The Heels in the Hierarchy Podcast

Some of the best management conversations don't happen in a meeting room. They happen on a walk.
In this episode SJ and Pegsy explore the real evidence behind walking meetings — why movement boosts creativity, reduces fatigue, and quietly shifts the power dynamic in ways that make difficult conversations easier and honest ones more likely.
Drawing on research-backed insights and their own expertise in wellbeing and HR, they get practical about when walking meetings genuinely work best — appraisals, onboarding new starters, early performance conversations — and when they don't. Crucially, they also tackle accessibility, because any wellbeing initiative that excludes people isn't really a wellbeing initiative at all.
In this episode:
Why walking boosts creative thinking and reduces cognitive fatigue
How side-by-side movement softens power dynamics in management conversations
The management moments where walking meetings work best
Accessibility considerations every manager needs to think about
How small, consistent actions model a genuine wellbeing culture
Try it once this week — with one person, one conversation. See what comes up that wouldn't have at a desk.
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#HeelsInTheHierarchy #WalkingMeetings #WorkplaceWellbeing #ManagementSkills #PerformanceManagement #EmployeeEngagement #LeadershipDevelopment #PodcastForWomen #WellbeingAtWork #HRTips

She failed the exams that were meant to define her future. It turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her career.
In this episode SJ speak with Emmy, a payments product manager, about a journey that didn't start where she expected — or wanted — it to. Failing anatomy exams meant letting go of a lifelong plan to become a doctor, and facing a version of failure that felt deeply personal. What followed was a rebuild: new direction, new identity, and ultimately, a career and sense of fulfilment she couldn't have planned for.
This is a story about what failure actually teaches us, if we let it — and how the lowest point can end up being the turning point.
In this episode:
Emmy's path from a failed medical ambition to a thriving FinTech career
Reframing failure as a turning point, not an ending
The role mentors played in helping her find a new direction
Transferable skills — and learning to recognise your own value
Redefining success on her own terms, beyond job titles
Ever turned a failure into your biggest win? This episode will resonate.
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#HeelsInTheHierarchy #FromFailureToSuccess #CareerPivot #Resilience #FinTech #WomenInLeadership #CareerChange #Mentorship #PodcastForWomen #TurningPoints

A career break isn't a gap. It's a chapter — and it's time the workplace started reading it that way.
In this episode SJ and Pegsy explore Carol Fishman Cohen's influential TED Talk on "relaunchers" — women returning to work after stepping away for caregiving, health, or simply a different season of life. Rather than treating that time as something to explain away, this episode reframes it as exactly what it is: an intentional restart, not an ending.
They dig into why confidence often takes the biggest hit during a break, how outdated recruitment practices quietly penalise relaunchers, and the transferable skills — resilience, perspective, problem-solving — that so often go unrecognised on a CV. And crucially, they offer practical, actionable steps for both employers and candidates to make re-entry genuinely successful, not just survivable.
In this episode:
Carol Fishman Cohen's "relauncher" framework and why language matters
Why confidence dips during a break — and how to rebuild it
How recruitment processes can unintentionally exclude returners
The transferable skills career breaks actually build
Practical steps employers can take to support successful re-entry
Know someone relaunching their career? This episode is for them — and for the manager hiring them.
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#HeelsInTheHierarchy #CareerBreak #Relauncher #ReturnToWork #CareerRestart #WomenInLeadership #RecruitmentBias #TransferableSkills #PodcastForWomen #WorkplaceCultureLinks mentioned in this episode:Carol Fishman Cohen — "How to Get Back to Work After a Career Break" (TED Talk)

