Thank you to everyone who came to the Talent Pipeline Conference on 30th March. The speakers brought a wealth of expertise on the challenges facing employers when dealing with diversity and the innovative solutions they adopt to address them.

We are indebted to our sponsors BAE Systems, BT, Deloitte and Marks & Spencer and the presenters who gave an insight to the kind of work they are doing. We are also extremely grateful to Mike Hawes, Director of HR, B&Q who chaired the day with flair and gravitas.

Keynote speaker: James Purnell 

Businesses play a major role when it comes to eliminating prejudice in the workplace, James Purnell, former Labour Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions, told the audience.

When business is united on something, it is hard for the government to override it; attitudes are often first to change and government in turn responds, he stated.

Karen Ward, Business Director, Ashridge Consulting

Karen discussed the global perspective of talent management and the faulty assumptions which underpin many management strategies.  She stressed the importance of recognising what employees are looking for from their organisation and of acknowledging our own cultural blindspots.

Christian Dustmann, Professor of Economics, University College London

Christian explored the problems with the education system in the UK, explaining that in the absence of national minimum standards for standardized training degrees, the supply of high quality apprenticeships in the UK will remain limited to a small number of companies.  He called for institutions to follow the German model of vocational training in order to improve productivity and increase skills.

Alan Christie, Director of Policy, Equality & Human Rights Commission

Alan summarised key findings from 'How fair is Britain?', the Commission’s first triennial review of the state of equality, human rights and good relations in the UK, and outlined the way in which the Commission’s remit and functions are likely to change as a result of the Government’s recent decisions.

Claire McCartney, Adviser, Resourcing and Talent Planning, CIPD & Dianah Worman, Diversity Adviser, CIPD

Claire and Dianah stressed that diversity should be threaded through all talent management activities and strategies to ensure that organisations make the best use of the talent and skills of all their employees in ways that are aligned to their business objectives.

John Carmody, Office for Graduate Opportunities, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

John discussed the government’s plans to seek ways to support the creation of internships and to promote opportunities for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. He explored the benefits of graduate internships for both young people and employers and outlined the steps the government is taking to help, including the graduate talent pool, subsidised internships and the DWP training allowance.

Dennis Gissing Head of People Practice, BT

Dennis spoke about the wide ranging programme of engagement that BT has to encourage young people into the workplace. This includes IT ambassadors who interact with teachers and students as well as a work inspiration programme to give young people an introduction to what the world of work is like.

Dr Pete Jones, Shire Professional Chartered Psychologists

Pete helped the audience to understand the psychology of bias and the methods that can be adopted to manage it.

Tanith Dodge, HR Director, Marks & Spencer

Tanith spoke about Marks and Spencer’s work with hard to reach groups such as the homeless and women offenders and the positive effects that engaging with workers of all ages can have on business productivity.

Richard Hamer, Education Director & Head of Early Career Programmes, BAE Systems

Richard provided details of BAE System’s commitment to building employability skills locally and their use of apprenticeships and graduates to act as school ambassadors.

Alyson Sparks, HR Director for Resourcing, Deloitte

Alyson spoke about the changes in the talent market and how Deloitte are broadening their strategy to reach young people in schools and colleges, including a gap year scheme.

Some of the presentations are available for a small fee - please contact us to enquire.