In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Thomas Kunjappu sits down with Spandana Suddapalli, Head of People at Vidmob, whose career bridges analytics, leadership, and culture building across global tech and high-growth startups. Known for her ability to combine human insight with data-driven decision-making, Spandana unpacks what it really takes to build an HR function that’s both strategic and emotionally intelligent in the age of AI.

From transforming recruiting guardrails to crafting practical AI policies, Spandana shares how her team at Vidmob is shaping the future of work one deliberate choice at a time. She talks about the tension between efficiency and empathy, the power of storytelling in data conversations, and why adaptability, not automation, is the ultimate leadership skill.

She also explains how HR leaders can use AI without losing their judgment, turn uncertainty into thoughtful experimentation, and bring a human voice into every decision that involves technology.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a balance between automation, empathy, and business impact.
• How data storytelling helps HR influence executive decisions.
• Creating responsible AI policies that strengthen trust and compliance.
• The evolving meaning of performance in dynamic, AI-integrated workplaces.
• Turning resistance into readiness: coaching teams through rapid change.
• Why emotional fluency and technical literacy now define modern HR leadership.

If you’re reimagining how HR can move from reactive to strategic while staying deeply human, this episode offers a grounded look at what truly moves the function forward.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary’s AI-powered HR Chatbot
• Future Proof HR Community
• Connect with Spandana Suddapalli on LinkedIn

I think there's an opportunity here to say: "I'm gonna leverage AI to

2

redefine the work that I do and still make

myself a valuable asset to this company

3

and be very much part of the strategy."

4

I think the takeaway is if you're

sticking to your job description, I

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think it's a lost cause on the AI race.

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Thomas Kunjappu: They keep

telling us that it's all over.

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For HR, the age of AI is upon

us, and that means HR should

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be prepared to be decimated.

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We reject that message.

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The future of HR won't be handed to us.

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Instead, it'll be defined by those

ready to experiment, adopt, and adapt.

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Future Proof HR invites these builders to

share what they're trying, how it's going,

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what they've learned, and what's next.

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We are committed to arming HR

with the AI insights to not

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just survive, but to thrive.

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Thomas: Hello and welcome to the Future

Proof HR Podcast, where we explore how

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forward-thinking HR leaders are preparing

for disruption and redefining what it

18

means to lead people in a changing world.

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I'm your host, Thomas

Kanjappu, CEO of Cleary.

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Today's guest is Spandana

Suddapalli, Head Of People at Vidmob.

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A people leader whose HR experience

spans global tech, scaling startups

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and deep work with C-Suites on

organizational transformation.

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Now, Spandana believes the future of HR

lies in a redefined partnership between

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human insight and automated efficiency.

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That tension is something I'm

excited to explore together.

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As AI reshapes administrative

tasks and org structures alike,

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she sees a heightened need for

strategic business partnership.

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And a need to rethink performance

and building emotional fluency as a

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competitive edge for organizations.

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So a lot to talk about, Spandana.

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Welcome to the podcast.

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Thank you.

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Thanks for having me.

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I'm pretty excited to be here.

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Thank you for being here

and to your plans as well.

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So tell me about your personal journey

a little bit about how you kind of

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come into this function, the kinds of

experiences you've had and what kind of

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sparked your interest in HR to begin with.

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Spandanna: Boy.

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How much time do you have?

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I actually was a bio major, if you can't

tell by the plants, back in college.

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But I thought my journey

was going to be in academia.

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I wanted to become a professor

and that's the trajectory I

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was kind of going towards.

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But I had a little bit of a gap

where I needed a job before I

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could go back to grad school,

and that's how I found Priceline.

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And they really just wanted me to come

in and analyze their exit surveys.

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And I had a background in

statistics, so I thought, why not?

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I can just use my degree to use.

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And then I found the world

of corporate culture and I

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never knew anything about it.

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And it was really, really fascinating and

I think Priceline was a very interesting

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place to be at a very interesting time

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myself - was around when HR was also

going through a huge tech transformation.

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We were looking at a lot more

HR tech coming into play and the

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people there were really adept at

compliance and talking to people.

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However, it was not very

data-driven strategic function.

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And so my five and a half years there,

it was like fully transformed into

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a data-driven strategic function.

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And that really kind

of hit the bug for me.

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I was like, enough with the academia,

I love this corporate culture.

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I'm going to stay in technology.

