Professional DevelopmentHU On-Demand | Leadership & Human Resources

Building Diverse Teams with the Assistance of Technology
Brian Reaves, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Dell

Building a diverse and inclusive workforce is good for business. While study after study shows the benefits, progress is slow to build teams that are a representation of our multicultural society. Unconscious bias is largely to blame. With emerging technologies, there is a promise that data-driven decisions can help engineer out that bias. Join Brian Reaves, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Dell Technologies, to learn more about the business imperative of diversity & inclusion and the emerging technologies coming to market to assist HR Professionals.

Transforming the Workforce Experience: An Exploration of Deloitte’s Human Capitol Trends
John Forsythe, Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Today’s employees are looking for their organization to remove the burden of mundane, dull tasks and imbue their work with meaning and purpose in order to enable the human element of work. Through extensive research and surveying of public sector leaders, Deloitte has identified 10 unique trends, spanning 3 categories – Future of the Workforce, Future of the Organization, and Future of HR, which are currently impacting public sector workers. From these results, 80% of respondents believe that improving employee experience is important or very important. Deloitte’s Government and Public Services (GPS) Human Capital Trends report paints a picture of why it’s so important for organizations to enhance the employee experience to drive impact and purpose.  The Trends highlight examples of organizations that have successfully redesigned jobs, work, and mission statements to nurture passion and personal growth. This affords people the opportunity to add their own personal touch. Additionally, some organizations are paving the way in moving to team-based structures by focusing on personal relationships. Moving beyond digital to build human connections at work creates both better employee experience and improved mission effectiveness.

Organizations should leverage a different approach to rewards in order to capture what employees truly value. Rewards should reflect the unique needs and aspirations of individuals within a workforce, and not be “one size fits all”. Also, while training on the job has never been more important, how training should occur needs to change dramatically in order to meet the needs of today’s learner. An exploration of Deloitte’s GPS HC Trends provides public sector leaders insight into how and why organizations can bring meaning back into work for positive effects on the employee experience.

Endnote: What You Can Do to Help You Succeed and Thrive in a Changing Workplace
Felix Verdigets, Managing Director, People & Change, KPMG
Thomas (Tommy) Miceli, Manager, People & Change, KPMG

The pace and frequency of change across state and local governments continues to increase making it essential to be able to respond and internalize change in a way that drives results. Coping with the stress of change, developing your career, and staying engaged—all while embracing change—starts with the recognition that change management is a skill all employees need to develop. Having a framework to manage change and embracing a culture of change will create success for both you and your organization over time. We will discuss tactics and personality traits to help you better embrace change and combat internal resistance to change.

Leadership Perspectives & Expectations
Rob Martin, Director of Public Safety, Susquehanna Township

Improve your leadership skills by listening to this motivational inspirational presentation by Rob Martin, Susquehanna Township’s Director of Public Safety.

Leadership is critical to an organization’s success. And, leadership is most important under stressful situations. Rob’s message is critical to everyone and blends lessons learned from years of leading law enforcement teams with the value of humanity when dealing with people.

In the region and beyond, Rob is highly respected by law enforcement, elected officials and his community. Prior to becoming Susquehanna Township’s Director of Public Safety, Rob held positions as Chief of Police, President of the Police of Chiefs Association, as well as founder and commander of the Dauphin County SWAT team.

XR is the New Virtual Reality
Charles Palmer, Executive Director, Center for Advanced Entertainment and Learning Technologies & Associate Professor and Coordinator of Interactive Media, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

XR is an umbrella term used to describe virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies. Instead of a particular technology, the term illustrates the cross-relationship (XR) between various approaches, devices, and extensions of reality. Today several companies are exploring the platforms use in a wide variety of industries. In this session, Professor Charles Palmer will dive into several XR applications and highlight the benefits of these technologies in training and professional development.

AI: Reimagining Work and our Workplace Experiences
Russell Klosk, Strategy Principal Director, Talent & Organization, Accenture
Jennifer Brodie, Research Manager, Accenture

What is Artificial Intelligence?  It is the biggest technology revolution the world has ever seen.  Smart machines are reinventing how work is done, and there is significant untapped potential in reimagining business processes from the ground up.  As digital transformation becomes more pervasive, artificial intelligence can be used to drive both experience and impact in the workplace – if we only reimagine the work.  This exponential leap will also unlock entirely new roles and new ways for humans and machines to work together.  Beyond re-imagining the work, we must also reimagine our future workforce.  As workforce demographics shift and the lines between work and life become increasingly blurred, candidates and employees expect work experiences that rival the very best consumer experiences in the marketplace.  In order to attract, develop and retain future talent, we must completely overhaul our talent practices – and HR must reinvent itself.  How can we improve the quality of candidate pipelines, decrease time to offer, eliminate unconscious bias and improve the candidate experience all at the same time?  How can we automate routine HR activities to increase employee productivity and deliver consumer-grade experiences in day-to-day transactions? Join us as we demonstrate some of our own AI-enabled solutions in HR and Talent.  We’ll also explore the enablers for building a strong and sustainable AI-driven organization, including how we can apply AI in a responsible way.  Are you ready to reimagine the world of work with us?

Rethink, Reimagine, and Transform the Employee Experience
Gaylan Sankey, HR Transformation Leader, ServiceNow

To attract, retain, and engage the best talent, HR must rethink the moments that matter in the employee journey. See how to get your organization next-gen ready with a presentation focused on transforming your employee experience. Learn how to simplify HR processes and eliminate employee frustration by connecting across departments to deliver a truly digital-first employee experience. With modern, consumer-style HR service delivery technology, you can transform your workplace and build a culture where employees come first.

Using Analytics to Change the Workforce
Jon Lemon, Strategic Solutions Specialist, SAS 

As the “Silver Tsunami” begins to hit the government workforce, in depth analysis is essential to managing the dynamic changes ahead. Government agencies have vast amounts of untapped data that can be used to glean countless insights into the behaviors and innerworkings of the workforce. Learn where these data sources are, how they can be accessed, and how analytics can be applied to:

• Predict when and where attrition will occur
• Analyze the impact various incentives (awards, training, etc.) have on the workforce
• Enhance analysis with unstructured data (exit surveys, performance reviews)
• Optimize resources based on budget, union, and other types of constraints

Hear real world examples of how these analytics are being applied throughout the government and the impacts they are having. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions on topics affecting and most concerning to their agency.

Social Media and First Amendment Rights in the Public Sector 
Jay Gasdaska, Director, Office of Employee Relations and Workforce Support, Office of Administration, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
Jane Baldo, Appeals Manager, Bureau of Employee Relations, Office of Administration, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Whether it be involvement in one’s community or activity on social media platforms, everyone at some point has had to consider the potential impact of external activities on one’s commonwealth employment, whether their own or someone else’s. This session will discuss various extracurricular actions in which individuals engage that could affect their commonwealth employment and how a public sector employee’s First Amendment rights differ from their counterparts in the private sector.