The sessions at this year’s HRO Today Forum address the top concerns of HR executives.
By Debbie Bolla
Building an engaged company culture is the central theme of the 2015 HRO Today Forum. In a hot talent market, top organizations understand the importance of being an employer of choice. A recent Columbia University study reports that organizations with a strong company culture only have a 13 percent likelihood of turnover -compared to 48 percent where culture is low. Company culture stems from values of the organization, and employee engagement is at the root of any leading organization’s mission. Gallup finds that companies with highly engaged employees have 21 percent higher productivity and Hay Group reports that companies with engaged employees have 2.5 times more revenue than their counterparts with low engagement levels.
Keynote speaker Dr. Beverly Kaye will share advice and strategies to catapult organizations ahead of their competitors. She will also bring to the stage the philosophy behind her new book, “Hello Stay Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss: A Manager’s Playbook.”
Sessions on HR tech tools, the candidate experience, healthcare recruiting, classification of workers, and more will provide HR leaders with the opportunity to gain a sought-after competitive advantage. Here’s a sneak peek.
HOT TOPIC: CLASSIFICATION OF WORKERS
As the workforce becomes more blended and legislation changes more frequently, organizations need to enlist strategies to ensure they are correctly classifying their workers to avoid costly mistakes
What will be some key takeaways?
• Steps to take to avoid an audit
• Staying ahead of changing legislation Speaker: Dana Shaw, Chief Operating Officer, • Best tools for worker classification ICon Professional Services

HOT TOPIC: SOCIAL COLLABORATION
As workers stretch across the globe, organizations are turning to social collaboration tools to help largely dispersed workforces engage, connect, and collaborate.
What will be some key takeaways?
• How to drive collaboration to increase employee engagement
• Drivers of a 70:20:10 talent development strategy
• Ways to govern the process
Speakers: Tricia Horn Robinson, Director, Accenture and Jill Patrick, Director, Accenture

HOT TOPIC: CLOUD-BASED PAYROLL
As cloud-based solutions become more popular and prevalent, HR needs to take into account whether they are the right fit for their organization.
What will be some key takeaways?
• Considerations when evaluating cloud-based solutions
• Streamlining payroll via the cloud
• Best practices for global payroll
Speaker: Elizabeth Rennie,
HRO Research Director, NelsonHall
HOT TOPIC: COLLABORATING WITH THE C-SUITE
Multi-billion-dollar electrical and wire company Southwire has a unique cultural approach to workforce management that drives employees to work to their fullest potential.
What will be some key takeaways?
• Programs to drive productivty
• Building a sustainable workforce
• Strategies for working with the C-suite
Speaker: Kathleen Edge, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Southwire Company
HOT TOPIC: QUALITY OF HIRE
Investment advisory firm Capital Group will share how it increased its quality of hire through a recruitment process outsourcing engagement.
What will be some key takeaways?
• Aligning RPO to business culture
• Incorporate technology to improve the process
• Measuring results through metrics
Speakers: Karin Pearson, Director of Talent Acquisition, Capital Group and Colleen L. Reis, Vice President, Client Delivery Randstad Sourceright
HOT TOPIC: HEALTH CARE FOR DIVERSE WORKFORCE
Organizations who adopt strategies to prevent inequalities in health care among their employees can save money while increasing employee productivity and satisfaction.
What will be some key takeaways?
• Impact of health disparities
• Strategies to decrease inequalities
Speakers: Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director, the Disparities Solutions Center and Alan Spiro, MD, MBA, chief medical officer, Accolade
HOT TOPIC: STRATEGIC HEALTH CARE RECRUITING
The health care talent is more competitive than ever and organizations need to put strategy around their recruiting in order to land the top candidates.
What will be key takeaways?
• Health care recruitment best practices
• Building talent communities
• Niche recruiting resources
Speakers: Patricia Tourigny, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Shared Services at Magellan Health Services and John Wilson, CEO at WilsonHCG

HOT TOPIC: CHANGING HEALTH CARE ROLES
As the health care industry continues to evolve, a new variety of workforce roles have become a new reality.
What will be some key takeaways?
• New workforce roles in demand at hospitals and health systems
• Strategies to secure talent in these roles
Speaker: Dan White, President of Strategic Workforce Solutions, AMN Healthcare
HOT TOPIC: COST SAVINGS FROM THE CLOUD
The decision for organizations to make a move to cloud-based platforms is sandwiched between two primary drivers: compressing the costs and expanding the returns.
What will be some key takeaways?
• Achieving low operational costs
• Getting the most from your HR technology
Speaker: Vivek Khanna Chief Client Partner Neeyamo Inc.
EXCLUSIVE: CENTER FOR HR STUDIES AT WHARTON SCHOOL SESSIONS
The Center for HR Studies at Wharton School is conducting some of the most compelling research on HR trends, workforce demographics, and data analytics, and the roundup of sessions is an extraordinary learning opportunity.
The Wharton Track at the HRO Today Forum represents the latest knowledge and research in HR from one of the top business school in the world. The program delivers an invaluable perspective on how HR can help plan careers, manage organizations, and utilize data and metrics to have maximum business impact.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
• Dr. Matthew Bidwell will share the latest research on what forces help shape careers in HR.
• Peter Cappelli will cover the emerging models for HR leadership. This view into the future will see whether HR departments are based on tomorrow’s views or yesterday’s news.
• A presentation on “gamifying” recruiting.
• A presentation by the winning team for the Wharton People and Analytics Contest who will show their recruitment solutions model.
Why does Wharton do it? They learn from all of HR executives too. The invaluable opportunity to interact with people who live inside the HR suite helps them gain perspective on the pressures, realities, and establish their research priorities and agendas.
The Wharton Track this year will be hosted by Alexander Mann Solutions, demonstrating their market leadership and commitment to research and innovation in talent management on a global scale.
“Alexander Mann Solutions is proud to sponsor the Wharton Track at the HRO Today Forum,” says George Vollmer, SVP of the organization. “We work with some of the world’s leading brand names to help them derive business value from their talent acquisition and management strategies, and these sessions will help move that discussion forward in a meaningful way.”

HOT TOPIC: TOP HR TRENDS
An exclusive panel of CHRO will discuss the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis within their organizations. What will be some key takeaways?
• Strategies for talent retention
• Implementing HR technology
• Best practices
Speakers: Ron Garrow, CHRO, MasterCard; Ann M. Harten, Global VP of HR, Haworth, Inc.; Kawel LauBauch, CHRO, Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority; Jenn Mann, VP of HR, SAS; and Johnna Torsone, Executive VP and CHRO of Pitney Bowes.

HOT TOPIC: CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
In today’s increasingly consumer-driven market and as candidates share their experiences with their networks, a positive candidate experience can drive better recruitment outcomes and better hires.
What will be some key takeaways?
• The importance of candidate experience through the entire hiring process
• A framework to build a solid candidate experience Talent Board and CEO & Founder,
• The negative impacts of a poor experience Talent Function
Speaker: Elaine Orler, Chairman,
Editor’s note: The HRO Today Forum is May 4-6 in Philadelphia. Visit www.hrotodayforum.com for more information.
