The working world has changed irreversibly since the beginning of the decade. For HR teams, this means grappling with complex compliance issues, building remote working policies, and dealing with trends like the Great Resignation and quiet quitting, all while enhancing the employee lifecycle.
People teams haven’t experienced anything like this before—there’s no instruction manual to guide us, but we can learn from impressive HR leaders who are already shaping the future of work for us all.
Innovators in the HR ecosystem are experimenting with new initiatives, designing best practices, and pushing the boundaries of traditional HR. These movers and shakers lead the charge in creating workplace cultures that prioritize employee well-being while achieving incredible business success.
As we move into 2024, this guide introduces 24 HR leaders who use social media to generously share their strategies, perspectives, and approaches to navigating the future of work. Hailing from various backgrounds and covering a breadth of industries, these leaders all have one thing in common: they put their people first.
Jessica is the Senior Vice President Of People at Refine Labs, where she has spent three years working on topics such as culture practices, talent acquisition, compensation mapping, performance management, diversity & inclusion, and much more. As a member of Refine Lab's executive team, Jessica's HR knowledge has been recognized by her 60k+ following on LinkedIn. Previously, Jessica held HR roles at TimelyCare, GM Financial, and Aftermath Services.
On top of her work as a people leader, Jessica helps her audience as a career coach with her company, Hidden Gem Career Coaching. She also authored a journal titled, "The Hidden Gem Within: Discovering Your Strengths & Talents for a Fulfilling Career," to further help workers find a career they love.
Jessica shares content about culture, people strategy, leadership, and management. Her content hopes to shake up traditional HR practices, which can be seen in her conversations on topics like job hopping and being vocal about your job search.
Aurelle is a Senior People Experience Business Partner at Marathon Health, where she applies her 10+ years of HR experience to focus on developing strategies that augment the employee experience. In terms of certifications, Aurelle is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional and also has various DEI credentials to her name.
In line with her industry, Aurelle posts a lot of holistic content on LinkedIn, such as drawing parallels between hot yoga and HR or talking about the importance of rest and relaxation in the modern workplace. Alongside her regular posts, she amplifies other people leaders' voices by regularly reposting their content. LinkedIn has given Aurelle a Top HR Operations Voice award for her contributions.
Randy is a self-employed HR consultant with over 20 years in the field, having previously worked for top companies like UPS, FedEx, and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. Currently, he provides consulting and people strategy services focused on recruitment, training, leadership, mentorship, and strategic HRBP support.
Randy is another of LinkedIn's Top Human Resources Voice contributors who posts several times weekly. His content is engaging and often draws on personal experiences, such as sharing the simple step of how he made a sandwich shop employee's shift better by chatting to him about his daughter. He also gives stellar advice about trending HR topics, such as how to learn from boomerang employees.
Coreyne founded Progressive HR over five years ago—a service that helps HR and work tech founders connect with decision-makers to make a real impact. Since March 2020, she has been a LinkedIn Content Advisor for HR professionals and tech founders.
As a LinkedIn Top Voice in Company Culture, Coreyne’s posts tend to draw from recent studies or trending news. For example, she regularly shares academic articles and presents the latest data from Deloitte, McKinsey, Harvard Business School, or LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning reports to ensure her followers stay updated on current HR topics.
Khyati is the current CEO of Applied, a diversity hiring platform, where she previously served as the company’s Chief Product Officer.
Leading the drive toward skills-based hiring and away from bias, Khyati’s multiple LinkedIn posts per week cover engaging DEI awareness and strategy topics, such as the importance of recruiting for culture add rather than culture fit. She also shares honest stories about her career as a woman in tech, including her experience as a succession candidate when taking the reins from Applied’s founder, Kate Glazebrook.
Johnny will need no introduction as the President and CEO of SHRM, the Society for Human Resources Management, a professional membership platform with 325,000 members in 165 countries. As a global leader in culture and the future of employment, he also serves as a Fortune 500 Board Director for companies like iCIMS, XPO Logistics, and Guild Education.
As a LinkedIn Top Voice, with more than 435K followers, Johnny posts multiple times per week on topics such as workplace culture and the power that boardroom directors have to create positive change. He also links out to episodes of his HR podcast, “The Work Wire,” which he co-hosts with Bob Goodwin.
Melissa is VP of People for Resilia, named as one of the best tech startups in New Orleans with remote opportunities. With a wealth of experience in the field, Melissa has previously worked as Head of People Operations for Column and VP of People and Revenue Operations for Quorum, where she also served as the Executive Sponsor of Inclusion and Diversity.
Melissa posts less frequently than some other HR leaders on our list, but her content is always gold. She offers highly detailed and generous insights on topics such as job leveling, pay transparency, and total compensation—all guidance that people leaders can take straight back to the boardroom and act on.
