Fearne Cotton is a broadcaster, podcaster, bestselling author and founder of Happy Place.

As someone who has talked openly about her own mental health challenges, Fearne will be sharing her take on the importance of self-care, and how to set boundaries in your working life to be fulfilled rather than burnt out. She is passionate about making self-care inclusive, relatable, and straightforward.

Greater corporate governance, transparency and a more standardised ESG framework is needed to help leaders, investors and potential employees understand how businesses can build productive and sustainable organisations for the future.

• How to embed responsibility and sustainability deep into organisational culture
• Aligning with Global Sustainable Development Goals
• How can you measure and track the people-focused elements of ESG?

• What can podcasts bring to the learning and development community?
  
• Using podcasts as a medium effectively as a tool for learning.
  
• Practical how-to’s you need when launching an in-house podcast.
  

• Understanding how technology can be used to streamline your onboarding process
• Promoting a collaborative company culture that creates a sense of belonging for your employees
  
• Outlining goals and targets to set expectations for new employees and aiding them through their transition
  
• The importance of check-ins in offering help and support for new employees and creating a positive employee experience

• 90% of HR leaders and 92% of c-suite execs say HR’s perception is a major challenge for HR.
• Join an expert panel to discuss why and how to solve this.

• What does the economic data tell us? How are these trends impacting rates of absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity and attrition?
  
• Case Study: Using HR Analytics to predict cost-of-living stress in your workforce
  
• How to develop an effective employee financial wellbeing strategy, led by data
  

Research shows that in just 5-years, more than one third of the skills believed to be essential for today’s workforce will have changed – what does this mean for us? There is no doubt that the world of work is changing at a rapid pace and artificial intelligence is just one of the contributing factors to this. Whilst some are embracing this shift, others are finding it unnerving – and rightly so. Unfortunately, as with everything human, some element of bias will be inherent to artificial intelligence, the skill is in finding these biases and managing them before they cause detriment to us and our surroundings. So, will we be embracing AI as a new co-worker, or are it’s origins too flawed to threaten our existing ways of working?

• Learn why an embedded culture of sustainability matters.
  
• Understand the role of authenticity and transparency in engaging employees and stakeholders
  
• Simple actions to engage employees and consumers in sustainable practices
  
• New sustainability trends in employee benefits
• Lessons learned from Trainline and Domestic & General's sustainability journeys

• Case studies of different stages in talent tech journeys: foundational, sophisticated/ intermediate and transformative. 
• Whether you are at the start of your talent transformation journey, fully transformed or sit somewhere in the middle, this session will help you identify your potential next steps and what best practice looks like at every stage of the journey.

• Accelerate your recruitment strategy through data-driven insights 
• Utilise data to enhance diversity 
• Optimise recruiter efficient through talent rediscovery

Access to global talent has never been greater. However, building your global workforce brings complexity as well as opportunity. From ever-changing rules and regulations to payroll policies and local labour laws, managing the nuances of international employment is more complex than ever. Join Barry Rudden, Global 3rd party Director at G-P, and learn how to successfully engage the best global talent to accelerate your company’s growth.

The concept of a 4 day working week has gained traction in recent years as a potential solution to a variety of societal challenges.

• What is current research telling us about the 4-day working week, including its impact on productivity as well as wellbeing?
  
• Reduced carbon footprint as fewer people are commuting to work for an extra day
  
• Impact on EDI, particularly gender equality
  
• What is the long-term economic impact on society?
  

• What is cultural intelligence?
  
• Understanding the four capabilities needed to support people from different backgrounds to effectively work together
  
• Discover how to implementing the CQ framework will benefit your business
  
• Gain insight into why cultural intelligence is important to have within your organisation through real-life examples

To truly achieve ESG goals, organisations need to move beyond sustainable and into regenerative practices. This involves leaving systems, and people, better than you found them. This session explores the concept of regenerative practices from a neuroscience perspective, and looks at how to shift mindsets at scale in this direction. Drawing on both the deeper science, and decades of experience in wide scale culture change initiatives in some of the world’s largest organisations, we will explore the traps and opportunities for creating significant mindset shifts around this important and urgent idea.

