2021 Agenda

Stuff CEO and owner Sinead Boucher has taken many calculated risks in her career. In this talk she will share how stepping out of her comfort zone to take advantage of unexpected opportunities has influenced her leadership journey. 

At the start of 2020, we saw rapid shifts to virtual and remote work, with unprecedented levels of flexibility. As we start to look to the new realities of a post-pandemic world, our panelists will discuss best practices for the new normal and future of work.  

• How to foster collaboration, teamwork, agility and cohesion in the new normal  
• What have we learned about remote work during COVID-19?  
• Successful HR programs that support gig economy workers and contractors   
• Communication strategies to create a cohesive culture in a remote and virtual world   
• HR programs that combine targets and metrics with flexible work arrangements   

COVID-19 thrust HR professionals into the spotlight, challenging long-held perceptions of HR as a back-office function dealing solely with contracts and new hires. The pandemic’s impact on workplaces highlighted HR’s important role as agents of change tasked with navigating organisations’ people through periods of immense upheaval. But there is still work to be done in elevating HR’s status as strategic partners.

This session discusses how HR can build on its elevated reputation and extend influence across an organisation, focusing on the following key areas:

• How HR can make best use of data analytics to build business cases and demonstrate expertise
• How to demonstrate the link between people-related HR initiatives (employee experience, culture, talent planning) and business outcomes
• How HR can build trust and credibility
• The importance of building a deep understanding of the business strategy, and aligning this with talent planning
• Using HR technology to prioritise strategic work and gain data-driven insights

Research has shown an increase in reported mental health issues among employees during the COVID-19 crisis. Companies are now shifting their priority towards employee wellbeing during this time of uncertainty. In this session, Shaun will discuss the steps Chorus is taking to improve employee wellbeing.   

• Developing initiatives to manage mental health and stress for a remote workforce  
• Integrating mental health support to your current HR strategy  
• Creating a culture of support through empathetic leadership 

Across New Zealand, many multi-year digital transformation projects were accelerated to a few weeks. With HR technology now playing a huge role in all organisations, our panellists will share insights from their HR tech journeys.  

• Practical lessons learned during a variety of different HR tech rollouts  
• Examples of successful AI and automation programs that have automated routine HR tasks  
• Which transactions can we automate with self-service and what should we retain in human hands?  

During the COVID-19 crisis with such rapid changes and decision-making, HR teams really learned the importance of real-time data. In this session, hear insights into the use of data for HR decision-making.  

• Making connections across data and information to inform successful decision making  
• Using real-time data and analytics to influence stakeholders at all levels  
• How to shape data into a narrative to help reveal findings, trends or underlying patterns  
• Using visualisations to explain how and why HR data changes over time  
• How can we use data to think differently about the employee experience?  

The past several months have accelerated the reality of the future of work. What will HR roles look like in the future?    

• How can we capture and scale the benefits gained through COVID-19?   
• Preparing your workforce for future challenges and opportunities     
• What does the future hold for progressive and flexible work options and benefits?   
• How can we guide and support teams for a future that is uncertain?     

2020 has brought unprecedented stress and uncertainty to our employees. Now it’s up to HR departments to rebuild trust by creating and maintaining positive employee experience and engagement programs.  

• Employee experience (EX) programs that foster personal strengths, passions and purpose  
• HR technology solutions that help HR teams to apply personalisation in a scalable way   
• How four different employers have taken holistic ‘whole person’ approach to EX  
• Practical examples of highly connected and personalised people management strategies