This Isn’t Working

The podcast for employers and employees who think it’s time to talk about the failings of workplace culture - and how we can do better.Host:Tanya de Grunwald - Journalist, HR commentator, founder of the Good + Fair Employers Club and careers blog Graduate Fog, and listed as one of HR Magazine’s ’Most Influential Thinkers’

This Isn’t Working is a business podcast hosted by Tanya de Grunwald, with 34 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Tanya de Grunwald hosts This Isn’t Working, a business show with 34 episodes published.

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  Episode #32

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

  Mar 3, 20261h 1mS0

  <p>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? </p> <p>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.</p> <p>Together, they explore...

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  Episode #31

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

  Feb 24, 20261h 5mS0

  <p>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. </p> <p>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. </p> <p>Host Tanya de Grunwald welcomed a panel of special guests:</p> <p>Neil Morrison - HR Director, Severn Trent<br> Octavius Black CBE - Founder, MindGym<br> Akua Reindorf KC - Employment and discri...

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  Episode #30

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

  Jan 20, 20261h 9mS0

  <p>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?<br> <br> 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. <br> <br> 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. <br> <br> From moral grandstanding and identity performance to...

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  Episode #29

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

  Nov 19, 20251h 2mS0

  <p>Has the 'vibe shift' reached UK companies - and who's to blame for the 'inclusion' practices that turned out to be such bad business? </p> <p>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?'</p> <p>What emerged from the e...

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  Episode #28

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

  Oct 22, 202545 minS0

  <p>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?</p> <p>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.<br> <br> ****</p> <...

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