See how visioning, employee engagement and co-created values transformed an organisation into a culture grounded in accountability, integrity, support and respect. Take away a clear roadmap you can apply.

Change is constant – and HR leaders must manage it with limited resources, while supporting others and themselves. This masterclass offers practical, people-first strategies to lead change with empathy, clarity, and confidence.

How to engage and support employees in a changing world. Using gamification and behavioural science to increase engagement with benefits, and supporting them to build long term daily health habits.

Menopause is a hot topic. It’s also a completely natural life stage affecting millions of working women - yet it remains one of the least understood and most stigmatised workplace experiences. This presentation presents key findings from Benenden Health’s “Missing From the Workplace” research, which recently surveyed 2,000 UK women aged 40–65, and 500 HR professionals, to gain an understanding of women's experiences, and compare to employer understanding and the support they offer.

In the world of fast-scaling businesses, growth brings both opportunities and challenges. Leaders must navigate the complexities of rapidly increasing headcount, shifting priorities and the need for both speed and stability. This session explores practical strategies to harness the full potential of your team.

In a world where disruption is constant, agility isn’t just a competitive advantage—it’s a survival skill. This fireside chat brings together leaders from Amdaris and HiBob to explore how data and AI are reshaping the future workforce—and how HR can lead the charge. Amdaris will share how they’ve built an agile organisation by design: one that uses people data as a compass for decision-making, embeds adaptability into culture, and empowers teams to thrive through change. From reorganisations and M&A to talent mobility and leadership development, their story illustrates what agility looks like in action.

Across the UK, employers are recognising that mental health is not just a wellbeing priority — it is essential. Behind every organisation’s success are people whose wellbeing, engagement, and sense of belonging shape culture and drive performance. This session explores how businesses can create a unified, proactive approach to mental health — one that brings together every aspect of health and wellbeing into a connected ecosystem. Discover how Calm Health is designed for real engagement, helping organisations build workplaces where wellbeing truly thrives.

It’s a fact: a diverse leadership team drives business success. Learn how to strategically drive gender equality in leadership in three focus areas: recruitment, development, and workplace culture

Too often hidden in finance or merged into IT, HR is still seen as admin-heavy and a burden on decision-making. This session will challenge that perception, showing how HR can reposition itself as a strategic growth partner by communicating its value to leaders and harnessing data and technology to remove admin and drive business success.

Within organisational policy and practice there has been an emphasis upon evidence-based decision-making, but how can academics and practitioners come together to put research into practice? This interactive workshop with explore how EDI policy and practices can be informed by academic evidence. Bring your experience and questions, get ready to discuss how to make a business case for changing policies and discover what evidence is needed.

As nearly half of the UK workforce call for change, join IRIS to explore the inevitably of Earned-Wage Access, and how HR can harness it as a powerful engagement tool. 

AI and automation are reshaping work across every sector, transforming processes and redefining the skills organisations need. For people professionals, the challenge is no longer recognising these shifts but acting on them — developing your workforce now to succeed in tomorrow’s roles. This session gives you a clear view of the AI landscape and its impact on workforce planning. We’ll explore which technical and human capabilities are in highest demand and how to assess and plan for your organisation’s future skills needs.

Many organisations struggle to build an AI-ready, future-focused workforce by relying on short-term skills fixes. We share how to be purposeful and skills-powered with a ‘whole person’ approach.

For the HR profession to be evidence-based, it needs to connect research insights with practitioner expertise. Join us to be part of that two-way conversation! Topic by topic, academic experts will outline what's known in the body of research and people professionals will have space to question, probe and relate to their experience. 

You'll have the chance to hear about two topics, with topics including: 

- Understanding algorithmic inequalities

Dr Emily Yarrow, Senior Lecturer in Management and Organisations, University of Newcastle

- The wellbeing of people professionals in implementing wellbeing strategies or initiatives

Dr Laura Byrne, Lecturer in HRM and OB, Aston University

- Creating healthy jobs

Professor Kevin Daniels, Professor in Organisational Behaviour, University of East Anglia

- Does the Equality Act sufficiently protect fathers from discrimination?