This session will cover five essential tips for anyone taking on the role of CPeO for the very first time. In this session, you will discover how to:

• Develop and communicate a game-changing vision
• How to navigate complex organisational changes and growth
• Identify the top problems (and solutions) that fledging HR leaders may face along the way

• Why internal communication and employee engagement are core to attracting and retaining talent and maintaining the strong culture at Ryanair
  
• What is the future of internal communications?
  
• How to use internal communications to connect and engage with employees
  

This panel session will explore three of the most prominent topics in the post-pandemic world of workplace wellbeing.  Led by ART Health Solutions CEO, Dr. Phill Bell, the panel will discuss how data can be used to:

• Influence the cultivation of a sustainable workforce
  
• Decipher the pros, cons and considerations of the proposed 4-day working week
  
• Make a case for the prevention of illness through workplace wellbeing
  

• Strategies to power your business with neurodiversity
  
• Best practices from global brands that will transfer into your business
  
• Inclusive tools that maximise diverse talent in the workplace
  

Investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders are putting increasing pressure on businesses to demonstrate their commitment to ESG. But demonstrating a true value on ESG remains a challenge.  How can  Leaders drive this in their organisations?

• What are investor expectations and how can organisations report externally on EDI, talent, turnover?
  
• How can you balance sustainability with profit?
  
• Exploring Initiatives within the SDGs for ‘good work’  such as Modern Slavery Intelligence Network for cross industry collaboration
  
• Collaboration across functions, professions and organisations/institutions
  
• How do businesses, business leaders and people leaders have a successful narrative with stakeholders?
  

Moderator: Sallie Pilot, Member of Stakeholder Insight Group, Financial Reporting Council

Learning and development (L&D) is fundamental to supporting core business objectives. We saw the acceleration of digital learning during the pandemic, ensuring learning could be delivered anywhere and at any time. But the reality is a tension – perhaps friction – still persists when it comes to organisational learning. So, drawing from the evidence, where are the barriers or resistance to learning, and how can L&D professionals overcome these to effectively support the business?

Key takeaways:

• explore the causes of why a number of tension and friction points exist
  
• learn how to work with and overcome existing blockers to deliver impactful learning
  
• build the confidence to challenge requirements for learning where better solutions exist
  

• HR management is evolving with the emergence of new tools and technology in the fourth industrial revolution.
• Technical HR roles are at risk due to the rise of artificial intelligence and the work environment has changed, posing new challenges to managers.
• Discover how HR professionals have opportunities to leverage emerging technology to enhance employee engagement, add value, build confidence, improve compliance, and boost productivity.

Driving people with purpose to thrive requires a multi-faceted approach that starts with internal communications. The relationship of performance, productivity and trust is at the heart of bringing purpose to life and retaining top talent. Join two experts as they delve into these key drivers and debate how purpose can not only retain talent but utilise intelligence to help a business grow. 

Is it time for a check-in on your health and wellbeing strategy? Discover new insights and fresh ways to support employees and your business.

With experts representing both organisational and medical viewpoints, they will dive into what could be impacting your employee’s health and wellbeing right now. They’ll showcase what you can do to revitalise your health and wellbeing strategy or develop a new one. There’ll also host a question-and-answer session and offer some great free resources.

An inclusive and diverse workforce delivers equality and social justice, but also benefits for every business. Building a diverse workforce begins with inclusive recruitment, but could you be doing more to support under-represented groups entering and returning to the workplace? 

Join us in this session to hear:

• Why it’s important to build equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) into a pivotal part of the employee lifecycle
  
• More from the CIPD Trust on their work supporting under-represented groups facing barriers entering the workplace
  
• A live case study from employer Starbucks on the work they’ve been doing to support refugees into work
  

• Ensure your learning design and assessment is aligned to your organisational and learner goals.
• Measures you can put in place to ensure your training has maximum impact.
• Example of best practice.

• The top five latest findings on DEI in Europe
• Exploring the benefits and challenges when developing DEI programs and how to overcome them
• Steps to fostering a culture of belonging and inclusion

Collecting meaningful workforce information is a challenge for organisations. Often a significant gap exists between data that is collected and data which is subsequently reviewed, leading to concern that too much information is collected without a clear aim or outcome. So how can you better collect quality people data, increase ‘buy-in’ from your people and better interpret the insights you collect, to support business decision-making?

