HR takes centre stage
07:30 - 08:30Breakfast & Registration
08:45 - 08:50Welcome from HR Grapevine
08:50 - 09:50Session One: From Purpose to Purposeful
Purpose and its role in unifying organisations and driving performance to the benefit of all stakeholders has become a focus of much discussion in recent times. It is of course not about the words but the actions an organisation takes – not about the purpose but about being purposeful. This session will explore the power of purpose and will reveal the findings of a recent study exploring the concept and its relevance in performance and engagement with both HR and business leaders.
Ensuring a firm maintains one shared purpose across a wide geographical area is a challenge. Pieter A Myburgh is the Head of Employee Engagement and Integrated Communication for AngloAmerican, a mining company based in South Africa and London, and will explore the barriers he faced in creating a shared resolution.
Banking and finance has been vilified in the press following many high-profile scandals. Can a strong sense of purpose help restore trust to this troubled industry? Nikolaj Knudtzon shares his insight from the Danish firm Danske Bank.
Kellogg's believes the only way for people to work at their best is to be able to bring their whole selves to work every day. Samantha Thomas-Berry discusses how the business encourages staff to align themselves to the company purpose, and the powerful benefits that brings.
What is purpose in business? For the first time, HR Grapevine and Prophet have set out to answer that question, polling business leaders on what purpose means to them. Now, Helen Rosethorn will share the results of this ground-breaking survey and explain how you can use the findings to bring value to your own organisation.
09:50 - 10:05Intermission for coffee & table debate
Embed the learning and discuss the issues and takeaway titbits from the session with delegates around your table.
10:05 - 11:05Session Two: The impact of tech on HR in 2020
Technology is a catalyst in the organisational structure of HR. From the rise of AI to the implementation of virtual reality in business, digital developments are transforming how a company’s culture is formed and maintained.
Debate compère Richard Doherty is the Senior Director Product Marketing EMEA for Workday, and will be helping direct the panel towards stimulating discussion. What impact will AI have on HR? Let’s tackle this complex question head-on.
Bupa serves 32 million customers spanning 190 countries, and has more than 84,000 employees. Chief People Officer Nigel Sullivan shares how technology has made managing this enormous team effective, and suggests what you could change to become more efficient.
BP has graduate placements based all around the world, in business, engineering, scientific and trading functions. Managing such a diverse range of candidates could be an insurmountable challenge, but BP’s Victoria Hyland, Global Head of Talent Attraction - Graduate & Experienced Hire, uses the latest technology to successfully manage each yearly intake.
OVO has grown from 100 staff members in 2012 to over 1,700 today, from just one office to five. Kim Atherton, OVO’s Chief People Officer, will share how the energy firm survived such a rapid expansion, using technology to maintain high levels of engagement as the business scaled up.
Informa is a FTSE100 events and publishing company which has offices in 43 counties around the world. Matt Wallace is head of HR, helping to manage the firm’s 6,500 employees with the help of the cloud. He will discuss how to collect, control and use your employees’ data to become a more efficient talent manager.
11:15 - 11:45Networking Break
12:00 - 13:00Session Three: The future of Talent Management
95% of HR leaders cited burnout as the main reason that their top talent is heading for the door. It’s no longer enough for businesses to think onboarding ends when a contract is signed, or that employees will find their own way in an organisational structure. HR needs to take centre stage in leading the Talent Management revival, through asking the difficult questions that every Board needs to hear.
The countdown to major global talent shortages has begun. As early as 2020, knowledge-intensive industries will struggle to find the twenty-first century skills on which their future depends. By 2030, the challenge will be so big that not even artificial intelligence or automation will be able to bridge the widening gap. Korn Ferry has conducted research to quantify and solve these future challenges and will unveil its latest findings.
Starbucks has opened an average of two new locations daily between 1987 and 2007, and with each new store comes new resourcing needs. How can the organisation keep up with their ever-growing talent demands? Lisa Robbins, HR Director of the company, talks talent management in a business that’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Few companies can say they exist to save and prolong lives – but for AstraZeneca, that’s all in a day’s work. Maggie Spong, Head of Talent Acquisition UK, will discuss how this FTSE100 company recruits and manages its crucial supply of top talent across its varied technical and specialist requirements.
What makes a Chief People Officer any different from the rest of your C-suite? Catherine Lynch, CPO at Virgin Media, believes a CPO is in a unique juncture in the business – positioned not only to take a seat at the Board table, but to lead it too. In the future, she says, all CEOs might have to come from a CPO background – what does that mean for HR?
13:00 - 13:15Table Debate
Embed the learning and discuss the issues and takeaway titbits from the session with delegates around your table.
13:15 - 14:00Lunch and Networking
Insight Session: My boss is an apprentice: Maximising value through the Apprenticeship Levy
From never having an apprentice to fully embracing the opportunities offered by the Apprenticeship Levy. Dawn Jackson from ICBC Standard Bank and James Kelly from Corndel talk through how a leading global financial markets and commodities bank is optimising the Levy.

Insight Session: Performance Management in the 21st Century
CEOs in the UK are starting to challenge the benefits to their organisation of the annual appraisal system as they see major employers such as Accenture remove theirs. Learn why appraisals don’t work and what the future of performance reviews really looks like.

14:45 - 15:00Keynote
Our keynote speech is to be delivered by Bev White, the CEO of GI Group. She wants her employees to become the best version of themselves, and does this through active listening, encouraging team members and painting a compelling picture of the future. Find out how you can apply this leading strategy to your own organisation to create dynamic, engaged teams.
15:00 - 16:00Session Four: The culture of Change Management
The world of work is changing. Organisations need to adapt to this shifting landscape or risk falling into oblivion. Leading through change is a skill that has earned its place in HR’s remit; the current political and economic uncertainty has meant that businesses need to master change management now more than ever before.
L'Oréal, the world’s largest cosmetics company is over 100 years old and has had to learn how to weather change to survive and thrive for so long. Paul Gilliam shares how the firm has developed a culture of change over its long history, and how the modern world is still challenging it.
Kier is the UK’s fourth-largest construction company, and has completed such high-profile projects as Gatwick’s north terminal and High Speed One. But in an industry known to be heavily male-dominated, can diversity find a foothold? Jan Atkinson discusses how Kier is adapting to widen its talent pool and become a more inclusive employer.
Chances are, you’ve eaten at a Casual Dining Group restaurant without even knowing it. Owners of popular chains Café Rouge and Bella Italia, CDG needs to constantly adapt to keep up with the appetites of its customer bases. But change isn’t always a rapid process. Wayne Morgan looks at the perception of change verses the reality, how to avoid over-promising and how to deliver solid results.
Barely a week goes by without discussion of the so-called ‘gig-economy’ in the press, and the transport hire industry is perhaps the industry undergoing the most rapid changes. Mathew Davies, HR Director at Addison Lee, will discuss the impact the ongoing developments are having on his firm, and what you can learn from this rapid rate of change.
Tim Morton, the Director of INTOO UK & Ireland, will be acting as the debate compere for this session. He believes people learn best from people, so will be helping our panel members share their knowledge and experience with you.
16:15 - 18:00Cocktails and Networking
