From workforce health and wellbeing to culture, leadership, risk and sustainable performance, our AGM & Leadership Forum on Monday 19th October brings together employers from across sectors and sizes of organisation to explore how healthier workplaces and stronger cultures can support better business and growth.
With just over one month to go until our Make a Difference Leaders AGM and Leadership Forum, excitement is building. It’s a timely agenda, bringing together a wealth of experience and practical insight. If you haven’t booked your place yet, now is a good time to take a look at what’s planned, register your attendance and block the date in your calendar.
With attendance capped at 150, we’re deliberately keeping the event small enough to retain the peer-to-peer connection that people value about our Leaders’ Lunches. Some will be coming to share their experiences. Others are coming to learn. That’s what the Make a Difference Leaders network is all about.
Taking place at the magnificent Knowledge Centre at the British Library in London, the event will be chaired by Prof. Dame Carol Black GBE. Andrew Haldane CBE, President of the British Chambers of Commerce and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England, will open the day, setting the context for a programme of expert insight, practical solutions and clear priorities for healthier work, stronger cultures and better business.
It’s not your usual conference — or your usual AGM, for that matter. There will be none of the stuffy governance discussions you might expect from an AGM. Instead, with a focus on peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, we’ll use the opportunity to explore the headwinds impacting employee health and wellbeing, the initiatives gathering momentum, and the challenges and solutions employers are sharing.
The aim is for every attendee to leave with a clearer idea of what will make the greatest difference within their own organisation over the next 12 months — and how to tackle it.
The future of work: what does it mean for healthier workplaces?
The future of work is often framed around technology, AI and changing patterns of employment. AI will, of course, be a fundamental part of the day. But alongside these developments, employers need to consider a broader question: what will it take to create workplaces where people can thrive as the world of work continues to change?
From changing workforce needs and expectations to prevention, inclusion and sustainable performance, the AGM & Leadership Forum will explore the forces shaping work now, the fundamental link between health and growth, and what employers can do to harness this moment of change and reset to make a real difference in their workplaces.
Here are six of the key themes that will thread through the day.
1. Leadership and accountability
Workforce health and wellbeing can no longer sit solely with HR or wellbeing teams. Leadership has a critical role to play in embedding prevention, culture and health into wider business decisions and creating the conditions in which people can thrive. But this isn’t always easy to achieve.
Discover what works and what doesn’t through the Siemens case study “Measuring what Matters: Work Wellbeing as Part of Leadership” and peer discussions led by Thomas Blakey from National Grid and Jamie Broadley from Serco, alongside the workshop “Leading healthy work: building cultures where people thrive”, facilitated by Anwen Cooper from Thrivall. Author Kathleen Saxton and Clarke Carlisle, Chair of Mind, will also share practical shifts needed to move beyond toxic leadership and build healthier, higher-performing workplace cultures.
2. Keep Britain Working: turning recommendations into action
The Keep Britain Working Review has identified prevention, staying in work, returning to work and performance data as key areas of focus. With several Vanguard companies contributing to the event, these themes will be explored throughout the day – from the morning keynote panel featuring experts closely involved with the Review to practical case studies and peer discussions.
These include the peer discussion “Prevention in action”, led by Charlie Newton; “Absence management and return to work”, led by Fiona McAslan from Royal Mail; and “Measuring what matters”, led by Tracy Orlandi from RSSB.
3. Young people, work and mental health
With the final Milburn Review of young people and work due imminently, the AGM provides a timely opportunity to consider how employers can help tackle the growing socio-economic crisis of young people aged 16 to 24 who are Not in Education, Employment of Training (NEET).
Lucy Heller, Board Member at Ofsted, Trustee at EEP and former CEO of ARK, brings considerable experience of working with young people to the keynote panel. Claire Burns, People Director, Abraham Moon & Sons will facilitate a peer-discussion on “Tackling the NEET challenge. the role of employers supporting young people into work”.
The wider challenge of effectively meeting the mental health needs of today’s workforce will also be explored in John Tench’s Wysa workshop, “Creating a more joined-up approach to employee mental health support.”
4. Risk and performance: making the business case
For health and wellbeing to become embedded, employers need a narrative that resonates with boards and colleagues across the organisation. The event will showcase different ways of connecting health, wellbeing and culture with risk and sustainable performance.
A WPP case study and peer discussion led by Jo Forbes from Osborne Clarke LLP will explore this further, alongside Lockton’s “Beyond benefits: breaking down silos to minimise risk and build a more resilient organisation” workshop. SuperWellness’s workshop: “From passion to business case: what it takes to make wellbeing stick” will equip attendees with the tools needed to build a compelling case for action and investment.
5. Taking an inclusive approach
A healthy workplace needs to work for the whole workforce. That means understanding how different groups experience work and ensuring that workplace health and wellbeing support does not leave people behind.
Peer discussions will explore neurodiversity, women’s health beyond the menopause, and inclusive and equitable employee health and wellbeing. There will also be a focus on shift and frontline workers, who can too easily be forgotten when initiatives are designed around traditional working patterns. With financial inclusion on the government agenda as well, attendees will also have the opportunity to explore “What’s next for financial wellbeing?” with PwC’s Tracey Lenthall, HR Director: Reward, Performance, Benefits and Health and Wellbeing.
6. Breaking down silos: making health and wellbeing everyone’s business
At the heart of Make a Difference Leaders is the belief that for health and wellbeing to be embedded effectively in an organisation, functions have to work together. That’s why our community brings together leaders from HR, Benefits, Reward, Occupational Health, Wellbeing, Health & Safety, Inclusion, Employee Experience and the C-suite, across the public, private and third sectors.
The AGM will showcase real examples of employers moving beyond siloed initiatives towards more joined-up approaches – while giving attendees the opportunity to learn from peers working across different functions, sectors and sizes of organisation.
Why employers are paying attention
These issues are moving up the employer agenda because they are increasingly interconnected. Workforce health affects attendance and performance; culture influences how people experience work; leadership shapes whether prevention becomes embedded; and inclusion determines whether approaches work for the whole workforce.
At a time of continued change and pressure on organisations, employers are looking beyond individual initiatives towards more sustainable approaches that connect people, culture and business performance.
That is the conversation we want to have at the Make a Difference Leaders AGM & Leadership Forum: not simply what employers should be doing, but what is working, what needs to change and where the priorities should lie over the next 12 months. Bringing together leaders from across functions and sectors, the day is designed to turn shared insight into practical action – helping create healthier workplaces, stronger cultures and better business.
You can see the full agenda and register your interest in attending here.
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