This issue of People First was sent on 30 September 2026. Product details reflect what was true at the time.
I hope you’re well and that September has been a productive month.
As Q3 comes to a close, many organisations are reviewing progress against their plans, wrapping up performance reviews and preparing for the final stretch of the year.
It’s been an active quarter at Talstack too. We rolled out new product improvements, built our HRIS, Leave Management and Surveys modules, and brought HR leaders together for our 12th HR Leadership Mixer. As the platform partner for the iDICE Startup Bridge programme, we also welcomed a new cohort of founders.
Let’s get into what’s new.
Bringing Senior HR Leaders Together
Last Friday, we hosted another edition of our Senior HR & People Leadership Mixer in Lagos, our third on the Mainland.
We welcomed HR and People leaders for an evening of honest conversations about the realities of leading people and building stronger organisations. Two themes stood out:
Using AI responsibly in HR
The conversation explored how HR leaders are applying AI in practice, from everyday use cases to bigger workforce decisions. One point came through clearly. AI adoption alone should not automatically become a reason to reduce headcount.
Navigating difficult relationships with senior leadership
We also discussed how HR leaders can communicate effectively, exercise sound judgement and maintain their professional responsibility when navigating challenging situations with senior leaders.
You can see more moments from the evening on LinkedIn.
You Can Now Manage Employee Leave on Talstack
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Managing leave can quickly become messy as a company grows. Requests come through email, WhatsApp and spreadsheets, leave balances fall out of date, and managers may approve time off without a clear view of who else is away.
In August, we launched Time Off, our Leave Management module, to make that process simpler. Employees can check their leave balances, request full or half days, and track their requests. Managers can review an employee’s balance and see who else is away before approving time off.
HR teams can also configure leave policies around how their organisation actually works, including allowances, approval chains, carry-over rules and location-specific policies.
See how Talstack can make leave management simpler for your team.
An HRIS That Keeps Your People Information Connected
Having an HRIS should mean less admin, not another system your team has to work around.
If employee records still need to be updated in multiple places, onboarding is managed through spreadsheets and messages, or important documents live across shared folders, your HRIS may be creating more work than it removes.
Our HRIS module gives you one central place for employee records, documents and core people processes. You can also manage onboarding and offboarding workflows, keep employee documents searchable in one place, and control who can view or edit sensitive information.
The goal is fewer workarounds, less duplicated admin and a clearer source of truth for your HR team.
See what a simpler HRIS could look like for your team.
Surveys That Help You Spot Issues Earlier
Getting useful insight from employees is essential to every business.
Today, many businesses still rely on forms and spreadsheets to run employee surveys. This can make reporting slow and fragmented, while important concerns may only become clear when an employee is already on their way out.
We built our Survey module to give HR and People teams a simpler way to run engagement and pulse surveys, bring responses together and view results in clear reports. This makes it easier to see what is working, identify recurring concerns and know where attention may be needed before issues grow.
See how Surveys work.
iDICE Startup Bridge Programme: Cohort 1 Wraps Up as Cohort 2 Begins
Through Talstack’s partnership on the iDICE Startup Bridge programme, we are supporting early-stage Nigerian founders as they turn ideas into businesses with the potential to grow.
This month, we celebrated the founders in the first cohort as they completed the programme. I’m proud of the work they put in and excited to see where they take their businesses next.
We've also welcomed 200 founders into the second cohort, working across agriculture, health, fintech, AI, clean energy and education.
Over the course of the programme, founders will work through topics including goal setting, market research, business models, building and testing a minimum viable product, financial planning, go-to-market strategy, and legal and governance essentials.
I look forward to sharing more about their progress.
Thank you for being a vital part of the Talstack journey.
As always, if you have feedback or questions, or need support, the Talstack team is just a message away.
Warmly,
Seni Sulyman
Co-Founder and CEO, Talstack