Nouman currently works as the Employee Experience and Culture Expert for KSB Company, where he's responsible for talent and performance management and recruitment administration. Nouman's expertise in HR spans Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He provides a wealth of insights into how people function and operate in three vastly different cultures. And if you want any advice about studying or working in Germany, where he now lives, he offers that too.
Nouman posts approximately once a week on LinkedIn. The quality of his posts and his almost 30k followers have afforded him the LinkedIn Top Recruiting Voice.
Melanie is VP of People at Ethena, a compliance provider on a mission to build more inclusive and ethical workplaces. Having worked in HR for more than a decade, Melanie regularly shares her people insights with the likes of Fast Company, Morning Brew, and NBC, and she’s also recently become a CPO Council Member for Lattice.
Melanie has 35k+ followers on LinkedIn and is recognized as a Top Executive Coaching voice. She posts multiple times a week on the platform, sharing highly relatable stories that could be a game-changer for your company culture. For example, a recent post advises on how not to let your holiday office party get out of hand!
Ochuko is an HRBP and HR Leader for the global mining group Rio Tinto, having previously worked in similar roles for Unilever, Amazon, and Shell. She also completed a six-year stint as part of the Forbes Human Resources Council, where she networked with other top HR executives and shared her people expertise on an international platform.
With 17k+ followers on LinkedIn, Ochuko talks mainly about careers, recruitment, and HR, for which she's also achieved the LinkedIn Top Leadership Voice accolade. Her content includes regular mantras, inspirational quotes, as well as reposts of other thought leaders and HBR articles.
Sameen is a Country HR leader for 3M in Pakistan and a Business HR leader for the company's Middle East Africa region. With over a decade in the field and an MBA specializing in HR, Sameen has worked in various people functions, including change management, DEI, engagement, compliance, and HR investigations.
With 20k+ followers on LinkedIn, Sameen shares her expertise on the platform roughly once a week and is a Top Human Resources Voice. Her posts are varied, encompassing quotes, 3M content, and guidance on important employee engagement topics like feedback.
Marcus is a Future of Work strategist working for Infor, a cloud software company. With nine years of experience at the company, Marcus has changed roles several times, working as an Industry and Solution strategist, Global Industry and Solution Market Strategist, and Head of Marketing before landing in his current seat 18 months ago.
Amassing 3k followers on Linkedin, Marcus posts several times a month about topics related to the future of work, including four-day weeks, HR technology, and pay transparency. If you prefer to dig a little deeper, he’s also built out a collection of 69 LinkedIn articles where he gets into the weeds about imposter syndrome, career pigeonholing, and side hustles.
Abigail is the Group HR Manager for Atlantic International Holding Company, having worked in the industry for over 12 years. Her biggest achievements include setting up an HR department from scratch and supporting a scaling workforce that grew from 91 to 800 workers.
Abigail is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience with a wider audience through speaking engagements and volunteering in board roles. She's also a LinkedIn Top Human Resources Voice, with 8.5k+ followers on the platform, posting advice several times a month about topics like succession planning and quiet quitting.
Thila is an APAC Regional HR Manager for the medical manufacturing company Smith & Nephew, having previously worked for Google as a People Solutions Business Partner. In her current role, Thila lists her core competencies as employee engagement, conflict resolution, performance management, and talent development. She views HR not as a support function but as a transformative strategy to drive organizational efficiency.
LinkedIn considers Thila a Top Career Management Voice, confirmed by her 15k+ followers and engaging posts covering everything from industry events and HR advice to cultural celebrations and memes.
Meghan is the Founder and CEO of TalentCulture, who describes herself as an HR Tech evangelist! Her career has included a vast array of collaborations with early-stage companies up to renowned brands like IBM, Google, and Microsoft, where she’s been integral to their recruitment and talent management strategies.
Meghan is a regular guest on numerous podcasts and hosts her own #WorkTrends show. She has also contributed to Forbes and SHRM and serves on advisory boards for various leading HR tech companies.
On social media, Meghan has a massive 45K+ followers on LinkedIn and 132k+ followers on X. Her posts pull together the latest trending news, industry reports, and advice on supporting everyone in the workplace.
Gautam is currently self-employed as a Digital and Social HR consultant, working previously as Director of Talent Branding for Flipkart, an Indian eCommerce company. He has also served several years as an HR generalist and L&D Executive for top companies like Dell, Deloitte, and Hewlett-Packard.
Gautam has long shared his views and expertise on HR with the public. His blog has been listed in multiple Best HR Blogs round-ups since 2009. But if you’re interested in his most recent content, Gautam is active on social media; he has 34k+ followers on LinkedIn and 25k+ followers on X, where he offers his views on trending topics like gamification in HR.
