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27th May - Gala Awards Dinner - National Maritime Museum - London
28th May - Conference - Central - Westminster - London

2008 Conference Agenda

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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

08:00 - 09:00

Breakfast and Registration

09:00 - 09:15

Welcome and Setting the Agenda
  • Hal Adler, President, Great Place to Work® Institute

09:15 - 10:00

Opening Keynote: Trust: The Key to Business Differentiation
In 2007, McDonald’s has been recognised as a Best Workplace by Great Place to Work® Institute in 15 countries around the world. A strong focus on building trust and linking workplace development with the business strategies are some of the key reasons behind these remarkable results. David Fairhurst, the Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer for Northern Europe, will share with us how McDonald’s in practice work with building trust and what impact it has on the performance of the organisation. David was in July 2006 voted HR Director of the Year by readers of HR Magazine and in June 2007 he secured No.1 position in Personnel Today’s Top-40 HR Power Players list. David will also be the chair person of the conference.
  • David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President & Chief People Officer - N. Europe, McDonalds

10:00 - 10:45

Keynote: Unique Culture and High-Performance
Google is one of the worlds most admired companies today. During the past 3-5 years, Google has increased the market value of the company with a spectacular rate and established themselves as a unique company with extremely high-performing organisation. For the past two years, Google has been the number 1 on the Fortune-list of the 100 Best Companies to Work for and Google is recognised in a number of other Great Place to Work® lists around the world. Liane Hornsey, the HR Director for EMEA, will share some of the secrets about how Google build and develop this unique culture and how they are able to create this high-performing organisation.

10:45 - 11:15

Refreshment and Networking Break

11:15 - 12:45

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

A: Exclusive Networking for Best Workplaces

(only available for companies among the Best Workplaces in the UK or Europe 2008)

This session is an exclusive opportunity for the companies recognized as the Best Workplaces in the UK or Europe 2008 to discuss “hot” topics and network with peers from all over Europe. The session requires pre-registration and expression of interest in discussion topics. Discussion groups will be designed according to priority of topics, company characteristics and each person’s role. Join us and expand your European network!

Focus Level: Presentation/Interactive - 10%/90%

Facilitated by:

  • Dr. Michael Burchell, Vice President for Global Business Development and Senior Consul, Great Place to Work® Institute Inc.

B: Foundations of a Great Place to Work®: Nine steps to create a great workplace

This introductory seminar provides an overview of two essential frameworks for understanding the best companies to work for. This workshop is a perfect introduction to the Great Place to Work® Model and methodology including our Trust Index® and the Nine Practice Areas framework and is ideal for participants wanting to start by developing this core knowledge base. This seminar will examine the motivation and business rationale for investing in creating a great place to work. The workshop includes both individual and group learning experiences designed to help you explore how you can create a great place to work and spotlights the ways other companies have built great workplaces.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the five dimensions of a Great Place to Work® based on the employee experience.
  • Deepen your understanding of the nine management practice areas for creating a great workplace.
  • Learn several best practices of the Best Companies and those of your peers, and discuss how to apply them to your organisation’s unique culture.
  • Identify opportunities for change in your organisation.

Focus Level: Presentation/Interactive - 80%/20%

Facilitated by:

  • Bob Lee, Director, Great Place to Work® Institute UK

C: How to Mobilize Key Leaders to Create Cultural Change in Your Organisation

The goal of this workshop is to provide leaders and managers with both the information and skills they need to successfully enlist champions and sponsors for the journey of creating a great workplace. The information to be shared will focus on the business benefits of creating a great workplace, while skill development will focus on the positive uses of influence and persuasion to engage key people in the organizational transformation process.

Learning objectives:

  • To provide participants with a grounding in what are the business benefits of creating and sustaining a great workplace.
  • To teach participants about change in organizations, persuasion, and overcoming barriers to change.
  • Understand the key role of the CEO and other leaders in building a great place to work®

Focus Level: Presentation/Interactive - 80%/20%

Facilitated by:

  • Hal Adler, President, Great Place to Work® Institute

12:45 - 13:45

Networking Lunch

13:45 - 14:30

Keynote: Talent Development in Practice
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software and employs more than 43,000 people in more than 50 countries. SAP has been recognised in many countries as one of the Best Workplaces and was recently named the Best Large Workplace in Germany. A key element of SAP's success in creating a great workplace is due to an impressive scope and variety of practices applied when it comes to supporting talent development in the organisation. The Senior Vice President for Human Resources, Mr. Joerg Staff, will give an insight to SAP's unique approach to talent development and how talent development in practice looks like in one of Europe's most successful large companies.
  • Joerg Staff, Senior Vice President Human Resources, SAP

14:30 - 15:30

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

A: A Study on Change: From an Underperforming Business and Low-Trust Environment to one of Austria's Best Workplaces
This session will show the real case of a company making a substantial turnaround from a poorly performing company to a great workplace and a high-performing organisation. CEO David Kelly will tell the story about how he changed the course of Worthington Cylinders in Austria. Learn how this change process was implemented and how you can do the same for your business?

B: From Culture to Customer Service: How Starbucks Creates a Great Workplace With Outstanding Customer Service
A great workplace environment is not just great for employees, but also for customers. Starbucks has leveraged that to perfection with a passionate and committed workforce that creates an outstanding customer experience. Books have been written about the anecdotes of Starbucks employees walking the extra mile for customers. The Managing Director of Starbucks, Phil Broad, will give insight to the Starbucks approach to linking workplace practices with customer service.
  • Phil Broad, UK and Ireland Managing Director, Starbucks Coffee Company (UK) Ltd

C: Recruiting and Engaging Hipos
Companies are desperate to recruit new talent and the so-called hipos (high potentials) have plenty of job opportunities to choose from. So how do you get the message across and make sure to recruit the hipos that will actually fit to your culture and needs? And when you get them on board, how do you engage the hipos to live up to the potential they have?

15:30 - 16:00

Refreshment and Networking Break

16:00 - 16:45

Keynote: Leadership and Building a Great Workplace
Microsoft consistently makes the Best Workplaces lists wherever they participate and often the top rankings. This impressive consistency shows that Microsoft has "cracked the nut" for how to balance a global working culture with local needs. The General Manager for Microsoft Netherlands, Theo Rinsema, will speak about building a great workplace worldwide and how Microsoft builds leadership to support the workplace development.

16:45 - 17:00

Closing Remarks by Chair Person
  • David Fairhurst, Senior Vice President & Chief People Officer - N. Europe, McDonalds