It may be a sign that I’m getting older, but time seems to fly past scarily quickly these days.
It certainly doesn’t seem like a year, for example, since our last Employee Benefits Live.
Reaching milestones in the year such as this always seem like a good time to stop and take stock. In the past 12 months, the UK has undergone some fundamental changes that could potentially have a significant impact on business, as well as organisations’ employment and people policies and strategies.
Of course, much of this is currently shrouded in uncertainty. As an industry, we are currently waiting on the results of the government’s consultation in to tax-efficient benefits. And, until Article 50 is invoked, and the UK begins the process of removing itself from the European Union, speculation will continue as to the true impact of the Brexit vote.
This year we have also seen the growth of a number of other trends relating to reward and benefits. Diversity, equality and inclusion, for example, has risen up many employers’ agendas. This will be just one of the many topics covered during this year’s event, with sessions looking at how reward, benefits and development programmes are being used to support wider workplace inclusion; the gender pay gap; and how diversity breeds success.
One thing that hasn’t changed over the last year is the number of organisations that tell us a key goal is to become known as a great place to work. But just what are those elusive traits that can help to achieve this goal? The opening keynote conference session at Employee Benefits Live is aimed at shedding some light on these with Glassdoor revealing the secrets of what makes a great place to work.
With a packed conference programme and more than 100 exhibitors to meet, it’s bound to be a busy but productive couple of days. Personally, these are two of my favourite working days of the year as we take the chance to come together as an industry.
I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Debbie Lovewell-TuckEditorTweet: @DebbieLovewell
