The 2022 Programme

This session from our legal expert will look at the immediate and longer-term consequences that are facing the world of retail from an employment law perspective.

• Increasing pressures in the world and workplace post covid, in the light of cost of living, Ukraine, climate change
• The importance of purpose
• Employee engagement and the link to ESG
• How to deliver the strategies using the S
• Navigating the ongoing saga of the 'Great Resignation'
• The increasing importance of Human and Social capital
• The rise in importance of people policies such as Speak Up, DE and I

Kirsty Rogers, Global Head of ESG & Managing Partner, DWF

Una O'Reilly, Group Chief People, Culture & Sustainability Officer, The Ivy Collection, Caprice Holdings, Bill’s, The Birley Clubs

There has been a fundamental shift in consumer views on which institutions to trust and the expectations they increasingly have of business and business leaders to focus on societal change. Retail must integrate people with technology, generate commercial sales through sustainability, stimulate customer loyalty through ethical behaviour to achieve profit without profiteering.

• Refocusing on purpose and values for engagement
• Attracting Gen Z and the employee engagement space
• ‘Agile organisations’ - reviewing your structure and its processes
• Marginalised workforces - redeployment of skills

Retail has been through unprecedented times and leadership has had to adapt and change to meet the needs of the workforce, as a result our working lives and our customers expectations have changed - we cannot go back to leadership as usual. In this session we talk with two well-respected HR leaders about what steps senior HR management need to take, to ensure workplace culture is at the fabric of their organisation’s retail strategy. Delegates will have the opportunity to reflect on their own leadership style and how it might adapt to meet future challenges.

• Five H’s of Leadership 4.0 - Leading in Head, Heart, Health, Habit & History
• How to keep momentum in your organisation when building back from a crisis
• How to deal with uncertainty and the interruption to people and processes
• How do organisations get employees ‘re-energised’?
• Crisis management and HR management responsibilities
• And how can HR leaders adapt for future success?
• Building effective communication strategies
• Mastering the executive transition process

MOK O'Keeffe, Founder, The Innovation Beehive

Faisal Hawa, Senior Director - Growth Strategy EMEA, Ceridian

For many retailers, staff recruitment challenges usually stem from poor retention. In the current era of rising costs and shifting customer demand, more than ever retailers are reliant on skilled, motivated, and productive colleagues to remain competitive. Our expert speaker will reveal the exclusive findings from UKG's 'Great Re-Think Survey’ and outline strategies to combat attrition, through improved manager and colleague experience.

Led by: Neil Pickering, Industry & Content Marketing Manager, UKG

Recruitment and retention - fighting for talent in a competitive job market

• The current employment space and how the retail world is changing
• Where / how to reach these candidates?
• How to attract great people – is it just about pay?
• Skills shortage - how do we collaborate and innovate to ensure connecting the right capabilities and skills
• Building skills with what you have whilst providing what Gen Z needs and wants
• Tips for recalibrating the workplace to attract new talent
• How to achieve a happy, fulfilled workforce - listening to employees
• Reducing resignation and building retention
• Build recognition and feedback into the workflow

Benefits of L&D - new initiatives

• HR, training and advancement opportunities for shop floor employees
• How to re-educate, stimulate employees when using a third party and when not to?
• What role do and should managers play in employee professional development
• Is all retail training all skills based?
• Baseline journey surveys – reorganising formal training

Afternoon chair:

Darren Williams, Executive Chairman, Scrubd

HR teams are now more than ever needing to be able to satisfy their constantly fluctuating customer demand, but also retain a workforce who want more flexibility in their work schedules. In this fireside chat session, we will hear about how the challenges resulting from the pandemic, has accelerated the need for workforce schedules to adapt to individuals, whilst still needing to meet business KPIs.  

• How recent retail challenges have accelerated the need for better employee work/life balance
• To what extent businesses with fluctuating customer demand can adopt flexible working
• How employers need to focus more on flexibility, engagement, training and development, and wellbeing measures to keep their talent and drive growth as a retailer
• Understanding your people analytics - how you can use data information to better recruit, onboard, progress talent and create succession plans to retain your workforce?
• How automated workforce management can solve the retail staffing crisis by better managing both employees and businesses complex needs

Mark Thomas, VP of Customer Success, Rotageek

Kelly Harding, Head of People Partnering, The Children's Society

• What does the future look like in terms of employee culture, experience, and engagement?
• The shift in the culture of retail - the role and prominence of HR
• The changing retail organisation structure - more strategic, less operational admin?
• ‘Liquid workforces’ and what this means – challenges and barriers of a flexible and hybrid workforce
• The future relationship between shops and head office and between channels
• ‘Deskless not voiceless’ - redefining the knowledge worker in retail
• How can retailers stay relevant to the empowered workforce?
• How critical will technology be in helping HR achieve its goals?
• Re-training managers for the inevitable challenges of the new world of work
• The impact the move to agile could have on the HR operating model