Published May 11, 2020

Speaker Profiles: How to Create a Productive Working Culture for a Varying Workforce in the Current Climate

Workplace X Webinar: How to Create a Productive Working Culture for a Varying Workforce in the Current Climate.

 

This Virtual Roundtable Webinar will discuss how a multi-generational workforce has had to adapt quickly to remote working, and the challenges faced by business leaders in ensuring a productive and inclusive working culture.

Watch this panel discussion to learn from workplace experts from Comfort Keepers, Domestic & General, Gulf Oil, Pearson, Elekta and British American Tobacco, on how they’re responding to the current climate and how they’re rising to the challenge. You’ll learn:

– Strategies to keep culture levels high to support staff.

– How to respond to the challenges related to the multigenerational workforce using technology.

– Tips and solutions to common challenges faced in the current climate.

– Actions to avoid with your workforce during this current climate.

 

Workplace X Webinar Line-Up

 


 

Webinar Speaker Profiles

 

Moderator: David McGoldrick, Chief People Officer, Comfort Keepers

 

modrator david mcgoldrick chief people officer

What has been your journey so far?

Starting as an Electronic technician, then spending 15 years in retail management before moving into  HR executive management experience within, Retail, Manufacturing, Transport, Airlines, and now the HealthCare sector. 

Where have you worked?

I’ve worked companies ranging from The Carphone Warehouse, Ryanair to now Comfort Keepers / Sodexo.

What are your current responsibilities?

I’m responsible for designing and finalizing the HR policies, contributing to business strategy, develop workforce plans and programs that align with the organization’s overall strategic objectives, forecast talent needs and addresses the talent gaps, orchestrate learning skills and career development of the workforce, employee orientation, education, and training, management development, employee and labour relations, affirmative action compliance, policies and procedures, workers compensation administration, wage and salary administration, benefits administration, organization development, and employee assistance.

What one-bit advice would you give someone who is starting out in a role in your field?

Learn, be creative, be inquisitive and never stop learning!

Has there been a professional landmark achievement that you are particularly proud of?

Ranked in top 501 Global HR leaders in 2020

 


 

Expert: Asif Iqbal, VP – HR, Gulf Oil UK

 

Asif Iqbal hr expert human resources

What has been your journey so far?

An international HR practitioner with all-round experience (including Executive Board & Works Council) in creating and implementing human capital strategies to drive business growth across the industry sectors such as Information Technology, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas in Asia, UK, Europe, Middle East and Americas for small, mid-size, Public listed, Private and Family owned organisations.

Where have you worked?

Tata Chemicals Limited, Tech Mahindra Limited & Gulf Oil International UK Limited.

What are your current responsibilities?

As the Vice President of Human Resources with Gulf Oil International Group (Hinduja Group Company) and reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, I drive their global HR strategies and work closely with the Board, CEOs, General Managers and Human Resources Heads of Gulf Oil businesses internationally.

What one-bit advice would you give someone who is starting out in a role in your field?

Seek, Strive and Excel and convert any challenge into an opportunity. You will be good. You should be a determined person to get into this as a career, it’s not a bed of roses and it is a roller coaster journey full of hard work

Has there been a professional landmark achievement that you are particularly proud of?

Recipient of ‘HR Business Leader of the Year’ in 2018 and ‘100 Most Influential Global HR Professionals’ in 2017 conferred by the World HRD Congress.

 


 

Expert: Ben Almond, SVP – Global Head of Property, Pearson

 

Ben Almond cre exepert

What has been your journey so far?

I am an experienced Global Corporate Real Estate Transformation Specialist with a background in Finance and Project Management. A qualified Chartered Surveyor in Corporate Real Estate, I have operated globally in senior real estate positions, advising at C-Suite and Board level, for four different companies since 2004. I am currently the Global Head of Property at Pearson PLC, the world’s learning company. However, I also a qualified Chartered Accountant and spent 15 years in the earlier part of my career working in Finance, Capital Markets and Derivatives COO roles for leading Investment Banks. I have a track record of assessing CRE risks, identifying operational improvement opportunities, designing and leading portfolio and workplace strategy and delivering business-enhancing change across the portfolios and workplaces of major, global companies. I am an accomplished leader with a passion for simplifying complexity and delivering excellence. I am also a practicing 2nd Dan Judo black belt and coach to a number of national medallists. I am proficient in both French and German and am married with four children.

Where have you worked?

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young, I managed Equity, Fixed Income, Bond Options and Credit Derivative middle office functions for 12 years at Lehman Brothers, UBS and Dresdner Kleinwort where I held both COO and CAO Managing Director positions in Capital Markets. In 2004, I moved into Real Estate, leading the bank’s major London premises relocation and, following the acquisition by Commerzbank, leading the integration of the bank’s procurement and real estate portfolios in all 20+ international branches outside Germany. In 2015, I founded Brookridge Partners Limited, a specialist consultancy and programme management company, to act as the essential link between CEO’s/COO’s and real estate contractors on premises transformation programmes. In 2016, I took up the position of Global Head of Property and Facilities Management at Pearson and in 2019 I went on to qualify as a Chartered Surveyor through the senior professional route

What are your current responsibilities?

