Flex Leadership Summit: The Business of Flex - Making it Work
Credit Suisse Headquarters, NYC
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Flex Research - P&G Study
Agenda*
8:00 Registration/Breakfast
9:00 Welcome: Conference Co-Chairs
Carol Evans / President / Working Mother Media
Todd Sears / Director, Americas Head of Diversity & Inclusion / Credit Suisse
9:15 Opening Keynote: Flex and the Triple Bottom Line
Flex became newly powerful in 2009, when Flexible Work Arrangements served the critical role of producing major cost savings and enhancing morale. Whether you're talking about real estate savings or carbon footprint, flex does good things for the bottom line. Flex also allows employers to execute a "triple play" on the talent front. New data from the Center for Work-Life Policy shows that three huge pieces of the talent pool (Generation Y, Baby Boomers and Women) now rate flexibility equal to or more important than compensation as a driver of engagement and performance. Find out the ways that introducing and supporting FWAs, and using time as currency, can mean good news for companies. You'll hear vivid stories of cutting edge best practices from leading companies.
*All attendees will receive a copy of Sylvia's book.
Sylvia Ann Hewlett / President / Center for Work-Life Policy, Author of "Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up when Business is Down"
*To learn more about the research behind Sylvia Ann Hewlett's book, Top Talent, the Harvard Business Press has produced a special report, Sustaining High Performance in Difficult Times: A Special Report, which is available for purchase at www.harvardbusiness.org. The Center for Work-Life Policy report Bookened Generations: Leveraging Talent and Finding Commong Ground, is available for purchase at Center for Work-Life Policy publications.
10:00 Break
10:15 Integrating Flex Across the Organization and on a Global Scale
Listen to a leadership discussion where FlexPaths teams up with two progressive companies to speak about flex as a business imperative, and to address how flex aligns with business strategy and priorities. Participants explain what flex means in their organization and explore ways management teams have rolled flex out within the organization and managed it effectively, even on a global level. They will describe the ways have flex programs addressed cost, operations and human capital objectives, and how managers made flex operational through stakeholder involvement. Three stakeholders from each company will talk candidly about their commitment, and how they specifically and strategically teamed up to unroll the footprint, tackle challenges and remove barriers to success.
Moderator:
Karol Rose / Chief Knowledge Officer / FlexPaths, LLC
Presenters:
Patricia Cummings / Assistant Managing Partner, NY Office / Grant Thornton LLP
Zsia Rosmarin / Senior Manager / Grant Thornton LLP
Christine Monzidelis / Manager / Grant Thornton LLP
Niki Kesoglou / Head of Diversity & Inclusion APAC / Credit Suisse
Anita Harper / Co Head EMEA Diversity and Inclusion / Credit Suisse
Michelle Mendelsson / Co Head EMEA Diversity and Inclusion / Credit Suisse
11:30 Building Business-based Flex: Exceptional Flexible Work Arrangements, Remote Teams and Informal Flex
Sodexo's thousands of managers need practical forms of flex, and the tools, techniques and processes to help implement it in an organizational structure that includes a substantial number of remote operations. Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group has developed an exceptional remote work environment, and its senior management and diversity leadership have rolled out a more systematic, business-beneficial approach to flexibility across the company - including formal Flexible Work Arrangements, and a campaign to enhance informal flexibility. Managers will leave with concrete ideas and proven methods to drive the business based approach to managing flexibility and remote teams, and to satisfy employees and the most demanding customers.
Moderator:
Paul Rupert / President / Rupert & Company
Presenters:
Arie Ball / Vice President, Talent Acquisition / Sodexo
Jodi Davidson / Director, Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives / Sodexo
12:30 Networking Luncheon
1:15 Flex Solutions for Teams and Work Environments: Creating a Culture of Flexibility
In the case of many organizations, workplace flexibility as a concept is embraced at the top, but becomes a reality in day-to-day flexibile work practices at the management and team level. Learn about various types of flexible solutions that work for the individual, the team, the business and clients. Discover best practices and tools that are helping managers have frank conversations with employees about business objectives, expectations and flexible work success factors, and providing guidance for managers to lead discussions with their teams about what's working and what isn't, and how to address challenges. Learn what it takes to create a flexible work environment, and the ways in which an organization's culture can support workplace flex.
