UK Employment Law Briefing

With more than 50% of all knowledge workers routinely working from somewhere other than a traditional corporate office, the state of the workplace is changing. Add to that the trend toward flexible work hours, the gig economy and an increasingly tech-savvy employee base, and you can understand why we are in a true revolution when it comes to the employee experience. Still, all these disparate, mobile and even disruptive people and technologies must continue to work as one team in order to drive innovation and deliver measurable results. How can companies keep their remote workers connected—whenever they need to be, on any device or network?

Join the session to learn:

- What tools are foundational to today’s employees—and where should I get them (cloud, all-in-one, etc.)
- What role does BYOT play in this transformation? How can I manage it?
- What concerns should I have around privacy and security?
- Are there regulations and/or best practices I need to be aware of?
- How do I create a sense of team among disparate groups?

Communication is a top ranked challenge in every organization. Join us for an interactive workshop to learn more about how core values drive better business performance. Use the information and tools to improve how you connect your workforce across different types of jobs and locations.

- Critical elements in establishing core values
- Integrating core values as an expectation into a fast-growing workplace
- Inspire peer to peer accountability
- Setting a cadence to connect your organization to cultural and results-based expectations

Attendees will walk away with an enhanced understanding of how to establish and align core values so they stick and equip their teams to gain better results by focusing on values-based behaviors.

There has been a lot written and researched in the area of the Candidate Experience. However, this presentation will focus on my long experience in this area and lessons learned. It will outline the very practical steps which a Company can take in enhancing and innovating the Candidate Experience and where many employers fall down in providing a high level of satisfaction for candidates.

Whilst Artificial Intelligence (AI) has and continues to dramatically impact many areas of the HR and the Recruitment operation and which I strongly support, I will argue strongly that there are certain basic essentials that must be resolved including human interaction in order to continue to provide a high quality personal experience for the candidate.

These include the following areas:
- Company Branding
- Job Search
- Application Process and Tracking System
- Linkages with the Company
- Job Specification
- Selection Process
- Feedback
- Induction

About the speaker:
Christy O'Hara has worked for over 20 years in the HR and Talent Acquisition sector. During this time, he's gained experience in the Public and Private Sectors in Ireland including being employed and self-employed.

In 2011, Christy resigned from his post of Director of Human Resources with Galway University Hospitals in Ireland. He set up his own Company called HRworks and since then has worked extensively as a Senior HR Specialist with a major emphasis on Talent Acquisition. Other areas of Christy's business are Mediation, Coaching and E-Learning. HRworks is a Partner with Head Hunt International for Recruitment and with Enovation for E-Learning.

At Remind we pride ourselves with having a world class candidate experience process where candidates are being treated with respect, transparency and empathy.

What should you do for a best-in-class candidate experience?

- Inclusive language in job description
- Response time matters
- Personalized messages
- Honesty and transparency
- Be available to get on a call
- Provide information about the interview
- Active listening
- Thank them for their time

Join this talk for pragmatic approaches to transforming your candidate experience to attract meaningful talent.

As the workplace changes, so should the ways in which companies identify, target, review, hire and onboard new employees. Social, mobile and advanced analytics are all transforming the jobs we do, and HR is no exception. HR managers and the line of business teams they support must pay increasing attention to finding candidates who are a strong cultural fit, and today’s technology can help them do that. Additionally, in a tight job market, identifying and attracting qualified candidates can deliver a significant competitive advantage.

Join this discussion to learn how new technologies are helping companies innovate around the candidate experience:

- What tools are companies using right now to improve the candidate experience?
- How is social media changing the equation?
- What does the trend toward distributed work mean for recruiting and hiring?
- Who should be involved in these transformations?
- Are current employees taking on a new role in finding and attracting candidates?

Speakers:
Melanie Turek, Vice President of Research & Fellow, Frost & Sullivan (moderator)
Robin Guidry, Manager, Talent Acquisition, Acquia
Lizz Pellet, Chief Culture Officer, The Inside Solution
Kiley Schmitz, VP of Talent, Lappin180

How to improve the candidate experience and your overall Employer Brand Strategy in times when employees can make or break your reputation?

Not so long ago, people were used to looking for a job that matched their skills and professional interests. These days however things have changed quite a bit and expectations about work have become much more intertwined with life.