Jeanne is the Founder of Future Workplace, which is now part of Executive Networks, of which she is Executive Vice President. In her career, Jeanne encourages her client base (typically CHROs, Chief Learning Officers, and Chief Talent Officers) to think differently about the future of work.
Jeanne has also been a Forbes and Harvard Business Review writer for 12 years, sharing her experience as a thought leader in this space and contributing to other publications like the Financial Times, Fast Company, HR Executive, and more. Jeanne posts several times a month on LinkedIn, sharing trending news articles and offering her take on these critical subjects.
Trish Steed is a Founder, Principal Analyst, and Consultant of H3 HR Advisors, where she has been for more than a decade. As a seasoned HR executive with specialist knowledge in HR tech, Trish focuses on supporting people professionals in finding the right products to meet their business objectives.
Trish also co-hosts HR Happy Hour, the longest-running and most-listened-to industry podcast, with Steve Boese. She has more than 15k followers on LinkedIn, and her posts mainly focus on promoting various new episodes of her podcast, such as this fabulous Workplace Movie Hall of Fame show about “Barbie.”
Raquel is Chief Inclusion and Engagement Officer at Charles River & Associates, where she works on creating programs to accelerate diversity in the team. These initiatives include diversity hiring practices, employee resource groups, and improving organizational communication. She also works on strengthening CRA’s Environmental, Social, and Governance efforts while achieving synchronicity with the company’s DEI initiatives.
Raquel is a LinkedIn Top Voice with 22k followers who enjoy her content on diversity, women in leadership, and Hispanics in STEM.
Bill has been a Senior Partner with McKinsey & Company for more than 23 years and has recently joined Modern Executive Solutions in the same role. In his career, Bill has advised executive leaders to strengthen their business performance by focusing on the three key areas of talent, values, and culture.
As a thought leader, Bill regularly shares his insights with major publications, speaks at industry events, and has written a book, “Power to the Middle.” With 14k+ followers, he is also regarded as a LinkedIn Top Voice, sharing regular posts and reposts related to leadership and their impact on the employee journey.
Brandon has been Zapier’s Chief People Officer for over two years, previously working as Chief People and Culture Officer at LiveRamp. At Zapier, Brandon brings an interdisciplinary approach, combining his experience in talent strategy, user-centered design, DEI, finance, and operations, to his people ops role. His focus is to put people at the center of organizational culture.
Brandon has more than 10k followers on LinkedIn. He doesn't post regularly but is happy to share incredible insights about how Zapier does people ops. For example, early this year, he described how the company repurposed its under-used recruitment team into alternative high-value roles across the business rather than going through a round of layoffs.
Sahar Naim is Head of Operations and People Experience at BetterHelp, an international online therapy platform. She is also a member of StartupExperts, an invite-only community of HR, finance, and operations leaders at Series A or later companies that want to support each other in becoming people-first organizations.
Sahar has more than 3.5k followers on LinkedIn, where she posts honest thoughts about her mental health journey and holistic content about HR, including its role in creating workplaces that value employees.
Melonie is the Chief Diversity Officer at Google, with prior roles as the company's Global Director of DEI and Director of People Operations. Currently, she leads the Employee Engagement Organization, a team of 130+ Googlers executing large-scale, complex DEI programs designed to positively impact organizations.
Melonie is active on LinkedIn, where she has amassed 148k followers and received the platform’s Top Voice accolade. She regularly shares content celebrating minority groups, Google’s triumphs, and industry conferences she’s participated in.
Lily is a self-employed DEI strategist and keynote speaker who directly supports leaders in building diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. They are also the bestselling author of “DEI Deconstructed,” a comprehensive text with actionable strategies to analyze and apply DEI techniques in the workplace.
Using a systematic approach to organizational problem-solving, their services include consulting, needfinding, DEI strategy development, and data analysis.
With more than 153k followers, LinkedIn considers Lily a Top Voice on the platform, where they discuss topics like culture, diversity, and intersectionality.
As we enter 2024, it's clear that these HR leaders will continue to shape the landscape of talent development, DEI, and people operations. Their pioneering spirit, relentless pursuit of inclusivity, and commitment to people-centric practices continue to redefine the world of work.
Nectar is excited to see what pearls of wisdom they share with us as they innovate within their respective organizations throughout the year. We encourage anyone working in HR or leadership to follow these influential figures, amplify their voices, and engage with their perspectives in the coming year.
Need some motivation? How about setting up a team challenge to follow each leader’s LinkedIn profile? Arrange a free Nectar demo today to see our Challenge feature in action.
