Re-inventing the Work Space - Panel Discussion

Description

Panel discussion with experts on Re-inventing the Work Space

The workspace is ever changing and how and where we work is moving with that. Our three experts are looking forward to discussing how we can operate, keep our teams safe, keep them happy and connected in this new workspace.  

Join us for this very interesting discussion. The panel members welcome questions from attendees to help you find solutions to your burning questions.  

Panel members:

• Kate Ashcroft - Kate is a member of the Auckland District Law Society Incorporated’s Employment Law Committee, the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand, and the Institute of Directors.
• Paula Stenhouse - Leads the people and capability workstream for Trustpower.
• Charlie Dalton - Is a training and development teacher with an honours degree in economics.

Kate Ashcroft:

Kate has specialised in employment and health and safety throughout her career, and is passionate about providing commercially pragmatic, tailored solutions to client issues. Kate is recognised by the international legal directory Asia Law as a “Leading Lawyer” in New Zealand. She regularly presents at conferences on employment and health and safety issues. Kate is currently a board member of Mainstreet Tauranga Incorporated.

Kate will cover:

• Awareness of mental health impacts of work has increased and is a focus for WorkSafe. Your health and safety management plan needs to address this if it doesn’t already – training on psychosocial risks, and what this means in your workplace is a place to start.
• Workplace culture to support retention and recruitment has also never been more important. Think about what makes you an employer of choice, and how you communicate this to the market.
• Employees are in demand, and they know it. They are looking for their best work life. Expect your team to be looking elsewhere if you haven’t taken steps to front foot that and secure their commitment to you. This is almost always more effective (and often cheaper) than having to counter a potential new employer’s offer.
• Check that your policies and documentation are fit for purpose. If the way you work has changed, do these reflect your “new normal”? For example, if you have employees regularly working from home now, have you done a health and safety risk assessment of their home workplace and covered expectations where they are working from home in a policy?

Paula Stenhouse:

Paula has been with Trustpower for six years and leads the people and capability workstream. With the sale to Mercury NZ Ltd due to complete in May 2022, Paula will join their People & Performance leadership team.  Paula has over 20 years’ experience as an Organisational Psychologist, consultant and HR professional. Global experience in the UK, Europe, Australia and NZ has provided many opportunities for life and professional growth, including adaptability, resilience, and openness to learning.

Paula will cover:

• Flexibility – with our forced trial of flexibility during COVID lockdowns, people now expect this. The Great Resignation of 2021 highlights the talent shortage and people’s willingness to move organisations – flexibility is now the no. 1 reason why people resign.
• Purposeful Connection – for organisations to be successful in this rapidly changing landscape, we need environments and cultures that encourage connection and innovation. This is about more than each individual’s task - we need people to connect in person to build trust and relationships, support and grow our new people, and contribute to work that crosses boundaries so we reduce silos within our organisations. With this in mind, we need to think about how we encourage a hybrid working approach that supports both remote and office/site based work for those who want this. We need to provide a clear ‘why’ to our people – why should they return to the office/site, what benefit does it serve them and the organisation?
• This new normal calls for an open and high trust leadership style. Focus should be on creating a high performing environment, understanding your peoples’ motives and values and tailoring your approach to each individual, seeking the thoughts and ideas of your team to continually innovate, and focusing on outputs rather than controlling the process or detail. This will allow your people to flourish and improve their overall engagement and wellbeing.

Charlie Dalton:

Charlie has always been interested in training and development and qualified as a teacher of young adults in schools and colleges before moving into corporate training. In 1997 armed with an honours degree in economics, qualifications in teaching and accountancy from KPMG and a MBA Charlie joined the international training consultancy BPP plc as a trainer.

In 2001 he incorporated BPP in Nottingham, UK. He ran the business successfully until leaving to become an independent trainer in 2004. Charlie has facilitated courses for many organisations in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Channel Islands, Czech Republic, China, Hong Kong, India, Mauritius, Mongolia, Malaysia, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, and the Pacific Islands.

Charlie will cover:

The Brain Drain has begun! The rest of the World is looking more attractive.

Low wages and expensive houses – why stay?

Recruiting top talent is a top priority for any organisation but keeping hold of these employees is now vital. Employee turnover is a normal part of any business. However, the N Z labour market is currently very tight and set to tighten further so recruiting staff is both very expensive, time consuming and difficult, if not impossible. Organisations must have practical policies to hold on to its key workers.