190 - What If Leave Policies Felt Like Product Design - with Romy Malviya

Leave of absence sounds like a simple HR checkbox until you’re juggling federal law, 26-plus sets of state rules, and company policies that all overlap. We sit down with Romy Malviya, founder and CEO of PulpStream, to unpack why leave management becomes a paperwork-heavy risk zone and what it takes to make the process feel smooth for real humans at stressful moments like childbirth, surgery, and family care. We get specific about where big HRIS platforms like Workday, UKG, Dayforce, and ADP tend to “lightly touch” leave, and why many teams either attempt to outsource the problem or run it in-house with spreadsheets, email chains, and manual tracking. Romy breaks down the three messages that resonate most with large employers: reducing compliance risk (including serious penalties), saving HR time that can stretch into many hours per leave case, and improving visibility so managers can plan coverage and schedules, especially in shift-based and blue-collar environments. We also explore what AI should and should not do in HR. Romy shares how AI can review submitted medical certifications for completeness, validate provider details, and flag mismatches, while still respecting privacy by keeping medical reasons out of a manager’s view. The goal stays clear throughout: empower HR with better information and faster workflows, without replacing the human conversations that make leave administration compassionate and fair. If you care about HR compliance, employee experience, leave of absence automation, and practical AI in the workplace, listen now, subscribe, and share this with someone who owns leave at your company, then leave a review with your biggest leave-management headache.