Event category: Breakout

Today’s talent expects workplace practices that acknowledge “the uniquely human qualities of the workplace”. This session will inspire you to create your own secret sauce for humanizing the employee experience.  Hear from some of Canada’s leading tech culture leaders on how they are navigating corporate growth by focusing on the individual experiences, skills and values of their employees.  You will quickly come to learn that there is no one size fits all.

• How employee experience paints the backdrop for your corporate branding and culture
• Ideas for employee recognition and engagement that will have a significant and measurable impact on building your culture and brand
• Tactics that can be applied to build an effective workplace and create better employee experiences.
• Innovative methods for employee feedback, empowerment and understanding of the meaning of their work and how it contributes to wider organizational goals

Compensation is a scary topic, but everyone knows that the time of keeping silent until a candidate gives you a number is over. Hear how to use this fear to propel you into building a compensation program that’s transparent and flexible by default. Recognize that what employees value most is an understanding of how you pay and how you came to this decision – then give candidates the opportunity to be involved in it too. From internal equity to what growth looks like, there’s too much that can go wrong otherwise.

In this session, we’ll breakdown:

• The journey of building a compensation strategy from scratch
•  What to share to get employee buy-in
• How HR can partner with Recruitment
•  The formula method for compensation

Most people with strong technical skills get promoted because they are good at their job. But these “functional” experts often struggle in their new role as leader. The good news is that it is likely not their fault. They were probably never taught to lead.

In this session, you will learn:

• The top three reasons why great tech talent often struggles to become savvy leaders.
• The key leadership skills that every tech manager needs to learn
• How HR can help managers to develop core leadership skills
• A three-step model to enhance leadership competence and develop even the most reluctant leaders
• A process to implement leadership training that sticks

Dive into the real world 4-day work week: explore the pros, cons and what to consider in terms of the impact on staff, retention, productivity, and your bottom-line.  Learn about the different implementation options and how to assess if a condensed work week is right for your organization… or not.

Session takeaways:

• Scope of the shifting mindset of the traditional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday grind
• Effective structuring of a 4-day workweek
• Data on the impacts of reduced workweek on productivity, wellbeing, gender equality and competitiveness.

Removing barriers and bias for recruiting, onboarding, meetings, workspaces, and recruiting can open floodgates of opportunities and help solve your talent shortage. Learn tactical ways to make people feel more at home at work, present information in a way that is more accessible to all and increase productivity and staff engagement by reviewing the language, tools and processes you use to embrace neurodiverse talent.

Session takeaways:

• Explore the unique value neurodiverse individuals can bring to your tech team
• Learn how to successfully hire, onboard, and support neurodivergent staff
• Understand how to conduct job interviews and write job descriptions that are inclusive and accessible.
• Strategies for overcoming workplace stigma and discrimination

Your workforce is continually more diverse, attitudes toward work are evolving, and employee preferences are changing … but when was the last time you did a critical assessment of the pay, incentives, and benefits you offer?   What people value in terms of employee benefits packages has changed, although the fundamentals of most corporate rewards have not. Many employers offer the same menu of choices—health benefits, pension contributions, gym memberships, cash incentives—without bothering to ask employees which ones they prefer and which ones they value most.  Explore some of the main areas to rethink your total rewards strategy to attract and retain talent such as:

• Equity across benefit coverage
• New ideas for rewarding employees (that don’t cost a lot!)
• What benefits today’s talent REALLY wants
• Work–life balance options and training and career development