Feature Two

BT Murrayfield serves up a whole new world of work

The Hr NETWORK ‘Our New World of Work’ Conference & Exhibition 2022 took place at the magnificent BT Murrayfield Stadium on Thursday 12th May 2022 and judging from feedback from delegates, sponsors and exhibitors, this first conference event from Hr NETWORK in two years, did not disappoint at all.

Leaders Dinner 2022

The event began on Wednesday evening in the President’s Suite at BT Murrayfield with the hugely popular Annual Leaders Dinner 2022, which attracted around 130 senior HR practitioners and guests. Founder & publisher of Hr NETWORK, Lee Turner welcomed guests to the Dinner along with special guests Jacqui Jones, Director of HR for NHS National Services and Gill Scott, HR Director of Aegon UK. Jacqui was there as a special guest to collect the Outstanding Contribution to Scottish HR award on behalf of the NHS workforce, NHS Workforce won at the Hr NETWORK National Awards last November, but until now hadn’t been presented to them due to further COVID restrictions and the outbreak of the Omicron variant of the virus. Jacqui then took part in an insightful interview session with trusted adviser to Hr NETWORK and founder of The Culture Builders and Tuddl, Jane Sparrow. Jacqui revealed in her interview with Jane some of the biggest challenges that she and her senior HR colleagues faced during the two years of the pandemic, which included in particular, the setting up of the national COVID centre and temporary hospital, the Louisa Jordan facility in Glasgow. In June this year, Gill Scott retired following a hugely successful career in HR, latterly enjoying 12 wonderful years as HR Director for pensions giant Aegon UK. Following Jacqui Jones’ interview, Lee Turner invited Gill Scott on stage to join Jane in the Chair for a final word with her industry peers as she embarks on a much more relaxed and slower pace in life. Guests were treated to a beautiful three course dinner and the chance to network with colleagues and connections, many of whom, who hadn’t seen each other since before the start of lockdown in March 2020.

Conference & Exhibition 2022

Trusted advisor of Hr NETWORK and managing Director of Business Jigsaw Clare Moore opened the Conference & Exhibition with a warm welcome back for delegates following a two year break due to COVID. The Conference featured six keynote sessions on the day as well as a full Exhibition Area showcasing an exciting range of products and services for the HR and people development & management community. Keynote speakers included: Steve Williams OBE, Olympian, Mountaineer and Performance Coach, Jacques Quinio from Right Management, Priyanka Rai Jaiswal from Three UK & Ireland, Kash Haroon from Roffey Park Institute, Julia Stevenson and Katrina Wright from Scottish Water and finishing off the day of speakers, Erick Rainey founder of RainWorks. Steve Williams’ session was called High Performance Principles: Achieving Peak Performance in the New World of Work. Having won two Olympic Gold medals in rowing, he moved on to a very different challenge in a completely new world of high performance and summited Mount Everest. Steve shared his insights and learning’s about the common high performance principles that get the best out of individuals and teams in these very different worlds, which can help us as we explore and seek to achieve our own peak performance in the new world of work. Following Steve, delegates broke for morning break in the Exhibitor Area situated in the Thistle Suite where a wide range of HR industry product & service providers had been assembled. Delegates mingled with Exhibitors who were eager to show the HR delegates what they had on offer and entice them with a great mix of goodies and giveaway’s. Following morning break, delegates returned to the President’s Suite where they heard speakers Jacques Quinio from Right Management and Priyanka Rai Jaiswal from Three UK & Ireland. Jacques’ session was called Our New World of Work: The Leadership Struggle and Opportunity. Jacques talked about the boundaries between what is happening in our world and our personal lives and how this is shifting. The pandemic of course has been a critical time, but climate change, Brexit, high inflation, the conflict in Ukraine to name a few other major events, as well as business trends (talent shortage, pressure on compensation, paradoxical expectations form a wide variety of stakeholders) are putting pressure on leadership. Following a quick five minute reset for delegates between the two speaker sessions, it was then the turn of Priyanka Rai Jaiswal, Three UK & Three Ireland. Priyanka’s session was called Encouraging and Celebrating Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Three. In her keynote session, the Director of People Propositions discussed the journey Three has been on to ensure that the business is committed to their DIB agenda now and in the future. Following Priyanka’s session, delegates and exhibitors got the chance to engage once again in the Exhibitor Area. Lunch was served to delegates as they mingled and chatted with each other. The ever-popular iPad Mini competition was running throughout the Conference as delegates were tasked with collecting a secret letter from exhibitors, which made up two hidden words on their competition form. The entries were placed in the competition box during the day.

Following lunch, Kash Haroon from Roffey Park Institute began his session entitled, The Future of Work is Here: Are You Ahead of the Curve or Behind It? Kash said that the COVID crisis has accelerated workplace transformation and innovation in a way that nothing else could. Employers are finding themselves in a precarious position, fighting an ever-tougher battle for talent, whilst trying to stay relevant as organisations. People are able to work from anywhere, they do what they want, when they want and organisations have to consider carefully, the way that they now construct themselves around employee needs and they will certainly face problems ahead. Kash also discussed how organisational development can be a catalyst for your organisation’s ambitions and help you ensure it is built by design and not by default. Following another five minute reset between Kash’s session and the fifth session of the day, Julia Stevenson & Katrina Wright from Scottish Water were up next with their session entitled Scottish Water: Working Together to Find a New Flow. Almost overnight, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated health and wellbeing to the top of the corporate and societal agenda. Water is essential to life, and the additional importance of hand-washing and extra hygiene protocols brought about by the pandemic, put sharply into focus the requirement for Scottish Water’s people to go the extra mile to keep Scotland’s water flowing. Scottish Water’s 4,000+ employees all had a part to play, regardless of

whether they were working in field or site operational roles, in their science laboratories or remotely from home. Julia Stevenson, Head of Employee Experience at Scottish Water and Katrina Wright, Senior Consultant, Health and Wellbeing described the steps that were taken to ensure safety, health and wellbeing during this challenging time and how employees were encouraged to have a voice in decisions that affected them. After the final visit of the day for delegates to the Exhibitor Area, which included Tea’s, Coffee and Cake, a firm favourite for delegates ahead of the final session of the day, Erick Rainiey from RainWorks began his session entitled ‘Turning Trauma Into Triumph’. Erick talked about companies investing huge amounts to implement new projects through systemic change but mentioned that too often the people responsible for managing that change are taken for granted. Erick made his session informative yet light-hearted with plenty of “Ah Ha” moments and golden nuggets of wisdom that delegates were able to take away and implement when they got back to work. Following Erick, Chair Clare Moore brought the Conference to a close before being thanked on stage by Lee Turner. Plans are now underway for next year’s Hr NETWORK Leaders Dinner, Conference & Exhibition which will take place in Edinburgh on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th May 2023.

Sponsors

Exhibitors

For further information on sponsor and exhibitor options for next years Hr NETWORK Conference in 2023, please contact the Conference Planning Team on Tel: 0131 625 3267 or email: subscriptions@hrnetworkscotland.co.uk

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