by Jill Gregorie
The Canadian HR Leaders Summit kicked off to a roaring start, with executives from around the country flying into Toronto to explore emerging topics within “The Art and Science of HR.”
The summit began with researcher and HR strategist
Stan Slap discussing the historical origins of culture, its role in the modern workforce and strategies for HR executives to leverage its strengths to deliver on strategic planning.
It then continued into specialized sessions that explored such pressing items as data and analytics in the workforce, the art of inclusion, employee engagement, worker benefits and maximizing HR’s impact. Expert speakers included C-level executives from such organizations as
KPMG,
RBC Royal Bank, Maple Leaf Foods and
Manulife.
Feedback from the event was exceptional, with attendees particularly expressing appreciation for the empirical and evidence-driven nature of the presentations.
“I found the most value in the session on engagement, because it was very actionable,” said Ashley Michael, senior manager, McLean and Company. “It provided specific examples of what companies can do to be more human, and demonstrated actual steps we can take towards implementation as opposed to being based in theory.”
Moreover, many participants look forward to bringing the new strategies and initiatives that they learned from the summit into their own human capital management practices.
“There was so much interest in the topic, and the entire audience was really engaged in learning how they could implement a flex-work program at their won organizations,” said Freda Colbourne, consultant, Manulife. “I think this is going to help a lot of people.”
The speakers were not the only ones helping to educate attendees – on the contrary, many were grateful for the chance to discuss relevant subject matter and learn from each other.
“It’s fantastic, it’s been lots of fun,” said Madison Falco, account coordinator, Second City Works. “I’m thrilled by all the great people I’ve met here who I would have never have come across otherwise. The networking is simply phenomenal.”
