Our roving reporter, @LisaScales, recently attended the HR Forum at the Institute of Engineering & Technology on Savoy Place. Here is her review:
What looked like initially to be quite a sober day with a true conference style format turned into an enlightening day for me watching senior Human Resources professionals from large organisations sticking their hands in the air and saying “yes we want to learn” “yes we have issues and how do we solve them”
The day started off with the opening speaker Richard Donkin, author, public speaker and all round font of knowledge (extending past the world of work and into the work of finance,fishing and sailing!)
Richard has written 2 books, the History of Work and the Future of Work and is, I believe, one of the few Baby Boomers who really “gets” the seesmic shift the younger generation is having on the world of work and how we approach work
Richard gave some astounding statistics (he wrote a column for the FT so he likes his stats) and one of which I found particularly interesting was that by 2020 there will be 600,000 fewer young people between the ages of 15-24 in UK labour market – only this week it was reported that graduate unemployment has risen to its highest level for 17 years. Hard to believe Richard’s statistics rang true but with all the factors he talked about including the declining population etc it had many of the audience shifting uncomfortably in their seats!
The HR forum is not only a day to listen to great speakers and learn it is also a chance for industry suppliers to meet decision makers face to face and whilst there were speaking sessions throughout the day alot of the time is taken up with delegates meeing suppliers on a one to one basis – I could really see the benefits that this could have for a supplier to have maybe up to a 10 new business meetings in one day (try that if you have to circumnavigate the M25 or deal with tube strikes)
Jacqueline Davies, Global Head of Talent, Performance & Resourcing – Barclays Global Retail Bank had the pre lunch slot and I think you could safely say she wet everyones appetite for finding and keeping “fabulous talent” in their organisations. Jaqueline took a year off to write her book The Truth about Talent (all profits from this book go to charity) and is 8 weeks into her new role. Jacqueline is a dynamic and inspirational character with a no nonsense approach and is exactly what Barclays need to find the best talent to support their ambitions as a bank.
Jaqueline was keen to emphasise that her presentation wasnt a “catch all” approach and every organisation needs their own strategy before they embark on any talent hunt but she is happy to throw the rule book out to get the right result – one point struck a chord in that she says there isnt a war for talent but more a capability crunch – she means that there are plenty of people out of work and looking for work but their skills dont match the skills that organisations are looking for so there is a mismatch in the market. Jacqueline went on to say that the education system doesn’t support the capability mismatch and that organisations will have to be more involved at grass roots level to support this.
The afternoon was taken up with more one to one meetings and more speakers. Fat Face talked about their employer branding and engagement journey starting with turning their employer brand and aligning it with their core values – the “Fattitudes” – that engage with current and future employees. Graham White from Westminster City Council also spoke about challenges being faced in the public sector and how you keep morale high, head count low whilst incurring ever reducing budgets.
I spoke to a couple of the delegates from the day to get their feedback and the general consensus was that it was a great line up of speakers aswell as a really good way to connect with their peer group and share ideas.
All in all a great day watching industry professionals coming together, collaborating and sharing ideas with a real want to improve things for their workforces.