Dr Jasmine Kelland, Associate Professor in HRM, University of Plymouth

- Supporting disabled people in(to) employment using agentic AI: Evidence from the AI-EMPOWERED research project

Dr Daniel Wheatley, Reader, Department of Management, University of Birmingham

- Dementia at work

Professor Valerie Egdell, Professor of Work and Employment, Northumbria University

- Ecological sustainability and democracy in organisations – lessons from Employee-ownership organizations

Professor Carole Elliott, Professor of Leadership Development, University of St Andrews

Dr Charles Barthold, Senior Lecturer in HRM and Organisation Studies, Open University 

As employee expectations continue to evolve, feeling valued at work has never been more important. In this fireside chat, Nat Jutla, Head of Financial Wellbeing & Workplace Strategy at Perkbox, sits down with Pippa Van Praagh, VP of Operations at Perkbox, and Ross Marshall, HR Wellbeing Consultant at the London Borough of Havering, to explore the findings from Perkbox’s latest Employee Value Challenge research and what they reveal about the state of employee retention today. Together, they’ll discuss why so many employees are feeling undervalued, how this is shaping workplace culture, and what leaders can do to turn awareness into action - helping every employee feel recognised, supported, and connected.

An energetic and memorable session packed with tips on how to keep a cool head, make good decisions - and use assertive language - to challenge poor behaviour in the workplace

An overview of the state of benefits and how it no longer serves employees or employers. A breakdown on trends and how they're damaging, and what we can do to pivot thinking

New CIPD/Simplyhealth research has revealed sickness absence is at record highs, hitting productivity, morale, and organisational performance. For people professionals, the challenge is clear: how do you reduce avoidable illness while supporting employees who do experience ill health? This session will give you practical strategies to get ahead of rising absence. We’ll explore proactive wellbeing initiatives, fair and compassionate absence management processes, and how to support sustainable reintegration into work. Join us to learn how to protect your workforce’s wellbeing while safeguarding organisational performance - balancing care, consistency, and impact.

A behind the scenes customer story reflection on how a small People team led a large-scale transformation across 800 people, and what others can learn from their approach to change.

If Nike, Uber, and Microsoft can miss compliance risks, what about you? Discover the unseen payroll and people pitfalls threatening growth - and how leaders can stay ahead.

Explore how pay transparency can drive employee engagement, strengthen EVP, and build trust—turning regulatory compliance into a strategic opportunity for connection, inclusion, and purpose-led leadership.

Most leaders are targeted with growing their business – but what is the cost? The Open University explores how skills development can ease tensions between business goals, inclusion, and sustainability.

Supercharge AI projects with the University of Manchester. Explore health and industry case studies, develop pitch-ready solutions, foster collaboration, and equip teams to drive real organisational change through ethical, human-centred AI.

The environments in which employees work, as well as external challenges they face, can have a big impact on productivity, wellbeing and work-life balance. Hear from Professor Kevin Daniels on strategic approaches for implementing Return to Work (RTW) and Stay at Work (SAW) interventions for workers with health conditions. With further thought on the impact this can have on performance. You'll then hear from Dr Juliet Hassard on the impact of mental health training for line managers on driving organisational outcomes.

With an increasingly neurodivergent UK workforce, employers now need to embrace neurodiversity when managing and resolving interpersonal conflict and grievance-type issues. This session tells you how.

With day one rights transforming employment, this session explores how HR can strengthen recruitment, onboarding, and performance foundations to support compliance, engagement, and long-term retention.

The UK Government’s Make Work Pay plan and the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill mark a landmark shift in employment law. With reforms rolling out from 2026 onwards - covering trade union relations, unfair dismissal and zero-hour contracts - HR professionals need to be ready.

Join this session for a clear, practical overview of what’s changing, what it means for your organisation and how to prepare at each stage. We’ll also outline the CIPD’s role in influencing on behalf of the profession and supporting members to navigate the Bill, so you can better support your organisation through this transition.

Your employees are talking - but are you truly listening? In a world of endless touchpoints and data, the most valuable insights can often remain unheard, having an effect on productivity and engagement - but how can organisations ensure they are responding to the here and now? Hear from Professor Stuart McIntyre and Professor Dora Scholarios who will set out recent survey evidence from Scotland on the opportunities available for employees to speak up, as well as the extent to which workers feel they can potentially influence decisions on the issues that matter most to them.  They’ll then discuss the implications of these survey data for organisational practice. You'll then hear from Dr Emma Hughes on the role line managers can play in facilitating individual and collective employee voice and how this can reduce the burden on the people profession, while decreasing stress and burnout across the organisation. You will hear from Nike Alabi on the role of people professionals and line managers in promoting psychological safety by providing safe spaces and proactive employee relations initiatives, especially in a global context.

Discover insights about the ways in which managing your own health and well-being as a well-being practitioner or expert can be challenging. Sarah​ will share her work about understanding the ‘practice what we preach’ ethos and leading by example for those working to look after the health of others at work. We will discover that knowledge and education about well-being is on its own not enough to ensure we look after our own wellbeing. The session will also explore the importance of this for workplace identities, the​ creation of role models, and healthy ​organisational cultures and climates. It will encourage self- reflection and introspection about the interplay between our own well-being and those we seek to​ help in our work.