6th November 2018 Church News.
We are delighted to announce the success of our inaugural Talent & HR Network forum held at the Church International offices on Thursday 11th October 2018. The invitation only, breakfast meeting was attended by 12 representatives from different firms across a range of industries throughout Kent.
First up on the agenda – ‘Culture’…
Without doubt culture remains one of the hottest topics of the hour, especially as every business is grappling with the impact of the rapid pace of change due to digital transformation, increasingly complex working environments and social media and review websites providing everyone with a voice. It has never been so important for firms to invest in culture to ensure that everyone across the business is aligned – and happy! One of the most memorable outcomes was that ‘one culture doesn’t fit all’ (across an enterprise).
Next up – ‘Graduate retention’…
Graduates have a lot to offer, not only as a less expensive resource but because they bring fresh thinking, new ideas and a thirst to learn. But there is an age old problem that after their graduate programme ends they are often snapped up by other employers. There were interesting ideas around retention but maybe more importantly we need to recognise that with the best will in the world it just might not be possible to keep all graduates and planning around this likelihood is the best advice! We discussed the considerable impact which the modern workplace could have on this younger generation. The nature of this fluid environment, with many more people working remotely may mean that staff miss out on being mentored, inspired and stimulated, by more experienced people around them.
We are truly delighted with the outcomes from this session and are looking forward to the next one. Everyone who participated has made pledges as to what they will implement and feedback next month. In the meantime, an active WhatsApp community is beginning to establish itself, continuing these discussions and opening new ones.
The Talent and HR Network Kent forums are facilitated and hosted by the Talent LifeCycle team at Church International on behalf of the forum members. For more information contact Jan Stevens.
