Retention Conference Programme, 19 June 2008

The CIPD Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey 2007 shows that nearly half of all new starters leave within the first two years. It is therefore vital to curb turnover costs by managing expectations and engaging your employees from the outset.

Your employer brand is a vital tool in achieving this. But how do you ensure that external perceptions are a true reflection of your internal brand? And how can you align your brand more effectively to manage the transition from candidate to employee?

Jeff Grout, Business Consultant and Author of Recruiting Excellence

An engaged workforce is more productive, adds more value and is more loyal. But how do you develop a work culture that engages your staff? What can you do as an HR professional to support and sustain a culture that employees want to work in? How can you consistently engage people in the long term and ensure they continue to go that elusive extra mile?

Mary Canavan, Director of Human Resources, The British Library
Richard Roberts, Head of The People Team, Virgin Mobile

As employees strive for a healthy work/life balance, juggling external commitments with their working role, it is becoming more important for employers to be flexible. But as legislation looks set to change and flexible working rights extended, how can you balance the business requirements of your organisation with the expectations of your employees?

Use this session to develop your understanding of the business benefits of flexible working, and how you can demonstrate these benefits to both your employees and the business.

Chair: Freda Line, Diversity Advisor, Reasearch and Policy CIPD

Speakers: Debbie Smith, Strategy Manager, Britannia Building Society
Barbara Russell, Personnel and Policy Manager, South Yorkshire Police
Kim Williams, Acting Head of HR Advisory, South Yorkshire Police

2007 CIPD research showed that, once again, ‘not enough development opportunity’ was one of the most common reasons given for leaving an organisation.

So when retaining key staff is so critical to organisations what can HR do to improve the development opportunities on offer? How can you open up new career pathways that enhance the skill set of both the individual and your organisation?

This seminar will feature case studies from two organisations where career development has played an integral role in successful retention strategies.

Chair: Wendy Hirsh, Principal Associate, Institute for Employment Studies

Speakers: Sue Wait, Head of People Resourcing, Birmingham City Council
Marc Auckland, Head of Leadership, Network Rail

Understanding the underlying drivers of turnover can lead to a reduction in recruitment spend as well as increased levels of engagement and performance across the whole organisation. But how can you gather the often highly sensitive information you need to make a proper diagnosis? And how can you make use of the data to make a real impact on your retention strategy?

This seminar will feature an in-depth case study from a global engineering company who gained a true picture of why key employees were leaving and instigated initiatives to cut its attrition rate. The session will also discuss the latest research on exit data and provide you with practical guidance on how to make use of this information to engage and retain your employees.

Facilitator: Ron Eldridge, Director, TalentDrain

Speaker: Georgina Corbett, Group HR Director, Scott Wilson

Everyone is talking about talent but what are leading organisations actually doing to identify and retain their talented people?

In this seminar, methods for developing robust capability and assessment strategies will be discussed, along with initiatives to reward, develop and engage your high potentials and performers, ensuring you retain and maximise on the talent within your organisation.

Theresa McHenry, Head of People and Organisational Capability, Microsoft UK
Sue Round, Head of Leadership Development, Sainsburys