Moderator:
Diane Burrus / Senior Consultant, Workplace Flexibility Practice Leader / WFD Consulting
Presenter:
Maryella Gockel / Flexibility Strategy Leader, Americas People Team / Ernst & Young
Laura Giovacco / Partner / Ernst & Young
Nina Madoo / Senior Director, Workplace Strategies / Marriott International
Cindy Martinangelo / Director, Global Work Environment / Merck & Co., Inc.
2:30 Flex Management Workshops: Putting Policy into Practice
A. Flexibility is the Answer When Rightsizing is the Question
When it is embraced as part of the cultural fabric – “the way things are done around here” – workplace flexibility has shown its power to maximize the kind of organizational agility that can mean the difference between success and extinction, especially in times of crisis or rapid change. The Conference Board’s global CEO Challenge Survey reveals that senior leaders rank the hardening of organizational arteries among the top 10 obstacles to success. How to respond with the speed and nimbleness required during extreme challenges when rigidity of thought, reliance on familiar habits, and resistance to change have inevitably taken root over time? This highly interactive session will introduce you to flexibility as an essential component of business strategy, designed to address the thorniest of business challenges and opportunities when time is of the essence and adaptation to change mandatory. You will have the opportunity to experience “Flexible Rightsizing” first-hand by applying a unique tool developed during this past year through the collaborative effort of work-life experts who have been concerned about the “hidden” cost of the enormous volume of layoffs that have taken place during the Great Recession. Replay the discussions and decisions made by your organization over the past 18 months when the issue at hand was the reduction of labor costs. Familiarize yourself with this new cost/benefit decision analysis tool that can help your organization apply disciplined flexibility principles to a critical business dilemma that is not going away anytime soon: how to squeeze every non-essential cost out of your business operations without irreparably damaging the human capital you have spent years acquiring and upon which the ultimate success of your enterprise depends?
Presenters:
Kathleen Lingle / Executive Director, Alliance for Work-Life Progress / WorkatWork
Cali Williams Yost / CEO / Work+Life Fit, Inc.
B. Tools and Success Strategies for Managing Virtual Workers
Working virtually is a hot topic under the umbrella of workplace flexibility, especially given attempts to lower real estate costs and increase productivity in the current economic environment. But the benefits can extend beyond saving money on office space. Companies who have worked through the challenges and obstacles discuss and address managers’ fears and concerns about Virtual Workers. Whether employees work in a remote, satellite office, from a home office, or telecommute a few days a week, virtual work has become a national and global way to work in the 24/7 environment. Find out best practices, tools and strategies for setting parameters and making allowances. Hear what companies are doing to implement systems and necessary organizational structures to support Virtual Workers, as well as important technologies, communication and job performance measures to ensure success.
Moderator:
Ellen Galinsky / President / Families and Work Institute
Presenters:
Laura Benedetto / Controller, Pharmaceuticals Group Controls & Compliance / Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Services, LLC
Laura Cakolli / Controller, Pharmaceuticals Group Controls & Compliance / Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Services, LLC
Jacci Moss / Director, Diversity and Workforce Programs / IBM
Jeffrey Meaney / Senior Vice President, Corporate Services / TIAA CREF
Lynell James / Senior Vice President, HR Relationship Manager / TIAA CREF
C. Managing Flex in Extreme Jobs Roundtable: Upping the Ante on Wall Street
Managers and employees in extreme, time-intensive industries, including Wall Street and professional services companies that service Wall Street, face unique challenges when it comes to defining and managing flex. The very nature of the job in extreme industries almost contradicts the proponents of flex - and yet the demand, and the business benefits still exist - albeit, in a unique form. No one has cracked the code yet, but many have tried - and the opportunity to expose missteps, share effective first steps, and explore potential strategies will help fuel the fire to push the needle forward. Join the savvy, revealing conversation and explore tips, tools and strategies to help managers make flex work in these distinct, intensive, work environments.
Moderator:
Subha Barry / Former Chief Diversity Officer / Merrill Lynch & Co Inc
Presenters:
Jim Rottman / Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion / American Express
Ana Duarte McCarthy / Chief Diversity Officer / Citi
Anne Erni / Head of Leadership, Learning and Diversity / Bloomberg L.P.
Christine Fossaceca / Global Work-Life Director / JPMorgan Chase
4:00 Closing Remarks
Carol Evans / President / Working Mother Media
Todd Sears / Director, Americas Head of Diversity & Inclusion / Credit Suisse
*Agenda subject to change