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And one thing that I also got really

interested in is the fact that Priceline,

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which was owned by Booking Holdings, had

different tech companies that they owned.

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So I got to do different projects across

the board with Kayak and OpenTable

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and Booking and all of these really

cool companies who are doing their

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own HR, but in very different ways.

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And so it was like a crash

course into HR, essentially.

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Thomas: So that analytical mindset clearly

served you well as you got into the role.

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Sure.

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Now we're at the cusp of

this big transformation.

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Maybe back then it was about

SaaS and analytics, and now

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we're talking all things AI.

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So, it seems like a lot of HR

projects with AI, some people are

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talking about they're doomed to fail.

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Yeah.

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Why is that, or are they doomed to fail?

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Spandanna: Well, I think there's a

lot of noise around it as we do with

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any sort of new innovation, right?

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I feel like I read a quote the other day.

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It's like, AI may not be able to

take your job, but someone who

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knows how to use it definitely will.

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And I think, especially for

people functions, we do have

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to be a little careful with it.

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I know, you know, Meta recently

got in trouble for using

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AI for interview scans but

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I don't throw in the towel

and say it's doomed to fail.

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I think it's the way we use it

and use it powerfully enough

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to make it that much better.

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I don't fundamentally believe

that AI is going to fail us all.

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Thomas: So tell me about some of those

guardrails, frameworks, how to go

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about it successfully, what experiences

do you have and thoughts for others

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about doing it the right way, then?

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Spandanna: Yeah.

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One of the things I - and this might

be a very generic example - but you

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know, since COVID, we've gotten very

much used to sort of this virtual world.

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And so, when you interview people,

it's always over Zoom or Google Meets

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and people kind of got used to that.

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And so when we were doing interviews,

even though we have a hybrid

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culture, so we are expected to be

in the office three times a day.

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We kept doing our interviews virtually.

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And we kept going through the whole

full cycle recruiting process, and then

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we would make offers and then we would

bring people in and realize that this

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is not the person we wanted or they're

not performing well enough, et cetera.

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So, there needs to be a bit

of a mixture of human touch.

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With using technology, I think leveraging

this virtual world is really great, or

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even AI screens is really great, but

there needs to be some human intervention.

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So I purposefully reached out to all of

the leadership and said, from now on,

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we're not sending any offers out without

an in-person interview, and I'd rather

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spend the money in having people fly over

to the office - to New York - and meet

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with whoever it needs to be the hiring

manager or the CEO or the leadership.

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And then, only we'll make an offer.

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And that has quite honestly saved us a lot

of money because we weren't exiting people

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three months later or six months later.

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Thomas: Fascinating.

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I guess now we're not talking about

necessarily AI revolution but certainly

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the shortcuts that have come with the

virtual COVID era where everything's

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been shifted to remote and you've

got completely into efficiency mode.

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And so, you've gotten the funnel

all the way down to remote.

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Yeah.

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And actually were you guys fully

remote and then you kind of came back

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towards hybrid more recently, but kept

the interview process fully remote?

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Spandanna: Yeah, so that's the thing.

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It's like when you change processes - and

again, I fully admit that the pandemic

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was a confusing time for all of us.

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Like we were just figuring out

how to do so many things in a not

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- Some of us got, got a

lot of plants, right?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, exactly.

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It was a great time for plants.

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To be a plant parent, rather.

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But I think it does apply to the AI

screening as well, in sort of like a

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contrast to that, just to bring it home.

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Even when we use AI tools to screen

resumes and stuff, we do test

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it against several other things.

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Is it like selectively only giving

us DEI candidates, is it only

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giving us candidates who are a

certain age and over or under?

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So we do have those guardrails because

you know, AI is only as good as the

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amount of times you use it, right?

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You gotta keep feeding the prompts and so

it only gets better the more you use it.

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We are not at a stage where I

feel comfortable opening it up to

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having AI interview screen someone.

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I still take that very personally,

like I still need it to be some

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recruiter or hiring manager

initially talking to the person.

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But we do use it for resume screenings and

stuff, but I do check those guardrails.

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Is it doing what it's

supposed to be doing?

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Thomas: So thank you for taking

that metaphor from the COVID

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era and digital to the AI world.

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So, in the previous example

about interview process, you

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felt like you went too far with

remote too deep into the process.

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Yeah.

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And I imagine the idea that got you to

change that back and approach leadership

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to change the interview process was

because of results of hiring and three or

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six month retention and manager feedback.

