Hein Knaapen interviews Corinna Refsgaard, Chief HR Officer at GXO Logistics, with leadership experience across capital-intensive and service industries. The conversation explores what truly drives HR impact in large, frontline-heavy organizations, the importance of connecting HR to business outcomes, and how to scale leadership, culture, and talent in an AI-driven world. Corinna shares practical insights on frontline leadership, employee experience, and building a “culture by design”—highlighting the shift from broad HR programs to focused, high-impact interventions tied directly to performance.

Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction
Corinna’s background across industries and the core question: what consistently drives HR impact.

01:00 – The foundation of HR effectiveness
Understanding the business, aligning people and processes, and shaping culture through leadership.

03:00 – HR’s real impact: linking to P&L
Why HR must drive business outcomes—not just initiatives—and how that builds credibility.

05:00 – Frontline reality at scale
Challenges of managing 150,000+ employees, especially in logistics and service environments.

07:00 – GXO and career mobility
From entry-level roles to leadership—how development pathways reduce turnover and build capability.

10:00 – The importance of frontline leaders
Why site leaders have the biggest impact on culture, engagement, and performance.

12:00 – AI as a leadership multiplier
Using AI coaching tools to scale support and improve decision-making for managers.

16:00 – The evolution of HR technology
Shift from rigid systems to flexible, AI-enabled tools layered on strong data foundations.

18:00 – Focus vs. complexity
Why the highest-performing HR teams are “surgical” in prioritizing what truly drives outcomes.

20:00 – Scaling a global organization
Balancing consistency with regional differences while building “one GXO.”

22:00 – Employee experience and key moments
Focusing on the moments that matter most across the employee lifecycle.

27:00 – What really drives retention
Compensation as a baseline—but leadership, safety, and growth as the real differentiators.

29:00 – Building culture by design
Defining what to keep, what to change, and embedding culture into leadership systems.

33:00 – Listening at scale
Moving from annual surveys to continuous, targeted employee feedback.

35:00 – Not every problem needs solving
Prioritization as a leadership discipline—focusing only on what drives performance.