This episode explores the growing, often-hidden impact of elder care on women in the workforce — from 600 people quitting daily in the UK to the 1.4 million ‘sandwich carers’ balancing children, careers and aging relatives.
Hosts SJ and Pegsy discuss the emotional toll, anticipatory grief, financial pressures, workplace stigma and practical resources, and offer compassionate advice for both carers and managers on how to navigate and support this major life transition.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/care/
https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
https://www.nhs.uk/social-care-and-support/help-from-social-services-and-charities/getting-a-needs-assessment/
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The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude. This episode is pure adventure.
To celebrate one year of Heels in the Hierarchy, SJ and Pegsy are throwing open the outtakes reel — the bloopers, the behind-the-scenes moments, and the bits that didn't quite make the cut. But amid the laughter there's something genuinely valuable here too: honest conversation about vulnerability, neurodiversity, feedback, and the wonderfully messy human side of putting yourself out there.
If you've ever wondered what goes on when the recording light is on and everything goes slightly sideways — this one's for you.
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A year in. What have we learned? More than we expected.
SJ and Pegsy mark one year of Heels in the Hierarchy by revisiting the themes that have resonated most deeply with their listeners: women's health, late and missed diagnoses, neurodivergence, and the systemic barriers that too many women still face at work every single day.
With personal stories, listener responses, and a call for workplaces to move beyond policy and into genuine action, this is a milestone episode that's as forward-looking as it is reflective.
In this episode:
The themes that defined Year One — and why they matter for leadership
Personal stories and listener voices
Why curious, trust-based management changes everything
What it will actually take to make workplaces work for women
Share this one. These conversations only grow when more people join them.
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#HeelsInTheHierarchy #OneYearAnniversary #WomensHealth #Neurodivergence #WomenInLeadership #WorkplaceEquality #AuthenticLeadership #MissedDiagnosis #PodcastForWomen #WomenAtWork

Having a job is supposed to be the answer. For millions of people in the UK, it isn't enough.
In this episode SJ and Pegsy tackle one of the most uncomfortable realities in modern working life — in-work poverty. Rising living costs, part-time contracts, and a persistent gender pay gap are leaving workers, and disproportionately women, financially vulnerable despite being in employment.
But this isn't just a policy conversation. It's a leadership one. SJ and Pegsy explore what employers and managers can actually do right now — from flexible working and trust-based policies to discreet support programmes and smarter job design — to make a genuine difference to the people in their teams.
In this episode:
Why employment is no longer a guarantee of financial security
How the gender pay gap and part-time work compound the problem
Practical steps employers can take — beyond the employee assistance programme
Why psychological safety is the foundation for any meaningful support
If you find this podcast valuable, please share it — and consider supporting us: ☕ Buy Us a Coffee
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#HeelsInTheHierarchy #InWorkPoverty #GenderPayGap #WomenAndMoney #WorkplaceWellbeing #PodcastForWomen #UKPoverty #EmployeeWellbeing #WomenInLeadership #FairWork

A decade of severe pain. A senior job to hold down. A toddler to raise. And nobody believed her.
In this episode SJ and Pegsy welcome Charlotte, an IT manager and mother, who shares her extraordinary ten-year journey through undiagnosed abdominal pain — navigating hospitals, referrals, sceptical employers, and a healthcare system that repeatedly failed her.
This is a powerful, important listen — not just for anyone who has experienced chronic unexplained illness, but for every manager and colleague who has ever wondered how to support someone going through something they can't fully see or understand.
In this episode:
Charlotte's decade-long medical mystery and what it cost her
Being passed between gynaecology and gastroenterology with no answers
Gaslighting in healthcare — and in the workplace
Practical guidance for managers supporting employees with long-term health challenges
If this resonates, please share it. Someone you know probably needs to hear it.
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Links mentioned in this episode: Women's Health Mag UK — Women's Pain Being Dismissed
#HeelsInTheHierarchy #WomensHealth #ChronicIllness #MedicalGaslighting #WomenInLeadership #WorkplaceSupport #MedicalMisogyny #InvisibleIllness #PodcastForWomen #WomenAtWork

