In this week's The Legal Brief, a special episode produced in partnership with national workplace law firm Kingston Reid, we explore how psychosocial safety is now central to how Australian regulators assess organisational competence and leadership, and what this means specifically for those within the HR function.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Kingston Reid partner Liam Fraser about how psychosocial safety has evolved into a core governance risk, with organisational restructures, change programs and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence now all considered high-risk psychosocial events. This evolution now brings to light the need for organisations, particularly HR, to be proactive about ongoing risk management in 2026 and beyond.

Fraser also delves into what work health and safety (WHS) regulators are most heavily scrutinising, the key questions that HR professionals need to be asking in 2026 to keep up with best practice, and why businesses that properly embed psychosocial safety into governance frameworks will ultimately prove to be more resilient, trusted, and high performing in the long term.

To learn more about Kingston Reid, click here.

People are the most important part of any business, and to that end, the HR function can and must play a role in driving value, in its myriad forms, for businesses.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with consultant Jane Edgar (who has served in senior HR roles in numerous major Australian businesses) about the importance of HR's role as an enterprise value driver, what has held HR back from fulfilling certain functions over the years, why the current climate provides a window for HR to showcase its worth, and the questions HR needs to ask of itself in being an enterprise value driver.

Edgar also delves into the practical steps HR needs to implement to drive value, hurdles standing in the way of HR's success, navigating time constraints, lessons she's learnt from running a P&L, taking a holistic approach to creating value for the business, and what excites her about the prospect of HR being more of a value driver.

The Payday Super reforms are coming, but, troublingly, nearly half of Australian organisations are not properly aware of, or do not fully appreciate, how the new frameworks will impact them. Here, we unpack how HR can not only prepare their businesses for the looming changes but also implement practical strategies to ensure smooth processes moving forward.

In this episode of The HR Leader Podcast, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Remote go-to-market lead in APAC Nick Martin about his background in the human resources and recruitment spaces, what the Payday Super changes are and why they are significant, the prospective impacts on businesses from those changes, and the extent to which Australian organisations are not yet across what's coming.

Martin also delves into the potential penalties for non-compliance, the questions that businesses and HR teams must be asking right now, practical steps to be taken, the role of HR in implementing those steps, and how HR can better design new workflows, and his message to those organisations that still have their heads in the sand.