The Compliance Shift HR Didn’t See Coming with Jocelyn King, CEO VirgilHR

This series was recorded live at HR Tech 2025 inside the HR Executive studios on the expo floor in partnership with the WRKdefined Podcast Network. Make sure you’re subscribed to the full series and visit HRExecutive.com for the news, analysis, and insights shaping the future of work. HR leaders are staring at louder demands, faster change, and more legal landmines than ever. Jocelyn King breaks down how compliance is shifting from reactive to proactive and why most HR teams still feel behind. Real talk on tech, complexity, and what HR needs next. In this episode we talk about AI roadmaps, HRIS integrations, compliance automation, risk mitigation, and the tech skills HR can’t avoid anymore. Key Takeaways HR leaders lack clarity on AI strategy and need real frameworks Integrations flip compliance from reactive to proactive Locality coverage is a massive differentiator in labor law Embedded compliance in HRIS workflows reduces risk instantly Automation frees HR for people strategy instead of research Partnership channels will drive most future growth Credible data models beat open source in compliance every time Change management is the missing skill in most HR teams Chapters 00:00 Why HR struggles with AI roadmaps 00:20 The integrations that change compliance 00:37 HR’s invisible emotional labor 01:26 What Virgil HR actually does 02:45 Why compliance needs automation 03:34 The heart and team behind the company 04:34 How Virgil HR is scaling 04:47 Global expansion, AI roadmap, and integrations 05:41 How embedded compliance actually works 06:02 Direct vs indirect sales and partnerships 07:02 The new AI trained bot 08:07 Why locality law is a major differentiator 09:25 Automating critical pay and compliance tasks 10:11 HR’s real value and strategic shift 11:34 Jocelyn’s animal rescue work 13:12 Her deeper mission behind HR for HR 14:31 Why HR must be tech ready now 16:04 Building a real AI roadmap 17:08 How to pick the right tech on the HR Tech floor 18:44 Vetting, alignment, and involving CIO/CTO 20:10 Implementing tech with real change management 21:02 Jocelyn’s favorite thing to do in Vegas Guest Info Jocelyn King,CEO & Founder, VirgilHR Website: https://www.virgilhr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynking/ Host Christy Honeycutt, Host Inside the C-Suite Podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-henika/ Connect with WRKdefined Site:http://www.wrkdefined.com TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wrkdefined LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wrkdefined Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WRKdefined Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRKdefined Substack: https://wrkdefined.substack.com/