Nine years. That's how long the average woman waits for an endometriosis diagnosis in the UK. Nine years of pain, dismissal, and being told it's normal.
In this episode SJ and Pegsy dig into the refreshed UK Women's Health Strategy, published April 2026, and ask the question nobody in government seems keen to answer: warm words and new frameworks are welcome, but who is actually accountable for change?
With over three quarters of a million women waiting for gynaecology care, this isn't just a health crisis — it's a workplace crisis. Undiagnosed and unsupported conditions are quietly damaging careers, mental health, and financial security every single day.
In this episode:
What the renewed Women's Health Strategy actually says — and what it doesn't
The endometriosis diagnosis gap and its human cost
How undiagnosed conditions affect careers, income, and mental health
What managers can do right now — curiosity, trust, and reasonable adjustments
Why awareness without accountability changes nothing
Share this episode. Push for action, not just awareness.
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Links mentioned in this episode:
Government & Policy The Renewed Women's Health Strategy for England — GOV.UK (April 2026) BBC News — "Health strategy bids to stop women being 'ignored, gaslit and humiliated' in NHS"
BBC Radio & Podcasts BBC Radio 4 Today Programme — 15 April 2026 (Search for 15 April episode — available 30 days) BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour — 15 April 2026 (Available on BBC Sounds) Woman's Hour on Spotify Woman's Hour on Apple Podcasts
Key Reports & Research Endometriosis UK — Response to Renewed Women's Health Strategy (April 2026) Endometriosis UK — "Years of being dismissed, ignored and belittled" (February 2026) RCOG — "A Work in Progress": Evaluating the Women's Health Strategy (2025) RCOG Full PDF Report RCOG — Response to Renewed Strategy (April 2026) RCOG — Almost Three-Quarters of a Million Women Waiting (January 2026)
Parliamentary Reports Women and Equalities Committee — "Medical Misogyny is Leaving Women in Unnecessary Pain" (December 2024) Full Report PDF Women and Equalities Committee — Menstrual Health of Girls and Young Women (March 2026) House of Commons Library — Access to Endometriosis Services Hansard — Westminster Hall Debate: Women's Health Strategy, Endometriosis and Fibroids (March 2026)
Further Reading The Independent — "Women waiting too long for NHS care because of medical misogyny" (April 2026) Digital Health — "£1.5m FemTech Fund Launched Under Women's Health Strategy" (April 2026) Women's Health Strategy as Part of the NHS Long Term Plan
#HeelsInTheHierarchy #WomensHealthStrategy #MedicalMisogyny #Endometriosis #NHSWomensHealth #DismissedDelayedDeservingBetter #WomenInLeadership #WorkplaceAdjustments #PodcastForWomen #EndoAwareness

One in ten women lives with endometriosis. Most will wait years for a diagnosis. Many will wait in silence.
In this episode, recorded for Endometriosis Awareness Month, SJ and Pegsy explore one of the most underdiagnosed and misunderstood conditions affecting women today — from the alarming delays in diagnosis and the physical and emotional toll, to the lesser-known reality that endometriosis can occur far beyond the pelvis.
With personal stories, clear explanations of the different types of endometriosis, and a direct challenge to employers and healthcare systems alike, this is an episode that informs, validates, and calls for real change.
In this episode:
Why diagnosis takes so long — and what that delay costs women
The physical and emotional reality of living with endometriosis
How endo can present beyond the pelvis — what many people don't know
What employers can do to offer meaningful, flexible support
Personal stories and community voices
Know someone who's been dismissed, delayed, or left waiting? Share this episode.
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Links mentioned in this episode: Sanju Pal on LinkedIn — Living with Endometriosis, BBC Asian Network Janet Lindsay, CEO of Wellbeing of Women — Government Equality Action Plans (LinkedIn)
#HeelsInTheHierarchy #Endometriosis #EndoAwareness #EndometriosisAwarenessMonth #1in10 #WomensHealth #MedicalMisogyny #InvisibleIllness #PodcastForWomen #WorkplaceSupport