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So you kind of, unfortunately,

felt some pain that got you

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kind of reversing course.

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Yeah.

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In the world of AI, if I take the

equivalent of that, it would be, we got

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sued by someone who was a candidate.

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And so now we've realized

we need to come back.

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So you can't quite have that, right?

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You wanna be a little bit cautious.

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So you have a great example about a

guardrail, around effectively in decision

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making and in interview screening

and any kind of human interaction.

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Your ethos sticks is to make

sure everything is human-driven.

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Spandanna: 100%.

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And I think we do get a lot of feedback,

especially given the market where it is.

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It's very hard to find a job now.

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And I hear that with

every candidate I talk to.

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So, the human element of this

couldn't be more powerful right now.

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I've had candidates where I'm just

happy to be talking to someone.

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I don't even care that I get this job.

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Not that they don't care, but it's

like I'm happy that there is a human

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on the other side and they care about

what I'm saying and want to listen to

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my experience or my career journey.

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AI stuff is a lot of the things

that I use it daily is on around

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policy announcements, right?

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I write something, but then I'm

like: "This is sounding too legalese.

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Can I just like kind of, you

know, judge it up a little bit

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and make people excited about it?"

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So that's what I use it for.

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And similarly for resumes,

it's great for screening.

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So things like, I need someone

in New York and the resume

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clearly says LA, California.

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The person could be great

but I cannot hire them.

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And those screenings are really

helpful but the other humanistic

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aspects, you do have to be very careful

and I fundamentally believe that.

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Thomas: So, let me just stick

on this topic one more, just to

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push you a little bit further.

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Yeah.

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Because you're right in a weak labor

market and one that is inundated,

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especially in the recruiting funnel

with just hurdles of robots coming in

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your way, that's the average experience.

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Yeah, with the idea of efficiency for

the employer, and given that there's

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a lot of power for employers and a

push from a lot of CFOs and leadership

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to just focus on efficiency, cut down

on cost efficiency for everything,

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especially back office, including HR.

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Yeah.

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It's a recipe for much more of that.

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You are specifically, and as with

your leadership team, have resisted

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that and saying no, there's some

lines that we wanna draw with

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our recruiting process anyway.

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Yeah.

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Right where we want to spend, I mean,

think of it spending more money, right?

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By being thoughtful and spending

more time with human experiences.

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Yeah.

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How does that happen, right?

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Like what is the case that you can

make to a, I don't know, a naive CFO

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that says what everyone else is doing.

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"Let's cut costs."

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"Why are we doing all this?"

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Spandanna: Yeah.

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Well, that tension is always there.

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I think if you as the head of people,

don't experience tension with your

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head of finance, then one of you

is not doing the job right, right?.

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Like it's always- don't get me wrong,

I really like our CFO and we do have

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healthy debates around what makes sense.

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What I do appreciate though, is

it's really important to do your own

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research ahead of time whenever you're

trying to make a point or trying to

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get approval on something, right?

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I look at recruitment costs

and a lot of the time we rarely

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outsource our recruiting.

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We are doing it in-house.

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and I try to calculate the amount of time

and money we would've spent in recruiting

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someone and how much that would cost, and

are we willing to do that three months

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in a time where we now have to exit them,

potentially have to give them severance

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because the job market is bad and you

feel bad for doing this and whatever.

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I've had an instance where someone

signed their offer letter, showed up

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to a work event before their start date

just so they can like, you know, meet

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people, et cetera and I got feedback

from literally everybody on the team

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just calling, including people who ended

up interviewing them, saying: "This

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person was just not right at the event.

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I feel very uncomfortable about them

coming in and starting to work",

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et cetera, and that was like, this

person already signed the offer.

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And that's a very hard conversation to

have because they've already put in their

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resignation, they're about to come in

and they're trying to start this new job.

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Very excited about it.

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And now I have to make that call saying:

"Sorry, I think we're going to rescind

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the offer because they were concerning

pieces of feedback on your behavior."

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We probably spent, I don't know, x

amount of thousands of dollars in

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interviewing this person that I could

have spent in flying someone over to

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meet us in person and make that decision.

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So the simplest answer to that

is, the way I handle our CEOs is

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to show up with a spreadsheet.

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I always have a spreadsheet.

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Like it doesn't even matter if it's

a conceptual conversation, like

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it's just good for the business.

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I always put numbers to it.

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And it may not always tell a good

story, but I think that's the

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language they really understand.