Global Head of Property & FM at Pearson PLC, the world’s learning company, leading the organisation’s real estate portfolio and workplace strategy across six continents. to transform and rationalise their global footprint of c.1,000 real estate assets.

What one-bit advice would you give someone who is starting out in a role in your field?

In the face of changing expectations from the workplace, the role of the CRE leader is expanding and evolving at an exponential rate… so never stop trying to learn from everyone and always strive not to be better than anyone else, only better than yesterday.

Has there been a professional landmark achievement that you are particularly proud of?

Connecting and engaging excellent people, internally and externally, across multiple geographies and functional disciplines to design and deliver the significant global real estate transformation at Pearson over the past 4 years.

 


 

Expert: Melanie Lepine, Group Head of Learning, Development & Talent, Domestic & General

 

Melanie Lepine ld expert domestic and general

What has been your journey so far?

 I started my career at Tesco which gave me a great grounding in generalist HR skills, change and project management. Moving into American Express I specialised in Learning working in European and Global roles, securing my first director role, working in a matrixed organisation, focusing on strategy and innovation as well as building knowledge and skills around business alignment and metric-driven results. In Dixon’s Carphone, I moved into a centralised group role as Head of Learning supporting all channels within the business, supporting all learning development needs and culture change across the business. Most recently I’ve moved to Domestic and General as Group Head of Learning, Development & Talent, owning all the development needs across the group alongside succession planning, talent & D&I.

Where have you worked?

Tesco, American Express, Dixon’s Carphone and Domestic and General.

What are your current responsibilities?

Currently support all learning & development needs across the group, building succession plans, supporting HiPo talent, leadership development, mandatory learning requirements and all digital learning needs. I also support D&I across the business.

What one-bit advice would you give someone who is starting out in a role in your field?

Don’t be afraid to speak out, ask questions & challenge the status quo, never stop learning & build your brand and network to help enhance your thinking.

Has there been a professional landmark achievement that you are particularly proud of?

Most recently, we have developed and delivered a development centre for our frontline leaders in the contact centres, putting them all through a half-day event to identify their personal development needs, creating development reports and building personalised development plans for each of them to enhance their skills and drive business performance. Getting through them all and seeing the commitment of not only our team but the broader business leaders was incredibly rewarding.

A while ago, I became an enterprise advisor, supporting a local school to think about how they build a strategy to effectively develop their students to be more ready for the working world. Both supporting their careers days and developing sessions to align to their curriculum and help them see how particular subjects might align with their future career also gave great satisfaction in giving something back and supporting the future workforce.

 


 

Expert: Tim Rose, Global Head of Facilities, Elekta

 

Tim Rose fm expert global head of facilities

What has been your journey so far?

My degree is in Business and Finance but I fell into Facilities Management in the early 90’s when I became General Manager of Surrey University Students Union – at least 60% of the job role was FM. I spent 7 years as a Facilities Manager with Sussex Police which included leading the PFI project for their custody centres and leading the FM for the 2008 Labour Party Conference in Brighton. In late 2008 I moved into the private sector first with Friends Life where I had responsibility for the UK offices and was the project lead for the building of the new group HQ at One New Change in London in 2011. In 2012 I moved into the Aviation Industry with Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace) with full UK FM responsibility. In 2016 I took on responsibly for all sites across EMEA and APAC for both Facilities, Environmental Management and Health and Safety. In early 2019 I moved to Elekta – one of the worlds leading precision radiation machine manufacturers for the treatment of cancer and brain disorders.

What are your current responsibilities?

As Director for Global Facilities, I report to the Chief Operations Officer and am directly responsible for Elekta’s 35 global sites and all FM services including our factories in the UK, Netherlands and China. I am responsible for the organisation’s optimal footprint of cost-effective office and manufacturing locations to ensure that business needs are met. In early 2020 I also became a non-executive director of Manor Royal Business District – the biggest business park of the Gatwick Diamond area and home to over 500 businesses with 30,000 employees. The principle aim of the  Board is to undertake work that balances economic, social and environmental factors in order to create a sustainable business community. This is especially challenging within the current Coronavirus Crisis.

What one-bit advice would you give someone who is starting out in a role in your field?

Two bits of key advice from me (sorry being greedy). Never be afraid to make a mistake. We learn from our mistakes – that’s how we get better and grow as leaders. And secondly, make sure that everything you do is done with honesty and integrity. It is the backbone of success.

Has there been a professional landmark achievement that you are particularly proud of?

I have been proud of several landmark achievements throughout my career but especially most recently the completion of Elekta’s Cornerstone Centre of Excellence and Executive Briefing Centre in Crawley. It is a world-class facility and is both inspiring externally as well as internally and has changed the way the organisation works. We take much more time to talk face to face and the building drives energy and passion into our teams.

 


 

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