In today's digital age, we see people actively taking control over their work life. Employers adapt their people processes and technologies to accommodate for 'work becoming fluid'. Today’s employees want something more: meaning, purpose. A reason to live work well. They expect to enjoy the feeling and conviction that what they do matters.

Candidates who consider applying for a job, are more than ever looking for information about the company and the people working there. The answer they are looking for is: “Can I identify myself with that company, and the people who work there?” Hence, attracting people with success to your company requires a well-considered employer culture at your company; the candidate experience starts from the inside.

A company culture that encourages transparency, pride and ambassadorship is brought to life in a clear Employer Brand Story and Values. There are 4 conditions for an Employer Brand Story to work: it has to be True, Meaningful, Inspiring and Engaging.

In this talk we will further explore the perspectives of the so-called work-life balance, learn the pitfalls and strengths of culture & values, and look at how some soul-searching inside your company is key to get outside talent in.

For a person, flourishing is the ability to grow as a human being through good times and through life struggles. In the process, they seek to live lives of meaning and aspire to fulfill their potential. William James, the founder of modern psychology stated that the greatest discovery of his generation is that human beings can alter their lives by ultimately altering their perceptions and attitudes.

Emerging developments in the field of neuroscience, moral/social psychology and behavioural ethics, are challenging our understanding of the ‘rational human.’ While we may have choices, collective social forces easily eclipse values such as personal integrity. The reason is our need for ‘social belonging’ influences both behaviour and mindset. Research supports 50-70% of an organisation's culture is influenced by leadership behaviour. But for employees to flourish, HR and leaders may need to change their mindset to inspire future pathways and rally employees behind a bold vision.

In his book “Best Behaviour”, Tony Holmwood uses behavioural modelling and research to prove how environmental perceptions and social connection influences self-value. In this presentation, Tony examines how by engaging, motivating and empowering employees, HR and leaders can coach:

- Job characteristics, circumstances like having more autonomy and job security for positive personality change.
- Environmental perceptions by creating open, safe, secure workplaces that have a profound effect on employee self-control and confidence, wellbeing, productivity and engagement.
- With reference to his behavioural development framework, how aligning behavioural learning to functional and professional development objectives will supercharge growth.

Team Collaboration and Meeting apps are core requirements for a successful work-at-home strategy, but how do organizations measure success? In this webinar we'll share real-world metrics that companies are using to identify return on investment for their use of team collaboration and meeting applications. And, we'll show how these apps are leading to measurable improvements in productivity, gains in revenue, and cost savings.

As companies rapidly shift to work-at-home, success requires implementing collaboration tools that provide the ability for employees to engage with each other in the context of work, without complications.

A core requirement for a successful work-at-home strategy is adoption of team collaboration platforms that unify business apps, information, and workflows into contextual workspaces. Thanks to integrations including communications, project management, HR applications, and service management, team collaboration eliminates the need to task switch between different applications, providing a new way to work. Key to success are adoption and management strategies that ensure governance and that foster utilization.

In this webinar we’ll provide IT and business leaders with insight into how team collaboration supports work-at-home initiatives, and how to implement a successful strategy.

Specifically, we’ll cover:
• The state of the team collaboration market
• How team collaboration supports work-at-home
• Four steps to successfully implement team collaboration
• How to extend team collaboration to partners and customers

The Covid-19 global pandemic has drastically affected how people work. Practically overnight, organizations had to move employees and contact center agents to home offices, complete with security, connectivity, and access to apps. This study, conducted with 460 companies from April 2-7, analyzes:

* How many companies had employees work from home before and after the pandemic
* What percentage of employees work at home full- and part-time
* What challenges they faced moving employees to home offices
* Whether they plan to continue allowing employees to work from home after the pandemic is behind us
* What's driving the decision to allow or not allow people to work from home
* When companies have had a good experience and plan to continue to work from home, which vendors do they use?

Cost-Benefit Analysis - Workplace Collaboration Series [Ep.1]: Expanding Video? Here's How It's Delivering Success

So you're considering ramping up video conferencing, with providers like Cisco, Poly, Zoom, and others. Such a move can be truly transformational for more than just internal employee collaboration. Join this webinar to learn what real-world, measurable benefits companies have documented using video. We'll cover the following:

• How much do companies actually save in travel reduction?
• How are they speeding the time it takes to hire new people?
• To what extent does video really help close sales and add revenue to the bottom line?
• How are video adoption plans changing and what's driving it?