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Thomas: Interesting.

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So I had two takeaways from that.

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Yes, the data, but also you did

tell a story here, which is putting

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a real emphasis on what happened

with a very specific instance.

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Yeah.

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But you're really making a broader case,

but which really just gets in the minds of

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the team that you're looking to convince.

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So I think that is clearly a part of

the arsenal here to make the case.

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But the other thing that sticks out to me

is just how thankless the HR job can be.

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That is a tough conversation to have.

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And people aren't saying: "Great.

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Here's an award for doing that."

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No.

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And yet, that's the kind of tough

stuff that needs to happen behind

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the scenes to enable the workforce.

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So, let's switch gears a little

bit and talk about the workplace

267

more broadly 'cause HR has its

place within this transformation

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that is happening across the board.

269

So let's talk about performance, maybe.

270

So how should we rethink

performance from all aspects

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within an AI integrated workplace?

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Spandanna: Oh boy.

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There's so many avenues we

can go with performance.

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I don't even know which one to touch.

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There's this idea of: "Is

AI gonna take over my job?"

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to "How am I going to be

evaluated against bots and agents

277

versus human intervention?"

278

So, I think more broadly,

279

I do hear this narrative of the landscape

itself changing in the workforce.

280

And again, performance is such

a huge component of what we

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do because it hits culture, it

hits aptitude, it hits skillset.

282

So it's just like, how do we

assess this and how do we make

283

sure the right people are staying?

284

And also, the new question you have to

answer is: "Do I need a full headcount

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for this thing that needs to get done?"

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And that is like a very massive

conversation a lot of heads of

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HR are talking about right now.

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And headcount planning has

never been the same after that.

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I do it every year where

we're reevaluating.

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"Okay, there's a business strategy change.

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Do we need X number of people doing

this thing that we are no longer going

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to be provisioning for our clients?"

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And I think that's both an

innovation-wise, really exciting.

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But from a people perspective, it

almost feels diabolical, right?

295

You never want to tell someone: "Hey.

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We realized that this job doesn't need

a full-time person to be doing this."

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And that's a tough conversation to have

because people are then going to be like,

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what do you mean you hired seven people

to do this job and now you're telling all

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of them that you don't need them anymore?

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And that has implications to culture

and it has implications to how people

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perform because they all of a sudden

everybody's on edge about their own jobs.

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Contrary to, I'm a big believer

in AI and I think it's going

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to transform the way we work.

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That's not everybody's belief.

305

And we recently did a pulse survey and

we did ask people, because AI adoption

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is part of our strategy and I do want

people to start using it a bit more.

307

And our question was: "How

likely are you to adopt to AI

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tools in your day-to-day job?"

309

And how that's going to change your

role being more effective, et cetera.

310

Only 70% said yes, that they

are very actively using AI tools

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or would like to use AI tools.

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So there's still like 30%, which

isn't a small number, who are

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like very much AI-resistant.

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Thomas: And there's an

industry context here, right?

315

Because depending on the industry

that you're in, It should be, I

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would imagine a lot lower than

that in many other industries.

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Spandanna: 100%.

318

And I'm in a tech industry and

like, I'm not having any different

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conversations than many other heads

of HR are having in their role.

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But as gen AI became more mainstream,

we actively added it to our own

321

strategy a couple years ago, just around

the same time most companies were.

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I cannot tell you how many exit

interviews I've had where people

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were like, I just don't like AI.

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I gotta get out of here.

325

Like that was sort of

like the theme of it.

326

Those are like kind of

going back to performance.

327

Assessing performance has never

been more challenging than now

328

because the role itself, the job

itself is changing constantly.

329

My job changes constantly.

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My team's job changes constantly.

331

It's like everywhere.

332

Before it was pretty straightforward

because you hand someone a

333

job description, you say, here

are your responsibilities.

334

This is what we're measuring you against,

and you get a score based off of that.

335

Maybe you do upward reviews,

downward reviews, 360, whatever.

336

Now, the constant struggle I get is like:

"My job wasn't the same three months ago,

337

so what are you actually assessing me on?"

338

This has been a fantastic

conversation so far.

339

If you haven't already done so,

make sure to join our community.

340

We are building a network of the

most forward-thinking, HR and

341

people, operational professionals

who are defining the future.

342

I will personally be sharing

news and ideas around how we

343

can all thrive in the age of ai.

344

You can find it at go cleary.com/cleary

345

community.

