This Isn’t Working

Have Employers Missed The Vibe Shift? (Ft. Brendan O'Neill)

Can you feel it? Change is happening — culturally, politically, and inside the workplace. Orthodoxies that shaped the last decade of daily life are being questioned and dumped. Which employers have noticed the 'vibe shift' and which have missed it? 
In this episode of This Isn’t Working, host Tanya de Grunwald is joined by journalist Brendan O’Neill - chief political writer at Spiked, and author of the new book 'Vibe Shift' - to examine why workplaces are both vibe shift battlegrounds, and some of the last places to formally recognise what's happening.
Together, they explore how years of values-driven management, DEI orthodoxy, and risk-averse corporate decision-making have reshaped professional life — and why dismantling or reforming these systems may prove far more painful than building them. 
If a cultural correction is underway, employers could soon find themselves caught between competing expectations from employees, leadership, and the wider public.
This conversation goes beyond headlines and culture war slogans to ask deeper questions about power, conformity, class, and institutional inertia. 
Why do organisations struggle to reverse course once a moral consensus has taken hold? And what happens when employees begin to sense that the rules are changing — but leadership hasn’t caught up yet?
Brendan argues that entire industries and professional identities have grown around enforcing particular cultural norms, meaning any shift away from them is unlikely to be smooth or quiet. Instead, employers may face resistance, confusion, and fierce internal pushback as expectations collide with a rapidly evolving social mood.
We ask:
- Why are so many people talking about a “vibe shift” — and what concrete changes are actually driving the feeling that the cultural pendulum is swinging back?
- Have employers become trapped by policies and workplace ideologies they adopted too quickly, without fully understanding their long-term consequences?
- Why do large organisations struggle to adapt when social attitudes change — even when employees themselves can sense the mood shifting?
- What role have HR departments and corporate leaders played in embedding cultural norms that may now be losing public support?
- Will workplace conflict intensify before things stabilise, and how should leaders prepare for backlash from staff who feel invested in the old consensus?
Provocative, timely, and often darkly funny, this episode explores the growing gap between cultural reality and workplace practice — and asks whether employers are ready for what comes next...
Enjoy the episode!Buy Brendan's new book Vibe Shift: The Revolt Against Wokeness, Greenism And Technocracy https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vibe-Shift-Wokeness-Greenism-Technocracy-ebook/dp/B0G72K3PH8This Is Working (new business network)https://thisisntworkingpodcast.co.uk/contact-2/
Photo gallery from last This Is Working eventhttps://bit.ly/4qOtwrP0The Brendan O'Neill Show https://www.spiked-online.com/podcast/the-brendan-oneill-show/
Freedom In The Arts https://www.freedominthearts.com/
 

Is HR Holding Back British Business? (Ft. Akua Reindorf, Octavius Black, Neil Morrison, Steve Harrison)

HR is under fire – and we need to talk about why. This blistering episode explores what's gone wrong, who's to blame – and how mistakes can be fixed. 
Recorded in London on 10 February 2026, this video shows what happened at our second 'This Is Working' event - an evening of frank discussion and clear-eyed analysis with senior business professionals from across the private sector. 
Host Tanya de Grunwald welcomed a panel of special guests:
Neil Morrison - HR Director, Severn TrentOctavius Black CBE - Founder, MindGymAkua Reindorf KC - Employment and discrimination barristerSteve Harrison - Author of Adland’s Progressive Gaze: How UK Advertising Lost Sight Of The People And Things That Matter Most
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Want to attend our next This Is Working event? Keen to see the report from the second half of this evening? Drop us a line to say hello https://bit.ly/44jT7AW
00:00 Welcome - Tanya de Grunwald11:26 Neil Morrison - HR director, Severn Trent20:11 Octavius Black CBE - Founder, Mind Gym35:30 Steve Harrison - Author, 'Adland's Progressive Gaze'45:50 Akua Reindorf KC - Employment and discrimination law barrister

How Should Employers Handle Activist Staff? (Ft. Jaco van Zyl)

