Programme |

Return To The Office, Return To The New Normal? Robust Engagement & Culture Strategies To Prepare Financial Services Employees: Culture, Change & Disruption • Best-In-Class Engagement • Evolving Tech In The Workplace • Equip Leaders & Managers • Diversity & Inclusion • Mental Health & Wellbeing • Investing In People • Measuring Engagement • Channels, Comms & Hard-To-Reach Demographics • Attraction & Retention

A One-Day, Financial Services Sector, Practitioner-Led Conference & Networking Event, 29th June 2021.

08.30 Registration, Coffee & Objective Setting

09.00 GIC Welcome & Morning Chair's Opening Remarks

Rebecca Luter
People Business Partner
Lloyds Banking Group

Culture, Change, Disruption

09.10 Establish A Creative, Human & Flexible Culture Which Is Resilient To Business Change, Boosts Productivity & Empowers Your Workforce

Build a dynamic culture which blends the ethics and values of your employees and fosters increased productivity and creativity
Strengthen employee buy-in and morale with authentic, transparent communications during periods of business change or uncertainty
Are you really a modern workplace? Ensure flexible working policies and mindsets are up-to-scratch to accommodate all employees
Breed a top tier culture to kick-start employee engagement and guarantee your temperature checks properly capture its progress
As the FCA points to poor culture being the catalyst of poor conduct and compliance within Financial Services, how can we ensure that compliant, customer-first culture is top of the agenda

Chantal Albresch
Head of HR Transformation
Credit Suisse

Culture & Change In Financial Services - Q&A Panel

09.30 A Great Culture Won’t Change, Even If Everything Else Does Around It! Gain Valuable Insights From Our Panel Of Engagement Experts About How To Craft An Emotionally Resilient & Adaptable Culture Which Thrives On Change, Rather Than Succumbs To It

Zahoor Ahmad
Diversity & Inclusion Lead
Skipton Building Society

Nicola Porter
Senior HR Business Partner
Direct Line Group

Francesca Hampton
Senior HR Business Partner
Vanquis

Gorse Burnett
Head of HR & People Development
Newbury Building Society

Aisha Lewis
Senior Programme Manager
Nationwide Building Society

Sarah-Ellen Stacey
Chief People Officer
Hodge Bank

Danny Harmer, Chief People Officer, Aviva

Best-In-Class Engagement

10.00 Drive Business-Wide Engagement With A Comprehensive, Watertight Strategy Which Boosts Satisfaction Levels & Maximises Productivity

With the rise of fixed-term workers, sole traders and consultants in the mix, explore how to realign communications and engagement efforts to ensure everybody is bought in
How can large financial services organisations become more agile and thrive, without adopting a restrictive, siloed mentality?
Support vulnerable individuals in at-risk roles who might underperform or struggle as the market fluctuates and plateaus
Fresh, innovative approaches to win staff over as brand ambassadors and earn
their trust and loyalty

Speaker to be announced.

Case Study

10.20 How Banks & Insurers Are Changing Their Culture In Innovative Ways That Work

Ghassan Karian
Managing Partner
Karian and Box

10.40 Morning Refreshment Break With Informal Networking

Evolving Tech

11.10 Boost Engagement & Profits By Seamlessly Integrating New Tools & Technologies Into The Workplace, Without Losing The Human Touch

Avoid getting bogged down in the systems during periods of change and discover unique approaches to ensuring your people are front-of-mind, not the ones and zeros

Speaker To Be Announced

Tech In The Workplace

11.30 Uncover, Introduce & Master Ground-Breaking New Technologies & Innovative Systems Which Add Value To Colleague Comms & Experience

Explore new systems and technologies to enable successful employee engagement – without breaking the bank
Reshape current business frameworks to work in your favour and elevate engagement strategies
Harness innovative tools to listen, measure and report more effectively on staff engagement, health, wellbeing, attraction, retention and more
The financial sector has unfettered access to cutting-edge tech, so how can we translate our consumer-facing excellence into streamlined internal systems?
We’ve already adopted cloud-based technology, but what’s the next big step? And what should we be doing now to prepare for the future of work?

Speaker to be announced.

Leaders & Managers - Double Perspective

12.05 Equip Line Managers With The Skill Set To Coach, Train & Empower Employees & Get Them Bought Into Engagement Strategies

Convince leaders to involve employees in corporate strategy, recognise their purpose and feel empowered to take responsibility for their own wellbeing and performance
Prevent key messages from becoming distorted or forgotten as they trickle down to employees via supervisors or managers
Persuade your people managers of the softer benefits of engagement and harness them as an effective channel, without needlessly throwing money at the problem
Start at the top! Tips to coach senior stakeholders to be inspirational and authentic in their communications and ensure their messages are cascaded and embedded into day-to-day culture

12.05 Perspective One

Tim McPhillips
Head of People Manager Capability
Direct Line Group

12.25 Perspective Two

Anne-Marie Lister
Head of People Experience
Atom Bank

12.45 Morning Round-Up & Lunchtime Announcements

12.50 Lunch & Informal Networking For Speakers, Partners & Delegates

Informal Peer-To-Peer Discussions On Industry Hot Topics

13.20 Peer-To-Peer Discussions

A) Engagement On A Budget

Nicola Maddox
Learning & Development Business Partner
Hermes Investment Management