346

Now back to the show.

347

Thomas: Ah, so you talk about both

the performance review right there,

348

but earlier you're also talking

about just headcount planning.

349

Yeah.

350

It almost feels like anything that

has a halflife where you're trying to

351

look more than a few weeks out, a few

months out, a couple quarters out.

352

Yeah.

353

Any process that is in that kind

of cyclical level, it needs to be

354

rethought or it's riskier, right?

355

Yeah.

356

Companies used to have

five-year strategic plans.

357

I feel like that's a little less

in vogue for most industries.

358

Yeah.

359

But that was a standard, at

least a couple of decades ago.

360

And in some ways, right, quarterly

KPIs or OKRs have kind of replaced

361

the five-year strategic plans.

362

Yeah.

363

But then,

364

there's that dynamic nature,

and you're also hitting on the

365

psychological impact here, right?

366

So, I think I always hear about agility

and ability to learn or adaptability.

367

Those are just things that are

gonna be more valued but based on

368

what you're saying, maybe, things

are accelerating too fast, right?

369

And for a big part of the working

population, it's just too much.

370

And of course, in an exit

interview, that's the one place

371

where you can be pretty, nakedly

open with your thinking, right?

372

As close to it as you kind of

see in the corporate world.

373

What does that mean for workplaces, then?

374

Is it that there's a static percent

of the population that is not gonna

375

be fit for or gonna be interested

in the kinds of jobs of the future?

376

The ones where the people

using AI are gonna replace the

377

people who are doing it before?

378

Spandanna: I can only speak from a people

perspective because we are in the people

379

business and that's how I view things.

380

Like is customer success gonna go away?

381

Maybe, right?

382

Like, if it's just a means of prompt

that we need to give people and you

383

just have bots doing it, perhaps.

384

Maybe I'll tell a story.

385

Very, very, very early on in my career, I

had a boss who's still a mentor of mine,

386

and my go-to was always spreadsheets

and I was like, I'm going to do

387

compensation, I'm gonna do operations,

and this is really comfortable, whatever.

388

But his thinking was, well, if you're

going to be head of HR one day, you

389

are gonna have tough conversations.

390

And that was not my forte.

391

It's not my comfortable space.

392

And this guy had a talent for

firing people and they would send-

393

Never quite described that way.

394

No.

395

Tell me more.

396

No, but he had people send him

fruit baskets after he fired them.

397

Because they were like, wow, this is

the best thing that's happened to me.

398

Now I can go retire or I can

work on this hobby that I've

399

put off, or whatever it was.

400

So, he was really good at it and

he was like, you have to do this.

401

So, he kind of gave me

pointers on how to do it.

402

And there was one thing that I took away.

403

It was like, yes, you're

delivering really tough news.

404

But that's that much more important

to remember how you're delivering it.

405

And so, I take that in

stride in everything I do.

406

I'm not always delivering good news.

407

Actually, most of the time I'm not.

408

But there's a way to deliver

that in a way people don't feel

409

just completely led down by it.

410

Right?

411

And that is the difference,

I think, the people in people

412

space need to really focus on.

413

This is not going to be, at least for a

long time, I don't think is going to be

414

replaced by AI, which is why I think when

we first met, I told that story of I was

415

in a board meeting and one of the board

members said: "Spandana is the only one

416

who's going to have a job in the future."

417

Because it has to deal with

managing both bots and people.

418

And that's the reality of the world.

419

And so again, I think, which is why

I'm very thoughtful, going back to the

420

recruiting question, is like I take

every interview that I do very seriously.

421

And my team also make sure that

we respond to every application.

422

We make sure that we are letting them

know where they are in the process and

423

try to be as transparent as possible.

424

So the human element of it is, I think,

425

the biggest thing we have to

leverage, as people in the people

426

space and not be spooked by what's

coming down the pike with AI.

427

Thomas: So how do you enable that in

the organization to not be spooked, to

428

know that change is coming, it's ever

increasing, roles are gonna change.

429

Yes, it's gonna be hard for

you or us or anyone to look

430

at performance the same way.

431

How can you coach that or

enable in an organization.

432

Spandanna: I don't think

it's a new formula.

433

It's a formula that's been used

and driven and proven with.

434

I come from a startup culture.

435

Some days, you are watching sunrises from

your desk because that's just the reality

436

of being in a fast-paced environment.