What happens when the workplace becomes a moral battleground, a group therapy session, or a political rally? And how should disruptive employees be dealt with?In this darkly funny, unsettling, and sharply insightful episode of This Isn’t Working, clinical psychologist and culture critic Jaco van Zyl takes us deep into the psychological underworld of modern workplace activism. Before empoyers can find solutions to emerging issues with increasingly demanding and unreasonable staff, they must first understand the problem - which Jaco argues has a large psychological component. From moral grandstanding and identity performance to power, status, and the strange emotional rewards of self-appointed judges of what (and who) is 'good' and 'bad', this is a conversation that goes far beyond people policies, and into the human instincts driving today’s office conflicts. As co-director of Critical Therapy Antidote, Jaco brings a clinical lens to what happens when ideology, therapy culture, and corporate life collide — and why HR often finds itself stuck playing referee (or 'Mum') in battles it was never trained to fight. We ask: - Why has activism become such a powerful source of meaning, belonging, and even excitement at work? Who is drawn to the idea of taking their identity and political views into the professional space, and why?
- Have employers played a part in encouraging bad behaviour - for example, by creating internal staff networks, pandering to demands for speech policing, and embracing flawed ideas like 'bring your whole self to work'?
- What are the psychological payoffs of calling out, cancelling, or 'educating' colleagues — and who really holds the power in these dynamics? What do disruptive colleagues actually want?
- When and how does a drive for 'inclusion' slide into aggression, coercion, and control - and why can't activist employees tell when they've overstepped the line?
- How will problematic employees respond when employers finally push back towards a more grounded, professional working environment? What strategies can they put in place to mitigate explosive reactions from troublemakers who have become accustomed to getting their own way?
By turns disturbing, witty, and uncomfortably familiar, this episode offers a rare psychological look at the hidden motives, emotional currents, and unintended consequences shaping today’s “values-driven” workplace.
Enjoy the episode!
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Critical Therapy Antidote https://criticaltherapyantidote.org/
Freedom in the Arts https://www.freedominthearts.com/

Pronouns v Profit: Are UK Firms Poised To Dump DEI? (Ft. Patrik Schumacher & Paul Sweeney)

Has the 'vibe shift' reached UK companies - and who's to blame for the 'inclusion' practices that turned out to be such bad business? 
We have brand new insights to share - straight from the mouths of UK employers. At the launch of our new business network 'This Is Working', 50 senior leaders, lawyers, HR professionals, risk experts and business owners gathered for a rare, open conversation. We also heard an exclusive talk by Alex Edmans, finance professor at London Business School, titled: 'Was there ever a business case for DEI?'
What emerged from the evening was striking: the problems employers face today were not created just by activists and HR, but by decisions made across multiple departments — including legal, risk, compliance, recruitment, communications, and senior leadership.
In this candid episode, Tanya de Grunwald is joined by FTSE 100 Chief Strategy Officer Paul Sweeney and architect and business leader Patrik Schumacher (of Zaha Hadid Architects) to unpack why employers are finally ready to admit that everyone played a part in creating the current confusion and mess — and why only cross-functional honesty will get us out of it.
We cover:
IS THIS THE MOMENT PRIVATE-SECTOR EMPLOYERS FINALLY START TALKING TO EACH OTHER? Why did so many senior leaders turn up ready to speak openly — even on taboo topics? And what does it signal that, despite the sensitive themes, not one person opted out of being photographed?
HOW DID HR, LEGAL, RISK AND LEADERSHIP ALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CURRENT PROBLEMS? From unlawful policies written without legal scrutiny, to risk teams who missed the clear dangers from HR policies, to leaders who dodged difficult conversations — how did so many disciplines independently make decisions that collectively led us here?
WHY WILL FIXING THIS REQUIRE A TEAM EFFORT? Employers now see that these challenges cut across policy, culture, governance and leadership. No single department can repair this alone. We explore why only joint, honest, cross-disciplinary discussions can untangle what’s gone wrong.
CAN WE MOVE FROM GROUPTHINK TO GROWTH? After years of silence, deference and “be kind” culture, organisations are realising how dangerous it is when teams stop challenging each other. What happens when leaders actively encourage disagreement, scrutiny and open debate again?
WHAT DID PROFESSOR ALEX EDMANS REVEAL ABOUT THE ‘BUSINESS CASE’ FOR DEI? We examine his keynote showing that demographic diversity was never the performance driver employers believed it to be — and why firms are now refocusing on cognitive diversity, evidence and commercial realism.
HOW DID WELL-MEANING POLICIES CREATE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES? From recruitment practices that illegally skew hiring, to training that shut down discussion, to policies that exposed organisations to legal and reputational risks — how did siloed decisions spiral into today’s problems?
WHY HAS DISABILITY BEEN IGNORED — AND WHAT DOES THAT TELL US We revisit powerful contributions about disability being crowded out by more fashionable causes. What can this teach employers about how “inclusion” drifted away from evidence, need and fairness?
WHY TALKING — OPENLY, HONESTLY, AND SOON — IS THE ONLY WAY FORWARD Across the room there was agreement: employers must stop whispering and start talking. Only by sharing what’s gone wrong, and comparing notes across functions and organisations, can we rebuild workplaces that are lawful, functional and genuinely inclusive.
This is a hopeful, energising episode about the start of a new phase for UK employers — one in which leaders finally have the confidence to speak plainly, work collaboratively, and fix the problems created during a strange and turbulent decade of workplace culture change.
* WISH YOU WERE THERE? Buy our bundle including the video of Alex's talk, and the anonymised report capturing the audience discussionhttps://bit.ly/47ZBokp(It's free to those who attended on the night - contact Tanya for details)

