For many HR teams, the real challenges of the year emerge in January.

In this special episode of The Legal Brief, produced in partnership with national workplace law firm Kingston Reid, we examine the workplace risks and legal pressures HR professionals are facing as they return from the summer break – and what this means for compliance, culture and decision making in 2026.

Host Jerome Doraisamy is joined by Kingston Reid partner Michael Mead, who reflects on the past 12 months in workplace relations and explains how issues often brought into sharp focus at the start of the year, from conduct and psychosocial hazards to grievances and workplace investigations, are reshaping best practice for HR. The conversation also explores how rising claims, shifting employee sentiment, and regulatory change are increasing scrutiny on employers, with predictions about the year ahead and what HR teams and professionals should prioritise to start 2026 on the front foot. A timely and practical discussion for all HR professionals navigating an increasingly complex workplace relations landscape in 2026.

To learn more about Kingston Reid, click here.

Leadership transitions can be challenging, but also an opportunity for the C-suite and HR team to prioritise the maintenance of workplace culture, company values, and worker engagement.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraismy speaks with BDO Melbourne managing partner Jason de Boer to discuss his background in professional services, the workforce changes and leadership and cultural challenges that stood out to him in 2025, taking a more flexible approach to flexibility, and the lessons he's learnt about good leadership and maintaining the right kind of culture.

De Boer also delves into the looming trends that big corporates like BDO will have to stay on top of when it comes to implementing good leadership and maintaining culture, what a good leadership transition looks like, what he's learnt about leadership from that transition, undertaking best practice, the role of HR in effective real change, how HR can meet the C-suite halfway, and what excites him about 2026 and beyond.

The year 2026 could well bring "an absolute schism" between old ways of working and new approaches for human resources, one professional says, while arguing that HR needs to find new and better ways to have a real impact moving forward.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back author and middle management expert Rebecca Houghton to discuss what a car accident taught her about the place and importance (or otherwise) of middle management, her key takeaways for HR from the past 12 months, how HR teams are feeling about the rapid pace of change in the market, and what it means to have a real impact in HR.

Houghton also delves into the questions that HR needs to ask of itself to take the right steps in the new year, the key skills and traits that HR professionals need to demonstrate in 2026 and beyond, rethinking your role in human resources, hurdles to overcome, the recipe for success, and her level of optimism that HR can have a true impact in their businesses moving forward.