Summary
L. David Kingsley, Chief People Officer at Illumio, joins Jeet Mukherjee on The WorkOps Podcast to talk about what AI is doing to the People function from inside a zero trust cybersecurity company. David spent 13 years in management consulting at Accenture and Booz Allen before a single moment changed his path: he asked a disruptive HR business partner to leave his account planning meeting, then started wondering what HR would look like if it showed up differently. Salesforce called soon after, and he has led People teams ever since.

The conversation covers the anti pattern he sees in early career teams, a 14 slide deck produced in 17 minutes that skips the learning that comes from building it yourself, and his rule that AI work should never take longer to read than it took to make. David explains how Illumio governs AI inside its own Copilot instance, why HR has to move from necessary evil to trusted advisor to earn a voice on the future of work, and how recruiting coordination has changed almost overnight. He also describes the month every member of his people team built and named an AI agent, from LL Coolpay in compensation to Ingrid in people operations, and his plan to put those agents on the org chart. For CHROs, People Ops leaders and anyone deciding where agents belong in the HR operating model.

Chapters
00:00 Cold open
00:54 Welcome L. David Kingsley, Chief People Officer at Illumio
02:53 The day he asked HR to leave the meeting
07:57 AI slop and the learning early career people skip
15:52 Process maps in minutes, not weeks
18:50 AI governance inside a walled garden
23:20 From necessary evil to trusted advisor
31:16 The chief workforce officer and the new shape of HR
36:51 AI agents with cheeky names on the org chart
42:38 One front door for every employee

Takeaways
- AI can produce a polished 14 slide deck in 17 minutes, but early career people who skip the whiteboard to final draft process also skip the pattern matching that makes them credible in front of a board.
- David's rule for AI work product is simple: it should never take longer for someone to consume it than it took you to create it.
- Illumio keeps AI inside its own Copilot instance, steered by an executive AI committee and a working group, and would rather leave some value on the table than let company data into personal accounts.
- HR only gets a say in how AI changes the nature of work once it has moved from necessary evil to critical enabler to trusted advisor, by showing up as a business person first.
- Every member of Illumio's people team built and named an AI agent, and by the end of Q1 next year those agents will sit on the org chart reporting to each of David's direct reports.

Connect with the Guest
L. David Kingsley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldavidkingsley/
Company Website: https://www.illumio.com

Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR.

See more at kinfolkhq.com

Summary
Is AI a skill to list on a job description, or simply the way work gets done now? In this episode of The WorkOps Podcast, host Jeet Mukerji sits down with Amy Garefis, Chief People Officer at ZipRecruiter, who spent most of her career as a CPA before moving into HR four years ago. Amy explains why the hardest part of that move was accepting that people decisions rarely have a right answer, and why ZipRecruiter keeps investing in interns and early career talent while other companies pull back. She walks through how her people team is adopting AI, from baseline courses to self-identified evangelists building workflows, and why freed-up time disappears unless you plan for it. She also shares the story of ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks in Phoenix, where the original goal of productivity gave way to something the company values more: connection. A practical conversation for people leaders working out how to bring their teams along on AI without losing the human side of the work.

Chapters
00:00 Cold open
00:43 Welcome Amy Garefis of ZipRecruiter
01:06 From CPA to chief people officer
04:11 Why HR decisions rarely have a right answer
05:47 Should new grads start in HR?
08:04 Why ZipRecruiter still hires early career talent
11:11 Is AI turning everyone into a manager?
15:11 Tokens, time and how the people team uses AI
20:38 Building AI fluency across the company
25:08 ZipRecruiter's quarterly collaboration weeks
34:38 Advice for leaders driving AI adoption

Takeaways
- AI is a way of working, not a skill. Amy expects it to appear in job descriptions for now, then fade into a baseline expectation the way "internet" once did.
- HR rarely has a right answer. Moving from accounting meant getting comfortable with decisions everyone can relate to and has an opinion on.
- Automation does not create free time by itself. Decide in advance which strategic work the saved hours will go to, or other tasks will absorb them.
- Make AI adoption accessible. Offer a finite set of tools, share small real examples, and let self-identified evangelists lead inside each department.
- In-person time pays off in connection more than output. ZipRecruiter's collaboration weeks started as a productivity play and became a team building one.

Connect with the Guest
Amy Garefis LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-garefis/
Company Website: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/

Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR.

See more at kinfolkhq.com

Heather Oxley, CHRO at Perficient, joins Jeet Mukherjee on The WorkOps Podcast to explain how a 7,000 person IT services company is rebuilding its People function around AI without pretending everything can move at the same pace. She opens with the work study she ran on arrival, which found that 60% of HR's workload was inquiry, and shows how that single number set her first priority.

From there the conversation moves through Perficient's two speed operating model, the AI academy whose capstone requires a real client or internal outcome, and the decision to break 40 semi autonomous units into global practices so hiring draws from the largest pool instead of the smallest. Heather is direct about what does not work, including concentrating AI accountability in one person and treating course completion as proof of skill. HR leaders, People Ops practitioners and anyone building an AI operating plan for the function will find a practical sequence here: measure, separate fast from slow, prove the skill, fix the structure, then buy for speed.

Chapters
00:00 Cold open
00:54 Welcome Heather Oxley of Perficient
01:12 From IT consulting to the CHRO seat at Perficient
03:18 Why the CHRO job keeps expanding
05:11 Where HR ends and IT begins
07:06 Spreading AI accountability across the HR leadership team
09:41 The academy, the capstone, and applied AI skill
12:16 Go fast on the obvious, slow on the complex
13:02 60% of HR workload was inquiry
15:26 Build versus buy on hiring and skills
19:29 Global practices and matching supply to demand
23:01 HR in three years, agent supported and proactive
26:20 Pilots, passengers, and leaning into the hard

Takeaways
- A work study at Perficient found that 60% of HR's workload was inquiry, questions already answered somewhere in the policy library, which made an inquiry agent the obvious first place to move fast.
- Perficient runs at two speeds by design: fast where the ROI is clear and the blocker is data hygiene, slower where cross silo handoffs offer a real chance to redesign the employee experience.
- Course completion does not count as capability at Perficient, because the AI academy only certifies people once they finish a capstone applied to a real client or internal situation and assessed on the outcome.
- Rather than appointing an AI transformation lead, Heather gives every function head accountability for AI in their area, on the logic that concentrating ownership in one person slows the whole organization down.
- Consolidating roughly 40 autonomous units into global practices widened the hiring funnel from the smallest pod to the largest, and a bought skills platform, kept current by feeds from learning and daily work, powers the supply to demand match.

Connect with the Guest
Heather Oxley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatheroxley/
Company Website: https://www.perficient.com

Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Kinfolk, the AI service desk built for HR.

See more at kinfolkhq.com