Who Will Win The War On 'Woke' Workplaces? (Ft. Eric Kaufmann)

Who is still pushing 'woke' at work - and why is it so hard to challenge? This entertaining episode (recorded at the Battle of Ideas on 19 October 2025) explores the exasperating power of virtue signaling, lived experience and cancel culture at work. And we ask: what will it take to restore balance and neutrality to the UK's workplaces?
With thanks to Eric Kaufmann - professor of politics at the University of Buckingham, and author of Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution - for joining Tanya de Grunwald for this special live episode.****
This Is Working - Tanya's new business networkLaunch event - Tuesday 4 November, 6.30pm, Central Londonhttps://thisisntworkingpodcast.co.uk/were-launching/

Inside The Reform Conference: What Do Employers Need To Know? (Ft. Heeral Gudka & Levi Pay)

Can Left-leaning HR teams face the truth – that many of their colleagues support Reform UK? Or will employees with a St George's Cross sticker on their laptop be forced to apologise for the 'harm' it causes to colleagues?
In this episode, Tanya de Grunwald describes her trip to the Reform UK Party Conference in Birmingham – and what Nigel Farage's soaring popularity (and the UK’s rising political temperature) means for employers.
Tanya, Heeral Gudka and Levi Pay discuss the challenges and risks that organisations must grapple with... before it's too late.
Notes :
JOIN US AT THE BATTLE OF IDEAS!Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 October 2025Church House, Westminster, London https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/battle-of-ideas-festival-tickets-2025/For 20% off use the code WORKING*Early Bird tickets end Thursday 18 September* 
This Isn’t Working will be recorded LIVE on Sunday 19 October at 12.45pmEpisode: Who Will Win The War On Woke Workplaces? (Ft. Eric Kaufmann: author of Taboo, and Professor of Politics at the University of Buckingham)
Don’t Divide Us: The Equality Act Isn’t Working (report)https://bit.ly/45Xe2uz
Reform UK member Saba Poursaeedi’s case against Hightown https://bit.ly/41MTvXf
Heera Gudkahttps://convergentconsulting.org/
Levi Payhttps://www.plinthhouse.com/

How Did We End Up With A Case Like Sandie Peggie? (Ft. Heeral Gudka)