Key takeaways:

• understand the value of collecting people data to inform decisions and drive organisation performance
• discover how to get increased buy-in from their people to share their data and the methods that work
• get practical tips on how to identify opportunities for people data to be analysed and interpreted meaningfully
  

Is your health and wellbeing strategy effectively supporting all your people across the workforce? Any diverse workplace will have people scattered across different stages of the employee lifecycle, facing multifaceted wellbeing challenges and requiring different levels of support. Whether it's supporting working carers, or offering menopause support - is your health and wellbeing policy set up to tackle specific issues that allows your talent to thrive?

Key takeaways:

• discover what wellbeing support your people need at different stages in the employee lifecycle
• understand the importance of tailoring support to address specific challenges
• learn about the benefits of homing in and being strategic on your health and wellbeing policy

• How can you support neurodivergence diagnosis within the workplace?
• Understand the importance of celebrating skill variations amongst employees 
• How can you create an environment where everyone can thrive despite their needs?
• Recognising that change is not just the responsibility of those who are neurodiverse but across the business by supporting employee groups

Kanya will discuss the story of MOBO, its values and its vision in becoming a voice for a large section of society who had previously been disenfranchised. She touches upon the importance of diversity as well as the social and cultural responsibility and supporting underprivileged  groups in the workplace. She also considers the inevitability of failing, the importance of having a clear vision in order to achieve, and how such visions need to be nurtured by a resilient mindset.  

• Defining the people function’s role in developing responsible businesses
• What is HR’s role in engaging externally with a range of stakeholders?
• How do you integrate responsible business practices into all stages of the employee lifecycle?

• How have flexible working practices impacted on employee satisfaction and what this means for your organisation’s productivity
• Encouraging managers and traditional workers to adapt to flexible working patterns and tackling familiarity bias within the workplace
• How can flexible working practices assist employees during the cost of living crisis?
• Is there a case for the four-day working week? And how can compressed hours be implemented effectively?

While bringing on top talent from around the world can be an incredible advantage, the challenges of managing tax and compliance globally can be daunting if you aren’t prepared. With the increasing pressure of growth, businesses are looking to expand their global network of talent, resulting in an increase of remote work. In this session, we’ll dive into some recommendations on how to understand and adapt to cross-boarder employment laws.

• Examination of the key issues affecting reproductive health
• What you need to know about fertility issues and how to raise awareness around it
• How can employers build specific workplace support and policies to effectively support those experiencing or concerned with fertility and pregnancy?

• Understanding what being an ally means and what is expected of an ally.
  
• Recognising how organisations can ensure their policies and employees use appropriate language especially around gender and LQBTQ+ conversations?
• How can organisations support employees to engage in what might be considered difficult conversations?
• Discovering methods to engage individuals who believe EDI is not relevant to them or are scared to become allies.

• What are the benefits of peer coaching and upward mentoring?
• Coming up with new and innovative coaching methods when traditional methods aren’t gaining traction. 
• Establishing which learning techniques work best for the individual.

• Should more leaders become activists on topics such as climate change and social justice?
• How can you build your business with purpose and values?
• How can leaders respond to accusations of ‘wokeness’?
• What does CEO activism mean for leadership development?
  

In 2021/22 stress, depression or anxiety was the number one cause of work related illness. It accounted for more half of all ill-health cases in Great Britain, with some 914,000 workers being affected and 17million working days lost - an increase on the previous year, and higher than pre-COVID levels. This session will outline employers’ legal duties in relation to stress, explore the challenges in the workplace, and signpost to a number of solutions from HSE to support leaders and managers in tackling this important issue.

In 2021/22 stress, depression or anxiety was the number one cause of work related illness. It accounted for more half of all ill-health cases in Great Britain, with some 914,000 workers being affected and 17million working days lost - an increase on the previous year, and higher than pre-COVID levels. This session will outline employers’ legal duties in relation to stress, explore the challenges in the workplace, and signpost to a number of solutions from HSE to support leaders and managers in tackling this important issue.

•  What is social mobility?
• How to determine who would benefit from social mobility initiatives? 
• Understand how you can measure social mobility and what the results mean for your business
• Ensuring the ‘rules of the game’ are fair to support all employees to achieve their potential regardless of their socio-economic background