| Time | Session information | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00 - 09:55 | Conference Registration | |
| 09:55 - 10:00 | Conference Welcome | Kim Frost, former UHR Chair & Joanne Marshall, Director of People and Campus Services, University of Bradford & UHR Chair |
| 10:00 - 11:00 |
Plenary 1: Preventing Burnout in the New Future of Work As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we’re pivoting to a return to work that carries a number of uncertainties and many unanswered questions. In this time of enormous change, we must prioritize workplace well-being to prevent employee burnout and increase motivation. We’re in a time, like no other in history, where organizations have been given an opportunity to redefine their workplace.
Jennifer Moss, globally recognized as an expert in workplace wellness, and author of the book, The Burnout Epidemic, published by Harvard Business Press, can show leaders how to capture those lessons from the pandemic. She will walk us through our current realities and provide tangible solutions to increase psychological fitness for a healthier and happier today, and in the new future of work. Takeaways include: - Building the psychological fitness skills – particularly efficacy and resilience – to protect our well-being during times of change - Current realities of working during the pandemic recovery, and how to handle the changes to our work and personal lives while maintaining positive mental health - The myths and facts about burnout - The role of the organization and the individual in preventing burnout |
Jennifer Moss, Journalist, Author & Speaker, Jennifer Moss Inc. |
| 11:00 - 11:30 |
Break & Networking |
| Time | Session information | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 11:30 - 12:15 |
WA1: #InclusiveHR – 5 Step Challenge to Change |
Cheryl Samuels, Deputy Director of Workforce Transformation, NHS Workforce Transformation, NHS England & NHS Improvement |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | WA2: Pay gaps and intersectionality across gender and ethnicity UCEA’s new annual Intersectional Pay Gaps survey examines the six measures of the statutory gender pay gap reporting through an intersectional lens. We will take you through the findings of this important survey, how to identify pay gaps at your own HEI and steps you can take to begin action planning to make progress on all types of pay gaps. |
Rebecca Gregg, Research Analyst & Roshan Israni, Deputy Chief Executive, both of UCEA |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | WA3: Age Inclusion in the Workplace – lets discuss Age is a dimension of diversity that's shared by each and every one of us. Despite this, it is often neglected, rarely getting profile in D&I discussions. • The fact is attitudes to age remain a real barrier to fair treatment in UK workplaces. 88% of 55 - 64 year olds see their age as a disadvantage when applying for a job. And 16% (still a significant number) of 16-24 year olds feel the same. • Since 2015 Age Scotland have been working with over 230 organisations, including universities, to increase age-inclusion across all groups in the workplace. During this 45 minute, virtual session we will explore: • Why ageism matters • What is an ‘age inclusive workplace’? • What are the biases and myths about age in the workplace? • What you can do to make your organisation more age-inclusive |
Susan Gordon, Age Inclusion Specialist & Sue Adlam-Hill, Age Inclusion Specialist, both of Age Scotland |
| 11:30 - 12:15 |
WA4: Hybrid Working – Thinking Differently |
Adele MacKinlay, Director, Rachael McGraw, Head of Colleague Engagement & Kay Nicholls, Project Manager, Alithea Buchan, Internal Communications and Engagement Officer, all of The University of Manchester |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | WA5: Kick starting culture change - is now a good time? Starting November 2020 The University of Surrey undertook a Strategic refresh which proved an ideal opportunity to review our culture and values, consider what’s working, areas for improvement and define what is needed behaviourally to deliver on their Strategic objectives. Between January and March 2021 collaborative employee workshops were held to ascertain our cultural aspiration and desired values. What followed has been an organised and at times serendipitous cultural change approach to ensure everyone is onboard with our new evolved values and highlight areas where we could improve. As we move into 2022 we continue to seek out big and small areas of alignment from Organisation Design, Talent attraction through to leadership, development and recognition, to meeting etiquette and 121 conversations. Always aiming to ensure we are consistently orientated towards our cultural ambition and new values. We’d love to share with you, why we started this journey, particularly during a pandemic, our approach and what tools we used, what we’re measuring, what we learnt and hopefully hear from the audience what we no doubt missed and how we can grow further in 2022/23. |
Alison Orr, Head of Organisational Development & Sarah Leggett, HR Business Partner, both of University of Surrey |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | WA6: The value of Values The importance of having university values is clear, they clarify the identity and way we do things around here, in essence they are our shop window. They clearly articulate the university’s aspirations for appropriate workplace behaviour and supporting attitudes, and play a crucial role in building a positive culture. Creating university values also helps embed equality, diversity, and inclusion into workplace culture, a task organisations in all sectors often struggle to achieve. However, in practice it’s quite a challenge to create a culture that reflects our values because our people have to be on board as creators of the culture we desire and therefore must embody our values. When ‘Everyone is Onboard’ with values in this way it improves the experience of staff and students who feel the values in the environment. Values can also be a strength when recruiting new talent and diverse talent, particularly in a candidate’s job market (as we’ve seen these past few months). HR/OD professionals are essential to supporting culture change and influencing the change that’s needed. In this session we hope you will gain some useful insights to how you can lead this work and learn from our experiences. |
