We've journeyed from the industrial era, where the focus was on managing large numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled workers in manufacturing settings, to the knowledge economy, where the emphasis is on managing highly skilled professionals who leverage intellectual capital. Alongside this evolution, we've seen a shift from a narrow focus on efficiency to a broader emphasis on empowerment and workflow optimization. Hierarchical structures have given way to matrixed, highly collaborative teams, and the emphasis has moved from consistency and predictability to customization and continuous learning.

The future will increasingly favor highly skilled and talented workers who can navigate complexity and uncover opportunities. The HR leader's role will be to serve as a pioneering guide through the relentless pace of change—both predictable and unforeseen—fostering resilient organizations comprised of individuals who are alert, skilled, and self-directed.

The emerging future demands a new type of HR leader – one who can not only attract and retain top talent, but also dynamically design work environments that can adapt to extreme – and often unprecedented - economic, societal, and geopolitical forces.

This conversation will explore the current and emerging trends shaping workplaces everywhere, including technology (especially LLMs, AR, VR, and cybersecurity); cultural and political pluralism; investment markets; and globalization. Attendees will be invited to scan their current environment, take inventory of their personal and organizational change readiness, and design the contours of a framework for encountering diverse disruptive forces with intelligence, grace, and resilience.

All aboard for a high-speed journey into the future of HR with AI! This session is your express train to mastering AI-driven efficiency. Learn to swiftly navigate AI prompts, keeping your HR strategy on the fast track. Discover how to manage your 'passengers' effectively, translating complex employee challenges into actionable AI solutions. It is perfect for HR professionals eager to accelerate decision-making, steer your HR department towards increased productivity, and direct your organization towards unprecedented success.

This session explores the practical application of AI in career development while emphasizing the crucial role of human interaction, reflection, and experience.

Throughout the session, Anastasia emphasizes the balance between AI capabilities and human input. Participants learn how to harness AI as a powerful tool while maintaining the essential human elements of career development, such as personal reflection, experience interpretation, and strategic decision-making.

While traditional benefits, such as retirement savings plans, health coverage and paid time off remain very important, new research shows that most younger workers are also prioritizing non-traditional benefits. Attracting and Retaining employees with creative strategies while also trying to control costs and ensure an engaged workforce by meeting your teams needs can seem like an uphill battle. Offering Non-traditional employee benefits is a great way to not only attract but retain top talent. Compensation will probably always be one of the top job satisfaction factors, but today, that goes beyond salaries. The way that we work and what employees value in a benefits package has been rapidly evolving. Together during this session we will explore some non-traditional benefit options as well as non- traditional funding strategies that can provide cost savings to the company while enhancing the employee experience.

Join Woods Rogers Labor & Employment attorneys for an informative discussion of legal developments and critical updates from the courts, EEOC, DOL, and NLRB. We’ll also cover some of the hot HR topics affecting your workforce and what to expect during this season of change. You’ll leave this session informed about current legal issues and better prepared to face the unexpected.

Learn about some of the latest and greatest recruiting strategies from local experts in three different sectors. During this interactive discussion, you’ll hear about some of the current challenges in today’s talent marketplace, and the strategies and tactics that lead to successful recruiting outcomes.

We'll provide insights employers need to know about the recent high-stakes Johnson & Johnson litigation and alleged breach of fiduciary responsibility under ERISA.

Additionally, we'll delve into GLP-1 medications, their emerging role in weight loss treatment protocols and the implications for the future of employee benefits. This will provide an educational overview of this medication class, expected to reach $100 billion dollars annually and discuss impacts on benefit design and management.

Finally, we will discuss specialty drugs, biosimilars and gene therapy drugs. We will discuss how this impacts cost and approaches to maintain cost-effective pharmacy plans without compromising on the quality of care.

When it comes to Behavioral Assessments, most HR professionals are familiar with DISC, but DISC doesn’t tell the whole story. Going deeper than DISC, by using multi-science assessment tools will improve hiring accuracy. This session will introduce one of those deeper sciences, Driving Forces. Driving Forces are WHY behind the way we work and give better insight into what motivates and engages employees.

Humans are wired for connection. Connection helps us live longer, be healthier physically and emotionally, and creates stronger organizations and communities.

Recently, though, we’ve found our ability to build strong connections on the decline. Loneliness and Isolation have become a global epidemic that impacts not just our communities, but our teams at work. In this session, we’ll discuss what loneliness is, why it’s become an epidemic, and how we can start build better connections to combat it.

After a day of sessions where conference attendees will gain insights from various speakers, I will collate key takeaways for the group. Broader disciplinary trends will be explored through the lenses of the SHRM Technical Competencies. There will be discussion about our core purpose remaining steady while societal shifts necessitate evolved and even all together new tactics that include (my take) on the behavioral competencies. It will be an exercise in digesting the learnings of the day culminating in a call to action.