Podcasting is growing at a phenomenal pace with the market expected to reach almost $95bn by 2028. Within this huge market, from sports and entertainment shows to true crime and comedy, is an increasing amount of ‘professional’ podcasts with shows featuring HR themes amongst them.
One of the attractions of podcasts is that they can be consumed in all manner of settings; walking the dog; the commute to work; the school run; and working out at the gym. HR podcasts provide the listener a learning experience that can be consumed whenever they chooses to play the episode, meaning they are not an interruption in an already busy day. Think learning on demand.
Internal organisation podcast shows are also increasing in popularity with a number of firms using them to communicate to their internal stakeholders. Again, the benefit of being able to communicate purpose, values and training in a way that doesn’t interrupt a worker’s day is proving very effective.
The HR podcasting sector is very broad with shows focused on training, recruitment, reward, leadership and organisational culture, meaning listeners can subscribe to any number of shows featuring content that is relevant to them.
As HR podcasts continue to grow in popularity, and as this particular podcast is is almost a year old, I thought I’d turn the tables on one of HR’s most popular podcasts and ask hosts Jon Thurmond and Wendy Dailey of the hugely popular HR Social Hour Half Hour Podcast about why they started their show.
This episode is a bit of a delve behind the scenes of how a podcast is created and some of the challenges involved in producing a show focused on HR and why HR professionals should be consuming podcasts as part of their regular learning.
As full-time working HR professionals themselves, Jon and Wendy were keen to talk about some of the key HR issues they are facing at the moment in the US. As Jon says, the labour laws might be different in the country where you live, but the people issues are much the same.
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In this episode you’ll learn:
- How HR Social Hour Half Hour was conceived
- The popularity of podcasts as a medium to communicate to a wide range of stakeholders
- The importance of original content in HR podcasts
- How successful HR podcasts interact with their listeners and build a community.
