In this episode of The EX Conversation, Hattie Roche shares why many of the systems and structures shaping employee experience today no longer reflect the reality of modern work. From her early career in internal communications at the BBC to leading employee experience work across organizations, Hattie reflects on how EX has evolved — and why leaders need to move beyond inherited playbooks and rethink how workplaces are designed.
Hattie also brings a deeply personal perspective to the conversation, sharing how her own experience navigating serious illness at work reshaped her view of policies, leadership, and what meaningful support really looks like. Together, we explore why psychological safety is foundational to performance, how listening and co-creation can unlock better outcomes, and why EX should be treated as a core business lever — not just an HR initiative.
This episode will be especially useful for EX, internal communications, and HR leaders grappling with legacy processes, culture change, and how to make employee experience both more human and more effective. If you’re questioning whether traditional approaches still work — and what to do instead — this conversation offers thoughtful, practical perspective.
🎧 Enjoy the episode and thanks for listening.
00:00 – 01:30 | Hattie's career journey and early internal comms experience
Hattie shares how she began her career at the BBC and discovered the broader impact internal communications can have on organisational change.
01:30 – 02:47 | Discovering the importance of employee experience
How Hattie's work evolved from communications into shaping the full employee lifecycle, from attraction to exit.
02:47 – 05:04 | Personal experience and rethinking workplace policies
Hattie reflects on how her cancer diagnosis revealed the limitations of traditional policies and reshaped her approach to designing employee experience.
05:04 – 07:39 | Why employee experience matters ethically and commercially
The dual drivers behind EX — supporting people as humans while enabling organisational performance and growth.
07:39 – 09:07 | Psychological safety as the foundation for performance
Why psychological safety is essential for helping people do their best work and why it must extend beyond leadership theory.
09:07 – 11:19 | What psychological safety looks like in practice
Practical examples across performance management and recognition — and why standardized processes often undermine trust and growth.
11:19 – 15:21 | Scaling listening and co-creation using technology
How organizations can use technology to gather ideas, enable co-creation, and demonstrate that employee voices matter.
15:21 – 16:51 | Moving beyond surveys to continuous listening
Why traditional employee surveys fall short and how ongoing listening can drive innovation and better decisions.
16:51 – 18:23 | Unlocking innovation from frontline employees
The value of tapping into frontline insight and why leadership’s role is to facilitate answers — not assume they have them.
18:23 – 21:06 | Rethinking performance management and outdated playbooks
Why one-size-fits-all approaches fail — and how listening and personalization can improve development and growth.
21:06 – 24:10 | Understanding and shifting organisational culture
How to assess current culture, define the desired future state, and align systems across the employee lifecycle to support change.
24:10 – 27:22 | Rethinking leadership development for modern workplaces
Why traditional leadership training often falls short and how continuous, embedded development better supports leaders.
27:22 – 28:42 | Skills EX leaders need to focus on today
Why looking beyond major initiatives and improving everyday experiences can have the greatest impact.
28:42 – 30:23 | Quick-fire reflections on work and leadership
Hattie shares personal perspectives on ways of working, decision-making, and lessons learned throughout her career.
30:23 – 31:07 | What belongs in the EX “Room 101”
Why Hattie would discard overcomplication and traditional annual employee surveys.
31:07 – 32:27 | Continuous learning and simplifying the workplace
Hattie shares how she approaches learning and poses a question for future guests on simplifying work for employees.
The EX Conversation is a podcast series from Unily that brings together employee experience, internal communications, and digital workplace leaders from across industries.
Each episode features an open, practical conversation with people on the frontlines of EX: sharing what’s working, what’s hard, and how they’re navigating complexity in real time. No hype. No scripts. Just honest perspectives and hard-won insight to help EX leaders learn from each other and move the workplace forward.