437

The people I find who are very, very

successful in those environments

438

are people who are redefining their

work and redefining their roles.

439

And I encourage, I push myself definitely

to be adaptable and try to come up

440

with ways where we can be adaptable.

441

And I encourage my team to do that, too.

442

A lot of the times the question is:

"Hey, I used to do this and I feel

443

like AI is going to take over my job."

444

Thomas: We've all heard that before.

445

Yeah.

446

Spandanna: I dunno if I agree with that.

447

I think there's an opportunity here to

say: "I'm gonna leverage AI to redefine

448

the work that I do and still make myself

a valuable asset to this company and

449

be very much part of the strategy."

450

I think the takeaway is if you're

sticking to your job description, I

451

think it's a lost cause on the AI race.

452

Thomas: And also it's on you, right?

453

Yeah.

454

It's not on leadership,

your management, HR.

455

I mean, to some degree, they need

to be thinking about this at the

456

organization level, but it's on

you specifically to understand and

457

redefine well what is higher value

for you to be working on, right?

458

Yeah.

459

Spandanna: And that's no way for others.

460

Exactly.

461

The leadership does a lot where it's

like, you know, as things are moving-

462

at least we do- where we try to give

people tools around AI and we try to

463

encourage them to use them, put in

policies for adoption and also kind of

464

warn them around guardrails and stuff.

465

So around compliance and things.

466

So that already exists.

467

I don't know if you've ever seen this

very famous President Obama clip where he

468

was like: "Oh, you go into these like big

places and you're sitting with like hedge

469

funders and Harvard grads and whatever.

470

And once you're there, you're

like, oh, they're not all that.

471

You're actually not that smart."

472

So I think people need to be

a little bit more pragmatic.

473

I think waiting for leadership

to do something is not actually

474

gonna help your career.

475

My advice to you would be to think of

something maybe even leadership hasn't

476

thought about and you, you present it to

them and they're all already like, whoa,

477

this person is so impressive, you know?

478

Thomas: So let's talk about

that with the HR function a

479

little bit more deeply, right?

480

That concept of that: "Hey,

all roles are changing.

481

There's gonna be a shift in that."

482

Let's talk about like how HR roles

may shift and how would you go about

483

redefining and pick your role, right?

484

So how do you think about the

various sub-functions or the

485

leadership roles within HR evolving.

486

And do you have any ideas or examples

about how we might put that nugget into

487

practice, which is how can you yourself

think about: "Okay, ways to evolve my

488

own role based on new possibilities?"

489

Spandanna: Yeah, super futuristic, I think

we will end up in a world where we are

490

also managing bots as we are with humans.

491

So that is what is coming.

492

I know that that's sitting there.

493

But right now, a few things that I do is,

you mentioned that we're going so fast.

494

We're moving too fast, right?

495

And in that world, it's really important

to have right policies in place.

496

So that is a big thing that

I do, where it's like you

497

can't just run with using AI.

498

You have to have certain guardrails,

you have to have checks and balances.

499

So I definitely do that.

500

We have to monitor or be cognizant of

the type of AI tools people are using.

501

So it's like, is it open

AI versus Claude AI?

502

And there's like, you know, there

are different iterations of it.

503

There's that - to be very, very tactical-

there's also privacy issues, right?

504

Like, are we divulging company secrets?

505

We have to be very careful about that.

506

So those are the aspects of it that

I definitely get into in terms of

507

the current working environment.

508

The other thing I have heavily encouraged

though, within the people team is to

509

carve out time to see what developments

are happening on the HR space.

510

Just so we are ahead of how other

companies are using AI and potentially

511

being able to leverage that.

512

Thomas: Carve out time to learn yourself.

513

Yeah, those are some very practical

things that I guess as an HR leader.

514

Yeah, you need to have the skillset

going forward to create and help craft a

515

company-wide AI policy around governance.

516

Maybe a training and onboarding, probably.

517

For most companies is

valid, at this stage.

518

And that includes the policies

around knowing about data privacy,

519

which is always was a thing, but

it's just even more, I guess,

520

arguably top of mind with AI tools.

521

But as long as we have so many tools

that we can log into that still holds

522

but it just seems to escape faster.

523

Spandanna: Well there's also like

the fondest example I've heard is,

524

I think this woman from the UK.

525

It was a small company.

526

It was like, you know,

60 people or something.

527

She had everybody write a paragraph

of what their day to day looks like,

528

a day in the life of looks like.

529

And they all did.

