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Episode 6: Reimagining the Workplace in 2026: Trends Shaping Employee Engagement
Streamed on 19th March, 2026
A Few key takeaways
- Fear of obsolescence is rising: Employees worry more about becoming irrelevant than losing jobs.
- Belonging is weakening in hybrid work: Disconnection is emerging as a major engagement risk.
- Pay alone does not drive engagement: Compensation ensures presence, not passion.
- Intrinsic rewards matter more than ever: Purpose, recognition, and connection drive commitment.
- Human-AI balance is essential: Organizations must help employees stay valuable as technology evolves.
About the Session
In this episode of Flip the R's, John Land, Chief Advocacy Officer at Vantage Circle, is joined by Carol McKinlay, CHRO at Pebble, and Tim Flank, VP of Integration and Organizational Effectiveness at RWJBarnabas Health, to discuss how rapid technological change and hybrid work are reshaping the workplace. The conversation explores rising fears of obsolescence, the erosion of belonging, and why pay alone no longer drives engagement. It highlights the growing importance of purpose, recognition, connection, and future-ready skills to help employees feel valued and relevant in an AI-driven world.
Session Guests
John Land
Chief Advocacy Officer - Vantage Circle
John Land is the Chief Advocacy Officer at Vantage Circle, where he champions employee engagement and recognition through modern, data-driven strategies. A former Partner at Mercer, CHRO, and U.S. Navy officer, he brings deep expertise in HR transformation, recognition design, and workforce strategy to organizations worldwide.
Carol MacKinlay
CHRO at Pebl
Carol MacKinlay is Chief Human Resources Officer at Pebl and a Board member since 2024, with extensive leadership experience across global technology and digital organizations. She previously served as Chief People Officer at Binance.US and UserTesting, where she led the company through its public offering, and has held executive roles at Plantronics, Xero, Coverity (Black Duck), and Matterport. Earlier in her career, she worked with KPMG on financial strategy and executive compensation and founded an executive compensation consultancy.
Tim Flank
VP of Integration and Organizational Effectiveness at RWJBarnabas Health
Tim Flank is VP of Integration and Organizational Effectiveness at RWJBarnabas Health, one of New Jersey's largest academic health systems, and a workforce transformation expert leading large-scale integration, culture alignment, and effectiveness initiatives. Previously a leader at Mercer, he pioneered skills-based work design and human-AI workforce strategy, co-created Mercer's AI-recognized work design methodology, and has spoken at Thinkers50 on "The Great Redesign" of talent in an AI-augmented world.