Have standards collapsed across HR? Why are so many HR professionals confused about what their job is – and who is to blame for the mess?
Some shocking practice has been exposed recently, raising urgent questions about standards, ethics and legal compliance across the UK’s HR industry.
Are we seeing pockets of incompetence – or do the worst cases (such as Sandie Peggie and the Darlington nurses) point to rot so deep and widespread that it is now the competent HR professionals who are in the minority?
To explore these questions, Tanya de Grunwald is joined by Heeral Gudka, director of the DEI consultancy Convergent, and author of a white paper titled Freedom of Expression and Belief Conflicts are the New EDI Frontier.
Reflecting on their experiences at the UK’s biggest HR conference – the CIPD Festival of Work, in June – Tanya and Heeral conclude that robust debate and high-quality training has vanished, and been replaced by sponsor-driven content designed to generate income for the conference organisers, not to give HR professionals the challenging learning experience they need.
Perhaps most worryingly, Tanya and Heeral recall a shocking panel discussion at the conference about the Equality Act, where a CIPD staff member said the recent Supreme Court ruling (that ‘sex’ means biological sex, according to the law) ‘erodes trans rights,’ and creates confusion for employers. Then he made a flippant comment about ‘policing’ women’s toilets. 
And the lawyer on the panel – representing Lewis Silkin – appeared to express similar confusion and incompetence.
No wonder this industry is in a muddle, if these are the people who have been appointed to set standards…
Enjoy the episode!
Heeral's company:Convergent https://convergentconsulting.org/
Heeral's white paper: Freedom Of Expression and Belief Conflicts Are The New EDI Frontier https://convergentconsulting.org/foe-paper/
CIPD panel discussion: What Would A Future Focussed Equality Act Look Like?Full recording: https://bit.ly/45jVC5A

Who's Ignoring The Supreme Court Ruling - And Why? (Ft. Helen Joyce & Inji Duducu)

Trans women are not women, said the UK Supreme Court on 16 April – so why have some employers failed to bring their policies and practices in line with the law? Are they ‘captured’, conflicted - or just clueless?
How did we reach a point where the Prime Minister Keir Starmer felt he needed to remind public sector HR professionals of their duty to follow the law (underlining the judges’ confirmation that ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 means biological sex, with or without a Gender Recognition Certificate)?
To answer these questions, we retrace our steps, examining how ‘trans inclusion’ was introduced to employers and embedded into organisations without proper scrutiny.
This groundbreaking conversation between Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, and Inji Duducu, an HR director with 30 years’ experience in retail and banking, is a world first. 
We address the questions above, plus:
* WHEN WAS ‘TRANS INCLUSION’ FIRST INTRODUCED TO EMPLOYERS – and what happened to HR professionals who pushed back against activists’ demands? Inji recalls the immediate, chilling and 'unbelieveably effective' impact of 'no debate'…
* HOW SHOULD ORGANISATIONS HANDLE SENIOR STAFF WITH A TRANS-IDENTIFIED CHILD? Why will they struggle to see this issue clearly? And is this about politics, identity – or faith?  
* WHY DID SOME LAW FIRMS MISLEAD EMPLOYERS ABOUT THIS ISSUE? Was this because of their links to Stonewall - or were young, activist lawyers poorly supervised?
* IS THE CIPD TO BLAME FOR EMBEDDING BAD LAW INTO POLICY? How much damage has its 2023 trans inclusion guidance done to its members' organisations? Which other regulators got this subject wrong, and why?
* DID THE HR PRESS FAIL IN ITS DUTY TO INFORM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS OF THE LEGAL RISKS? Why are significant cases still being minimised or ignored, including by the CIPD’s magazine, People Management?
* WAS THE LAW FIRM CLIFFORD CHANCE UNWISE TO HOST THE PODCAST ‘QUEER AF’ – in which the Supreme Court judges were called ‘f***ing idiots’, to laughter and applause? Is it time for big firms to axe staff who continue to create legal, commercial and reputational risk for their organisation around this issue?
It’s a bumper episode… Get the popcorn and strap in!NOTES: Sex Matters: Putting the Supreme Court ruling into practice https://bit.ly/44eyQgh Darlington nurse Karen Danson speaks to the Mail on Sunday: https://bit.ly/44sL0RD Queer AF podcast at Clifford Chance: - Audio ('F***ing idiots' segment from 33.36 - 36.16) https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/live-episode-star-wars-abigail-thorn-and-sex/id1126301158?i=1000706763444 - Photos https://www.instagram.com/p/DJbHU67CER5/?igsh=anpkMXlodnNxZG5j
 