530

And they sent it to her and

she put it in a AI tool.

531

And then she asked it to build

an employee life cycle for each

532

of the roles that they had.

533

And it did.

534

And she like sent it over and she was

like, here are the five things you can

535

do to improve your career or do whatever.

536

So it's just like, there are a

lot of fun things happening in

537

this space, and I do think we're

only just scratching the surface.

538

Thomas: That's really interesting.

539

Yeah.

540

So think about how you can

crowdsource different things.

541

I mean, everyone has their survey data.

542

There's probably ways to slice

that stuff into creating outputs

543

that you, otherwise, maybe wouldn't

imagine using that as an input for.

544

So you can play with inputs and

outputs as kind of a takeaway there.

545

That's pretty interesting.

546

Let me ask you about the futuristic

thing that you mentioned.

547

So, yeah, so what does that mean?

548

So, what does that mean as bots, an

agentic AI becomes part of, I dunno, does

549

it become part of headcount planning?

550

These tools are increasingly just

part of the, you know, they're

551

teammates in some ways, right?

552

But yeah, arguably it's just what

software has always been, which is,

553

here's a function in the B2B space, right?

554

Here's a function.

555

Here are people are working on

certain outcomes and here's some

556

software to get them there faster.

557

And now this is like just, maybe

there's a greater percentage

558

software, fewer people, I don't know.

559

But, how does that changed, especially

if anything, the HR lens, right?

560

As you go towards headcount planning

or enabling various functions.

561

Spandanna: That's a tough question

to answer because I don't think

562

we're there yet, but I know we're

getting there very, very quickly.

563

it's hard to imagine that it wouldn't have

an effect on literally everything, right?

564

Like how we do performance.

565

How do we think about headcount planning?

566

My thinking is in an agentic

world, the role of HR is going

567

to be a lot more technical.

568

Like if you do not have any

technical chops, I highly

569

recommend that you do it now.

570

Just to kind of be able to explain why

things are going well or not going well.

571

and I think that's really important.

572

And then the second piece of it is there's

always going to be that tension of,

573

you know, AI is able to do this today.

574

Is AI able to do something else?

575

To the extent where there are no people

working and is it just agents, right?

576

Hopefully it doesn't happen

in my lifetime, but if it

577

does, then there's so many

578

iterations of working that we haven't

even scratched the surface on.

579

Like when I was in grad school, we talked

about- are you familiar with DAOs, the

580

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations?

581

Thomas: I remember that's kind of

gone up and down along with the rest

582

of the crypto world in a few years.

583

Yeah.

584

Spandanna: Yeah.

585

But it was like only two years ago

that I had a professor who like firmly

586

believed in DAOs, and that's what she

thought we were all heading towards.

587

Like, there's not gonna be

no more corporate entities.

588

No more like Delaware

Incorporated or whatever it is.

589

We're all just going to be

communities coming together.

590

I can see a world where it's all

agentic and people are just kind of like

591

contributing to projects, et cetera.

592

But I

593

don't know.

594

It's a very hard question to answer

now with like how the agentic and

595

human mixture is going to affect

our workforce and the way we work.

596

Thomas: When you bring up DAOs, for

me, it almost made me realize maybe

597

we are currently in the peak cycle

of that hype cycle with AI, just

598

like you were when you were taking

that course with where DAOs were.

599

And it's just actually this future

with like AGI and organizations that

600

are self, not just organizing, but

just like working with agents is just

601

asymptotically 5 to 10 years away.

602

And there's like so much more that we to

build towards actually get that right.

603

But there's that, in fact, there are many

other problems to solve in the near term

604

or even in the near term generations.

605

Yeah.

606

But who knows?

607

But it's always interesting to

think about how that could turn out.

608

So let me ask you then,

just as we close out here.

609

Yeah.

610

Just around building

an AI strategy, right?

611

As like advice for peers.

612

I think you were telling me, you went

to like a bootcamp and you learned a

613

bunch of stuff and then you launched

an AI policy within a week, right?.

614

And that's something you mentioned

as like a tactical thing that

615

people should be able to do.

616

So, if I'm an uninitiated CHRO or people

ops person or HRBP, whatever the case

617

may be, and I want to like do that.

618

What did you do?

619

How did that go from like soup to

nuts to launch something like that?

620

Spandanna: Yeah.

621

Well, the truth of the matter is whether

you have a fully functioning AI policy

622

or not, your people are using AI.