B) Flexible Working

Sarah Bould
HR Business Partner
Royal London

C) Employee Listening

Lorraine Goan
Associate Director, People Experience
HSBC Security Services

D) How Banks & Insurers Are Changing Their Culture In Innovative Ways That Work

Ghassan Karian
Managing Partner
Karian and Box

E) Rewards & Recognition

F) Flexible Working

Afternoon Co-Chair Remarks

13.50 Afternoon Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Hannah Wilson
Delivery Director
American Express

Theresa Winters
People Insight Lead
Santander UK

Bonus Session

15.05 Reserved For Mursion

Jacob Nikolau, Growth Marketing Manager, Mursion

Diversity & Inclusion

14.00 Build Inclusive, Dynamic & Creative Cultures Which Embrace Diversity, Work Harmoniously & Celebrate The Changing Workplace Of Today

Innovative comms to bridge gaps in the workforce: what will engage millennials and Gen-Z working in contact centres, as well as older bankers nearing retirement age?
Strategic approaches to persuade senior stakeholders of the commercial imperatives and bottom line benefits of diversity and inclusion
Practical steps to more effectively communicate with and represent your employees and wider customer base
Break down barriers and stigmas in a sector traditionally dominated by white, middle-aged males to ensure that conversations about D&I are welcomed and encouraged by everybody

Zahoor Ahmad
Diversity & Inclusion Lead
Skipton Building Society

Mental Health & Wellbeing - Panel Q&A

14.20 Raise Awareness, Provide Support & Wellbeing Initiatives & Empower Your Employees To Reduce The Impact Of Mental Illness In (& Out Of) The Workplace

Create an open culture and instigate honest, authentic conversations about mental health and wellbeing, without coming across as overly corporate or insincere
How can we better monitor and support home workers’ wellbeing when they’re not office based
Seamlessly integrate wellbeing into discussions around engagement to make the topic more commonplace and easier to digest for people who are not naturally inclined
How can we better train line managers to support employees with mental health issues and get the best out of their team commercially and emotionally?

Helen Walpole
HR Business Partner
MetLife

Karen Cooke
Senior Human Resources Business Partner
Hargreaves Lansdown

Fiona McAslan
Wellbeing Lead
Royal Bank of Scotland

Lorraine Goan
Associate Director, People Experience
HSBC Security Services

UNMIND

15.05 Why understanding employee mental wellbeing is crucial for the attraction and retention of talent in the financial services sector.

The past year has been the ultimate stress test for life and work. Concerns around employee mental health in the Financial Services sector have risen significantly. Unmind's latest research has found that the most common factors impacting mental health for the sector are work/life balance, burnout, and high-pressure working conditions.

55% of UK employees say they would seek a new job if their mental wellbeing was not being supported by their employer. In response to this, many financial organisations have shifted their strategy to what Unmind calls the 'whole-person, whole-organisation' approach to mental health. This holistic strategy has allowed some of the UK's leading financial services companies to empower their people to proactively take care of their mental wellbeing whilst driving wider culture change and ensuring employee retention.

Join us to discuss:

The unique challenges that employees in the FS sector might be facing.
The benefits of a proactive and preventative mental health strategy.
How using a data-driven approach to employee mental health empower both employers and their people.

Kenny Mulcahy, Head of Commercial Growth, Unmind

Investing In People

15.20 Prepare, Train & Upskill Employees To Be Resilient, Agile & Equipped For The Future Of Financial Services

It’s not just about retention… how to better to invest in employees to build loyalty and provide genuine development opportunities?
Adapt to individual needs more effectively to enable employees to perform at their best, rather than ‘one size fits all
Is it possible to personalise the employee experience? Bolster internal communications with quick wins from external-facing customer experience strategies
Collaboration, adaptability, emotional resilience… how can we build and nurture the skills vital for the future of work?

Bobbi Nicholson
People Operations Lead
Monzo Bank

15.40 Afternoon Refreshment Break With Informal Networking

Measure Engagement

16.10 Accurately Measure Engagement Levels By Actively Listening To The Employee Voice & Responding Quickly With Informed Solutions & Initiatives

Move away from structured surveys and harness employee listening techniques for a nuanced understanding of employee satisfaction levels
You’ve got the data, but now what? Feed employee feedback into business as usual to drive improvements, bolster organisational health and boost engagement
Where do ethical boundaries lie when working with potentially private or sensitive data?
Translate employee insights into meaningful stories to relay back to staff and ignite real change

Rachael McNee, Head of HR HOST UK, HSBC

Channels, Comms & Hard-To-Reach

16.30 Optimise Channels & Communications To Engage Employees Far & Wide & Maximise Engagement

Pinpoint the success of new initiatives and where investment in new, innovative digital channels has paid off
Drip-feed the right messages at the right time to sustain engagement, rather than throwing information out and hoping it sticks
How can we (carefully) break free of risk-averse comms to exude authenticity and humanity
Maintain consistent, engaging messages across multiple sites, without losing the specific personalities or unique qualities of remote offices
A look to the future of comms as we move towards more fragmented, remote workforces. What should we be doing today to help prepare for tomorrow?

Heather Mustafa, Development & Delivery Lead Manager, Nationwide

Attraction & Retention

16.50 Become A Financial Services Employer Of Choice! Innovative Techniques To Attract The Best Talent & Boost Long-Term Retention Rates

Explore the qualities today’s top candidates are seeking in their prospective workplace: are you doing enough to entice the best talent?
As financial services experiences significant HR changes, how do you recruit and develop colleagues with the right mindset and attributes?
As today’s turbulent times result in disengaged employees holding onto their job, what can be done to mitigate any negative impact and win them back?
Proactive, not reactive! Spot retention risks early in the employee journey

17.10 Afternoon Co-Chairs’ Closing Remarks