Is It 'Woke' To Care About Poor Kids? (Ft. Prof Dr Ger Graus)

Would scrapping DEI really mean a 'return to meritocracy' - or is there no such thing? What will happen if employers, educators and politicians stop all attempts to level the playing field, and instead do nothing to adjust for disadvantage?
In this illuminating episode, Professor Dr Ger Graus shares his insights about advantage, ambition and opportunity learned over the course of his long career in education and research. He also explains why he thinks the loudest voices on education and employment policies (including DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion) are often the least qualified to offer helpful solutions.
In this conversation, we ask:
WHAT DO CRITICS OF DEI FAIL TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE NATURE OF AMBITION AND OPPORTUNITY and the importance of representation, role models, confidence, practice and polish as predictors of achievement and career success?
IS IT FAIR TO CLAIM THAT DEI IS ‘SOCIAL ENGINEERING’ when the advantage of class – particularly private school – is surely the most brazen example of social engineering ever, and we seem to have accepted that as a fact of life?
WHAT CAN EMPLOYERS LEARN FROM FOUR-YEAR-OLDS? From his experience as global education director at Kidzania – an immersive theme park for children aged four to 14, funded by corporate sponsors who see the value of investing in experiential learning – Ger helps us to join the dots from young children to the world of work. Did you know girls choose activities below their age range - and kids from the poorest areas show no interest in activities which are alien from their daily life? What does this mean for the talent pipelines that employers see when these kids reach working age?
WHERE DID EMPLOYERS START TO LOSE PUBLIC SUPPORT? If people are broadly supportive of efforts to improve social mobility, where did attempts to improve access for disadvantaged young people start to create suspicion, division and resentment?
WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF POLITICIANS AND EMPLOYERS ADOPTING A ‘DO NOTHING’ APPROACH TO SOCIAL DISADVANTAGE? Is there a risk of civil unrest? Are economics really the best motivator for change? Or do we need to ask bigger questions, like: ‘What sort of country do we want to live in?’
WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR EMPLOYERS TO WORK WITH SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES? Are teachers and civil servants at the Department for Education too suspicious of private sector employers’ attempts to collaborate? 
HOW ARE OTHER COUNTRIES DOING THINGS BETTER THAN THE UK? What can we learn from educational institutions and government policies around the world - and how might employers benefit from more long-term, joined-up approach to policy-making?
Enjoy the episode...
Buy Ger Graus' new book:Through A Different Lens: Lessons From A Life In Education https://www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Different-Lens-Lessons-Education/dp/1032896434

Inside The Stonewall Conference: What Didn't Work? (Ft. Levi Pay)

Was this a business event - or a spiritual gathering? What did Stonewall say about the Supreme Court ruling? And what valuable content did employers gain from their £400 tickets?
Our host Tanya de Grunwald shares exclusive insights from her day at Stonewall's 2025 Workplace Conference - and invites Levi Pay, director of Plinth House (and former Stonewall intern!) to provide further analysis about this highly unusual event. 
They cover:
* What was it like arriving at the event with Maya Forstater, co-founder of Sex Matters? Who else had paid to attend - and who were the noisy protesters outside the venue?
* Why were there no photos, no questions - and no analysis of the Supreme Court ruling?
* Who were the speakers - and what did they cover? Why was Tanya puzzled by some of the presentations, and alarmed by those from the National Trust and Trans in the City?
* Are 'LGBT' partners with an activist agenda starting to turn on employers who they feel have let them down by respecting the Supreme Court ruling (defining 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010) - especially around the provision of single-sex spaces at work? Should big brands be worried about Pride?
* Did Stonewall's slogan 'No debate' end up creating a cohort of fragile (and sometimes volatile) young people who will struggle to integrate with their colleagues?
* Would Levi and Tanya's plans to redesign this event have improved its chances of engaging with the law, reality, disagreement, and the employers who are crying out for advice they can trust in this area?
Enjoy the episode!
 
Thanks to Blackbird Documentaries for permission to use the protest footage https://youtu.be/lLEoBKf1SLs?si=9DFWlKUsj6bXzukI