Tally Kandola, Head of Organisational Development & Samantha Goober, Head of Equality and Inclusion Projects, both of St Mary’s University |
| 12:15 - 12:45 | Break & Networking |
| Time | Session information | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 14.30 - 15:30 | Plenary 2: A Compassionate University How do we make the higher education more compassionate, and build a community that celebrate collaboration over competition? Professor Simone Buitendijk will talk about her mission as Vice-Chancellor at the University of Leeds to develop a values-led institution that puts equity, diversity and inclusion at the heart of its work. Celebrating the role of the HR profession in supporting her 'people first' approach to leadership, she will discuss what we can learn from international institutions about reward and recognition; the changing perception of how academic careers are valued; and how bringing people together around a shared set of values and priorities will make our university communities happier and stronger. |
Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice Chancellor at the University of Leeds |
| 15:30 - 16:00 | Break & Networking |
| Time | Session information | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 16:00 - 17:00 | LA1: Equality and Inclusion: new trends and emerging challenges Legal trends, societal change and the impact of the pandemic on established working practices are creating new EDI challenges for employers. Our session will explore the changing legal landscape on EDI issues, highlighting key themes for HEIs as they strive to be truly inclusive workplaces. Using polls, quiz questions and other interactive tools, we will examine the following areas and the challenges and opportunities they present: • emerging trends in discrimination law, including ageism in the workplace – why did age discrimination claims rise more quickly in 2021 than any other type of claim? • a new look at equality including the impact of menopause • gender identity rights including relevant legislation, case law and new developments • legal challenges arising from flexible/hybrid working, including wellbeing and mental health and proximity bias |
Nicola Bennison, Head of the Education Sector Group, Chris Mordue, Partner, Robert Gray, Partner, Helen Mortlock, Legal Director all of Eversheds Sutherland LLP |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | LA2: Plain sailing through the Employment Tribunal process Employment Tribunals are a regular feature for most universities. They can be daunting and time consuming. Designing a strategy at the outset and managing the process proactively will deliver positive results both around that particular claim in terms of the outcome to that claim, time and cost efficiencies and also in terms of overall people management. In this session we will identify how to design a strategy and proactively manage the process including giving some key tips on how to maximise successful outcomes in the Employment Tribunal. This will cover pre Tribunal actions, document management, laying the groundwork to robustly defend a claim, witness statements, supporting witnesses, presenting the best case at the Employment Tribunal as well as steps for speedy resolution through proactive case management. |
Alex Russell, Partner, Patrick Gass, Principal Associate & Abisola Latunji-Cockbill, Principal Associate, all of Mills & Reeve LLP |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | LA3: Safeguarding well-being and mental health in the post COVID world The strength and resilience of the higher education community has never been more important or subject to greater challenges. Maintaining and developing the strength of that community is one of the priorities facing the sector. An important element is the psychological contract with all staff and particularly how universities can safeguard staff well-being and mental health. This is at a time when according to a recent HSE survey half of work-related illnesses are now stress/depression/anxiety. Our employment law and health and safety experts will look at some of the issues that arise as a consequence of Covid including how well-being policies translate with new working methods and external stressors. We will explore the likely impact of the consultation on the health and disability green paper and the HSE’s continued focus on occupational health. We will refer to some best practice case studies from across the sector. |
James Tait, Partner (Employment), Stephanie McGarry, Partner (Health & Safety), & Bettina Rigg, Partner (Employment), all of Browne Jacobson LLP |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | LA4: Everyone Onboard – with positive action initiatives in recruitment & development Positive action initiatives are targeted measures to encourage the recruitment and career development of those from under-represented groups. This session will focus on four key areas, namely: • Types of positive action initiatives that HE employers put in place to achieve D&I targets • How to approach the concept of “proportionality” in addressing under-representation to avoid claims of positive discrimination • How to deal with “backlash” from those not in under-represented groups and who are unhappy with these initiatives • How misconceptions about the nature of these initiatives can be avoided or addressed |
Trish Embley, Head of Client Training Employment & Rebecca Stephen, Legal Director, all of Pinsent Masons |
Please note that the session titles and speakers are subject to change.