We look forward to sharing this information with you.

The current coronavirus pandemic has forced many organizations to rapidly implement work-from-home programs. But how do organizations know if they have the right tools to support virtual work? And what insights do they require to ensure that employees are able to remain productive?

During this webinar Nemertes will share insight both from our research, and our experience of being a completely virtual organization for almost 20 years. Specifically we'll cover key areas to address including:

- Collaboration tools
- Ensuring adequate network performance
- Managing remote workers

We look forward to sharing this information with you.

Adrienne Barnard, Director, People Operations for ASICS Digital, will be delivering a presentation based on experience of working within an HR Function and how data within an HR Department can be leveraged

Join this webinar to learn and discover:

- Where’s the industry at?
- What are people actually doing with data?
- The Case for Data in Recruiting
-The Case for Data in Cyclical Milestones (onboarding/perf. management/offboarding)
- What Data is most important to me and how I use it

Key Takeaways:

- Where do you have rich data sources you’re not mining?
- What do you do after you mine them? (hint - OKRS!
- How to tell a story with your Data

The Human Resources (HR) function within the State of Georgia operates using a decentralized model. Some HR programs are managed centrally by the Department of Administrative Services - Human Resources Administration (HRA). For these reasons, the workforce target audience for each program varies by program type, which requires various tools and communication methods to be utilized. There are approximately 78,000 employees working in 103 state agencies/entities. HRA works with the HR Community to connect with the distributed workforce.

In this session you will learn how HRA collaborates to enable workforce innovation for:

- HRA programs
- Digital transformation projects
- Strategic plan initiative to become an “Employer of Choice"

About the speaker:

Carla Gracen, MEd, SHRM-SCP
Director - Policy, Compensation and Benefits
Georgia Department of Administrative Services – Human Resources Administration

An enterprise HR leader providing consulting, partnerships and tools for State of Georgia entities. Provides value by driving complex initiatives that leverage excellent team collaboration and domain experience. Directs productivity gains that improve processes, empower people, and leverage technology. Focuses on achieving quality and high stakeholder satisfaction using design thinking for innovation to meet strategic objectives. Leverages expertise in product management and the domain to prioritize and define requirements to support key processes.

More experiences, less loyalty. Less stability, more flexibility. Career management for the next generation is a frequent conversation in HR circles. Companies need to take charge of planning career opportunities for the next generation if they want to attract and retain top talent. HR practices and resources need to match the drive and highly creative minds of the next generation – it’s about developing the individual, not necessarily the next leader.

In this session, we will explore three key elements to help HR teams lead career management strategies that will encourage all generations to own their own destiny, increase engagement the workplace, and build stronger intergenerational cultures:

- Build your network at work through self-advocacy
- Create meaning behind the metrics
- Focus on flexibility

As distributed workforces become a fact of life, propelled by a rapidly aging workforce and a rising popularity in contingent or gig employment - how do we make that work?

Digital tech helps. There's more than enough of it to support a distributed workforce. But that's not what’s important. What is important is soul. Team culture, identity, a messianic sense of inclusion, shared mission and purpose.

Ken will draw from his first hand experience in united a distributed workforce to deliver the world's first Digital Total Rewards System for Unilever, delivered on budget and on time.

Topics covered will include:
- Why a flat organisation structure is essential to making a distributed workforce work
- Establishing the ultimate meeting cadence from daily stand-ups to two-week delivery meetings
- The huge importance of recognition

As Digital Transformation continues to reshape how work gets done, smart companies are looking at the best ways to engage their employees to drive productivity and improve outcomes.

This session will discuss the communications technologies that can help your business stay competitive in an increasingly virtual workplace.

About the speaker:

Melanie Turek, Fellow and VP of Research, Frost & Sullivan

As a Fellow and VP of Research for Connected Work at Frost & Sullivan, Melanie covers a broad range of markets, leveraging long-standing relationships with senior executives and customer organizations. Melanie has more than 25 years' experience covering conferencing, social networking, unified communications, voice, IP communications, and instant messaging and presence, as well as a wide range of business software and services. Melanie brings deep technical expertise and in-depth understanding of the ways in which technology can impact business processes and performance. She studied social anthropology at Harvard and views technology transformation through that lens.