What to expect at UNLEASH London 2019

UNLEASH returns for its fifth annual London Conference and Expo this March. The conference will expect to open its doors to HR practitioners and thousands of decision makers at ExCeL in London.

This year, the conference focuses on the future of work, as well as the introduction of a new feature - the influencers’ stage. The stage will host a variety of HR influencers including Johnny Sanchez, Global Talent Operations at Netflix, Laura Schroeder, Co-Founder & Analyst at Red Rocks Impact, David Mallon, Chief Analyst at Bersin by Deloitte, and David Green, Founder of Zandel, among others.

This year has more than 130 speakers across the two days sharing insights into HR technology, practices, digital strategies, and more.

Some of the listed speakers include:

• Cal Henderson, Co-founder & CTO at Slack
• Danielle Harmer, Chief People Officer at Metro Bank
• Sebastian Kolberg, VP Digital Transformation at Bayer
• Eden Britt, Chief Data Officer HR at HSBC
• Marie Francine Rosca, Global Head of Learning at HP Inc
• Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist at Google

Among this year’s speakers, Josh Bersin, one of the top influencers in HR globally, will deliver a talk on ‘The Rise of Wellbeing’.

Other anticipated sessions include:

• 'In Conversation with Cal Henderson’ by Cal Henderson, Co-Founder & CTO at Slack
• 'Mastering Decision Intelligence: The Next Frontier’ by Cassie Kozyrkov, Chief Decision Scientist at Google.

We were able to gain some unique insights from Matthieu Durif, Solution Consulting Director at Cornerstone OnDemand, who will be speaking at UNLEASH London. Matthieu’s talk focuses on the future of HR, and what we can expect in the new generation of HR tech, according to Matthieu, “innovations in HR are completely transforming the employee experience in the workplace. HR software has moved from being administration focused (tools for HR) to employee-centric (tools for employees). New software capabilities focus on providing candidates and employees with the best possible experience during the recruitment, onboarding and development processes. Employees and candidates get a complete and immediate view of all opportunities offered to them in terms of new jobs, development tracks, assessment tools, and feedback requests.”

We also asked Matthieu how he believes HR technology will change how our workforce moves around and operates in the future. He told us, “by giving much more visibility on HR opportunities, employees will be encouraged to move more often, but also develop the appropriate skills more rapidly. As job roles change, people can upskill, move into new roles around the organization and prepare for the future needs of the organization. The idea of the career ladder is no longer relevant in the fast-paced skills economy that we’re in. It’s better to think of a career lattice, where people can progress their career in multiple directions through continuous learning. HR technology supports this by highlighting potential skills gaps, helping plan what an employee has to learn to progress to their next role, who may be the best leadership candidates, and more – it removes the guesswork for HR.”

Which areas of HR does Matthieu feels are limited due to a lack of technological solutions?

 “The skills gap is still a tremendous challenge on which technology can help. How can so many companies be unable to find talent, whilst a big part of the population is unemployed? By using HR and talent management technology, candidates and employees can be given much greater visibility on what skills they need to develop to future proof their career. And machine learning based technology can also ensure recommendations are optimally addressed taking into account the person’s specificities.”

Check out our HRMS features guide to find which HR software functionality you need to meet all your technology and business needs

What is one HRMS advancement Matthieu would like to see in the next few years?

“Using talent management based AI and predictive analytics to fill the skills gap will be a game changer. Such technology should provide development and career recommendation tools to people so they secure their career, whilst addressing skills shortages. Hopefully, HR can embrace this now and realize the full potential of this technology. The attitude must be about driving change and being brave to not settle with the status quo.”

You can hear more from Matthieu at the UNLEASH event. UNLEASH London Conference and Expo will take place on 19th and 20th March at ExCeL London, and tickets are still available online.