623

And so, where I started was

with our head of compliance

624

and security to see which AI tools were

the most famous amongst our people.

625

And then, we also got to see,

because we use Google Suite,

626

we do use Gemini quite a lot.

627

And so, we also got to see what sort of

things that they're really using it for.

628

And then my second stop was with legal to

talk through some of the risks and what

629

are the guardrails and the things that

you can do or cannot do within the policy.

630

So we did that.

631

And then we also encouraged AI adoption.

632

So we've had Gemini come in and do

demos on how to use them, particularly

633

for our customer success people.

634

And it really took off like everybody,

and again, we're a hundred people

635

company so it's not massive, but

people took off and came up with very

636

creative ways of servicing our clients.

637

And none of them were the same.

638

I can use AI for this and I can

use AI for that, but it was very

639

much, they all have the same job.

640

That was very exciting to see.

641

But it was all within, if you do

have a policy in place, then it makes

642

things that much easier because you've

already communicated those guardrails

643

and you've mentioned lawsuits earlier.

644

It also avoids those.

645

Thomas: So thank you

for a bit of a roadmap.

646

And It's not a multi-year

project either, right?

647

You can get it up and off the ground

and making an impact and getting

648

some alignment, reducing the risk

exposure and getting some alignment

649

across compliance, legal, the

employee base, functional leaders and

650

even just tooling standardization.

651

Yeah.

652

Could be a part of the wins.

653

One last question.

654

If I could just ask if you're

talking to your peers because

655

you're moving at a pace.

656

I can feel that In terms of AI

adoption, both at your function as

657

well as the organization, overall.

658

Yeah.

659

And what would you say to your

peers and HR leaders who feel a

660

bit paralyzed by the pace of change

that's happening around them in other

661

functions or in other companies?

662

Like they're not sure exactly how to

start, where to go, what to do, like

663

what would be your message to them?

664

Spandanna: Yeah.

665

I would say, look, I fully get that.

666

It could be dizzying seeing all of this.

667

And particularly if you're in a head

of HR role, you're talking payroll,

668

to the future of HR on any given day.

669

And so you're constantly

context switching.

670

My recommendation would be to not try

to solve for all of it at the same time.

671

And the good thing about HR - and we

talked about this before - HR tech is

672

like the last to innovate on anything.

673

And so, the good news is even

if it feels like we're in a rat

674

race, chances are this particular

function isn't going to innovate as

675

fast as you think it's going to..

676

So I would say take a couple of items.

677

It could be learning and development,

or it could be performance management.

678

It could be engagement.

679

Take one of those and see how

- actually, one of the easiest things

680

people can do is compensation.

681

AI has changed the game.

682

Like before, I used to run 128

column spreadsheets of like

683

comp, merit cycles, et cetera.

684

Now, I think I forgot a lot

of Excel formulas now because

685

I don't use them fast enough.

686

So definitely look at what the low

hanging fruit are, where you can

687

incorporate it slowly, and definitely

don't try to do all of it at once.

688

Thomas: Thank you for sharing that and

for the broader conversations [inaudible].

689

There's so much we talked about specific

use cases that you're doing within

690

your function as well as a lot of

the change management and development

691

opportunities and challenges that

you've faced as an HR leader that many

692

of us out there are going through.

693

So I think there's some insight

and some experiences that

694

we can now all learn from.

695

And I also appreciate the future,

you're looking at all the shifts that

696

can happen but also appreciating the

guardrails that you wanna put in place so

697

that you know you're actually mindfully

moving fast and slow at the same time.

698

From what I can tell, like

that's maybe one way to put it.

699

And that you have guardrails in place.

700

You're thinking about which

areas to drop it into.

701

Yeah.

702

But also explicitly human and non-AI

in certain types of engagements, right?

703

Or certain types of moments in

the employee journey on purpose.

704

Yeah.

705

So I think that's really thoughtful

and a good place for many people to go.

706

So with all that said, thank you

once again, for the conversation.

707

For everyone out there listening,

thank you for your attention and

708

hope you found some value in this.

709

About how you might be able to

future proof your organization and

710

your HR function so that we can

all thrive within the age of AI.

711

So with that said, we'll

see you all on the next one.

712

Thank you.

713

Thank you.

714

Thanks for joining us on this

episode of Future Proof HR.

715

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716

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717

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718

See you next time as we keep our pulse on

how we can all thrive in the age on AI.