The impact of the pandemic on working lives over the past 15 months has been enormous, and it has been an extraordinary year for HR professionals in Northern Ireland, who have been front and centre of navigating huge challenges – for their people and their organisations.
More than 250 people professionals took time out for last week’s Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) Northern Ireland annual conference, chaired by Lee Ann Panglea, Head of CIPD Scotland and Northern Ireland, which took place online for the first time.
Speakers covered a wide range of topics from inclusion and diversity to job quality, skills, wellbeing and flexible working through a Covid lens, discussing what the past year has taught us, and how the lessons learned will help people professionals to re-shape their organisations in the future world of work.
CIPD Chief Executive, Peter Cheese, said he was hugely proud of how people professionals have stepped up to support their organisations and their people throughout the past year, and said that the pandemic must be a catalyst for positive change. He urged people professionals to be more courageous and confident in challenging management to champion the people agenda – something that’s so important as we all work together to build back better in the months and years ahead.
Former fighter pilot, Mandy Hickson, delivered an excellent keynote on building and empowering effective teams which showed the impact of strong leadership, the importance of building diverse teams, and the importance of trust and appreciating the role that every individual plays.
Skills and lifelong learning were explored by Department for the Economy Director of Skills, Graeme Wilkinson, and FinTrU’s Sinead Carville, whose session highlighted the importance of business, government and education providers all working together on a future skills strategy to future-proof Northern Ireland’s economy.
In the flexible working panel session, Adese Okojie, founder of Black Women in HR, urged employers to focus on output, not visibility. While many employers have embraced home and hybrid working over the past year, less than a third are planning to increase the uptake of other forms of flexible working, risking the creation of a two-tier workforce.
Sensata Technologies shared an excellent overview of their wide-ranging award-winning work on inclusion and diversity which includes a focus on mental health, and the ACE (Appreciating Cultural Exchange) affinity group where employees can get to really understand each other through discussion, volunteering and a programme of social activities, where employees share culture, music and food.
In a powerful closing keynote, Caerus Executive CEO Frank Douglas, shared his lived experiences of inclusion, diversity and talent management, from a fascinating personal journey which has taken him from a childhood in Mississippi, to being a young trumpeter at New York’s ‘Fame’ school in New York, to being one of the UK’s leading HR Directors. He urged people professionals to challenge the ‘myths of meritocracy’ to make sure that every employee can achieve their full potential, regardless of their background.
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