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Dr. Shari Simpson Senior Manager Thought Leadership | Paylocity

Shari Simpson, EdD, is the host of HR Mixtape and a senior thought leadership leader at Paylocity. With over two decades of experience across training, talent, payroll, and employee relations, she brings curiosity, candor, and real-world perspective to every episode. Shari holds a Doctor of Education in Leadership and Innovation, along with an MBA, MHRM, and SHRM-SCP certification.

Dr. James Atkinson VP of Thought Leadership | SHRM

James Atkinson is the VP, Thought Leadership at SHRM, where he leads research teams uncovering key insights on the challenges and trends affecting HR and the workplace. James joined SHRM with more than 15 years of research, data, and product experience, having spent a decade in various leadership roles within the HR industry. Prior to SHRM, James was the Vice President of Data Products at Payscale, where he was responsible for the overall strategy, development, and delivery of data products for compensation professionals.

Human Resources

Work Slop: What SHRM's Research Says About AI Guardrails and the Skills Gap

AI-generated content that reads as finished and falls apart when you look closely.

Podcast

September 08, 2026

A little less than half of workers now use AI regularly on the job. Of that group, 44% admit the output looks finished on the surface and holds nothing underneath. SHRM has a name for it: work slop.

Dr. James Atkinson is VP of Thought Leadership at SHRM, where he leads the research teams behind that finding. He spent nine years at Gartner, finishing as Managing Vice President of Data Products for its HR research practice, and ran data products at Payscale before joining SHRM.

James walks through SHRM's Skills Revolution research in this conversation. Read the full report here:

Key takeaways:

Why CFOs approve people investments framed as productivity gained and cost avoided, and why SHRM's navigating the C-suite research found finance leaders want that case backed by workforce data
How 44% of AI users admit to producing work slop, and where HR can step in to define what good output looks like
What SHRM's Skills Revolution research says about learning and development systems that can't track how fast skills are changing

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