We can no longer shy away from our responsibility to make racial equality at work a reality. Organisational cultures, values, processes, and strategies all now need to be reflective of ethnic minority inclusivity.

As the driving force behind all of these, the people profession needs to step up and take ownership to lead and implement inclusive change in our businesses.

So where do we start? And how do we make the first steps into an equal future?

Join this candid opening conversation with best-selling author and journalist, Reni Eddo-Lodge to ascertain how you can begin making conscious changes happen today.

With unique access to employees throughout their careers, as well as opportunities to influence the organisation’s strategy and the way it manages its workforce, the people profession is uniquely placed to empower and embed principled decision-making into daily practice.

Ethics are at the heart of professionalism. To create cultures of transparency and trust, practitioners should demonstrate strong standards of integrity when advising business leaders.

So how do we place ethical practice at the heart of our roles? This panel of experts will discuss.

We're programmed to believe that there is no room for emotion in the workplace. This notion is further cemented by robots becoming a feature in our everyday environment.

But what if the opposite is true? What if the way to become more influential and trusted at work is by tapping into and harnessing our human qualities.

Vulnerability and emotional intelligence are fast being recognised as powerful tools in prominent leaders' toolkits. This session will explore why that is and how you can leverage your emotional capabilities to be heard and trusted in the workplace.

Leading organisations and people through the coronavirus pandemic has been an immense challenge for business and HR leaders. Doing so while remaining a responsible business even more so. Leaders have had to deal with conflicting and multiple priorities and stakeholders, making tough decisions under immense pressure while trying to do the right thing for their people. This session will explore the findings of research conducted by Veronica Hope Hailey and the CIPD with business and HR leaders from 30 organisations, exploring what responsible business means in practice, the impact on trust and the role of the people profession at times of crisis.

- raising the bar on best practice when supporting your people and their health through a pandemic
- how can we improve our mental health and wellbeing initiatives following the crisis?
- adjusting to new ways of working for people and business sustainability

- proactively staying ahead of the game in the midst of macroeconomic disruption
- understanding the potential risks and impact of changes in employment law regulation, labour markets and the economy
- planning ahead and avoiding blind-sided business disruption

Enabling people to speak up is now imperative in order to access vital knowledge and to reduce the risk of wrong-doing, inequality and misconduct at work. Leaders are encouraged to say their doors are always open and whistleblowing hotlines are set up, yet such organisational interventions are often too simplistic to make any sustainable change to organisational culture.

Simply asking people to ‘speak up’ and encouraging leaders to ‘engage in conversation’ without thoroughly appreciating the impact that power differences - and prevailing social and cultural norms - have on what can be spoken, and what is heard, is naïve at best. At worst it leads to organisational cynicism, as an issue of critical practical importance becomes trivialised into ritualised listening, consultation and training exercises.

This keynote will focus on the choices we make everyday, and how to facilitate a value-driven culture that maintains an effective balance of knowing when to listen, speak up, stay silent, or discount others' opinions with the greater ethical considerations in mind.

In collaboration with the World Federation of People Management Associations, SHRM and CIPD, this session will share research findings on:
- the differences in attitudes and beliefs towards having a career in the people profession across the globe
- continuing Professional Development, learning efforts and skill levels of people professionals
- attitudes towards career advancement and career expectations within the profession and current international HR models and practice

In order to facilitate an open and supportive working environment, we need to encourage a mental health dialogue. Knowing how to breakdown taboos and manage conversations in a sensitive and productive manner are key to ensuring your initiatives are effective. In recent unprecedented times we've been tasked with having to manage our own and our people's mental health during global crisis. So what are the main things we can learn from this to better support ourselves and our people's mental health moving forward?

- how to achieve a balance that works for your organisation and employees when it's easier said than done to 'switch off'
- delivering effective communication around overcoming presenteeism pressures and working smarter not harder
- helping people manage digitally-induced stress

- learning how to collaborate more effectively with senior leadership and business stakeholders
- working with other departments and external experts to gain a deeper understanding of business objectives and growth plans
- helping to drive and inform important decision-making

In this research-based presentation, Josh Bersin will delve into the four stages of this pandemic to help achieve clarity and perspective on what's coming next. He will explore the responsibilities of the profession during this process, as well as highlight new opportunities for growth, renaissance, and business betterment. The people profession has a critical role to play to help ensure organisational and economic success around the world, we just need to recognise our capabilities, and how we can add even greater value in the year ahead.