salary ranges only work when managers understand how to explain them. 

Chelsea and Sam also dig into the risks and opportunities of AI in compensation, including job-matching tools, salary benchmarking, employee use of AI, and the danger of relying on noisy or biased data. Plus, why getting compensation “right” is not just about market data or compliance.  

Connect with Sam & Chelsea:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-thomeier-2898537/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-hamilton-shrm-cp/

https://herronpalmer.com/

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0 

X: @PeteTiliakos 

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! 

G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ 

OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90

Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

In this special episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Sarah Severson, Sr. Manager of Compensation at Medline, live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX, for a practical conversation on how compensation is evolving inside fast-growing, complex organizations.

The conversation explores what happens when family-owned and high-growth companies scale faster than their compensation structures, why job architecture becomes a critical foundation for everything downstream, and how M&A, global expansion, and Workday implementations expose the need for common language, cleaner data, and stronger governance.  

Pete, Julie, and Sarah talk the practical side of AI in compensation, from using Copilot for Excel and manager communications to experimenting with AI-assisted job grading and market cleanup. Sarah offers a grounded practitioner view on where AI can accelerate work, where human judgment still matters, and why compensation teams must balance innovation with governance, transparency, and manager enablement.  

Plus, a candid look at the realities of modernizing compensation in a growing enterprise, and why the future of comp is not just about better data, but better decisions, better communication, and stronger alignment across the business.

Connect with Sarah:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-severson-6498ba1b/

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0 

X: @PeteTiliakos 

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! 

G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ 

OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90

Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

In this special episode, Pete and Julie are joined by Joe Ranzau, Partner at Grant Thornton, live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, TX.

Joe brings a CFO-facing lens to the discussion, unpacking why finance, HR, risk, and tax all see payroll differently and why the reporting line may matter less than the governance model around it. The conversation explores payroll’s evolving strategic value, the persistent disconnect between HR and payroll, and why payroll professionals must become stronger storytellers, translators, and change agents.

Together they explore where payroll really belongs, why it remains one of the most misunderstood functions in the enterprise, and how AI is forcing leaders to rethink process, risk, and governance.

The episode also dives into AI’s growing role in HR and payroll, from productivity gains and hard-to-measure ROI to procurement restrictions, shadow AI, data safety, and adoption resistance across the workforce. Plus a practical look at what it takes to modernize payroll: clearer ownership, stronger governance, better cross-functional alignment, and a willingness to treat payroll as far more than a back-office process.

Connect with Joe: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-ranzau/  

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0 

X: @PeteTiliakos 

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! 

G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ 

OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90

Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/

In this special ‘Swapcast’ episode, Pete and Julie are joined by fellow WrkDefined podcast hosts, Sean Luitjens and Paul Reiman of ‘Totally Rewarding Chats’ for a lively conversation on total rewards, AI, work flexibility, and the changing expectations shaping the workforce.

Recorded live from the annual World at Work Total Rewards event in San Antonio, the conversation starts with the energy of the conference itself, where AI has clearly moved from abstract hype to practical application. Sean and Paul unpack how total rewards, compensation, benefits, payroll, and HR are increasingly converging, and why practitioners need peer communities more than ever as they navigate sensitive workforce data, emerging tools, and rapidly changing employee expectations.  

Pete leads the group through three timely workplace debates: the four-day workweek as a benefit and retention lever, the rise of employee resistance to company AI strategies, and Gen Z’s desire for both career ambition and better work-life balance. The discussion gets practical, exploring why flexibility only works when trust, role design, and administration are aligned; why AI adoption fails when leaders frame it as headcount reduction instead of capacity expansion; and why younger workers may not be rejecting hard work as much as redefining the terms under which they are willing to give it.  

Connect with Sean, Paul & Totally Rewarding Chats

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulreiman/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-luitjens/ 

‘Totally Rewarding Chats’: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/totally-rewarding-chats

Novo Insights: https://www.novoinsights.com/

Salary.com: https://www.salary.com/

Connect with the show:

LinkedIn:  http://linkedin.com/company/hr-payroll-2-0

X: @HRPayroll2_0 

X: @PeteTiliakos 

X: @JulieFer_HR

BlueSky: @hrpayroll2o.bsky.social

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HRPAYROLL2_0 

WRKDefined Podcast Network: https://wrkdefined.com/podcast/hr-payroll-20 

Thank you to our marquee sponsors for powering the HR & Payroll 2.0 podcast forward! 

G-P ‘Globalization Partners’: https://www.globalization-partners.com/ 

OneSource Virtual: https://hubs.ly/Q03YFNR90

Zoho: https://www.zoho.com/press.html

Thank you to our ‘wizard behind the curtain’ and show producer Ryan Kielma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-kielma/