Through seven sessions spread across the afternoon, the audience were presented with thought-provoking discussions, visionary speakers, and provided with ample opportunities to network with peers.
The sessions also spanned breadth and depth, covering topics such as AI adoption, the transformation of talent acquisition, and much more.
In case you missed it, UNLEASH’s Senior Journalist, Lucy Buchholz, reported on her top sessions of the day.
Diving into the labour market
Taking to the stage, Jack Kennedy, Senior Economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, shared the recent change seen within the UK labour market, while explaining how leaders can apply this to their business.
Opening, he highlighted a number of headwinds – national insurance contributions and national living wage – and tailwinds – public sector hiring and wider economic plans – within the UK labor market, before explaining that “although hiring conditions have eased, they’re not necessarily easy”.
He then shared that 67% of jobs in the UK advertised at least one benefit, stating: “Advertising benefits can be a deciding factor that leads a candidate to click on your job posting over your competitors.”
Of these benefits, pensions (42%), financial gain (39%), and travel (30%) were the top offered on UK postings in 2024. However, he noted that all three had seen a slight decline in the last year.
He touched upon a rise in jobs that don’t require candidates to know English – to encourage talent from external markets. Of these, cleaning and sanitation (7.9%), driving (7.6%), and beauty (6.6%) were found to be the sectors offering the most positions.
The sectors with the least applications not requiring English language were mathematics, insurance, and civil engineering – all with 0.3%.
Kennedy also looked at job Gen AI postings – stating they’re “rare, but growing fast”.
Through a graph, he illustrated that Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US were fairly level pegging with their growth. The UK, however, showed the most postings with Gen AI keywords, with 0.34%.
Leading the workforce of the future
Before sharing Indeed’s latest research with YouGov, Matt Burney, Indeed’s Senior Strategic Advisor, warns: “What we found is not surprising; it’s sobering.”
By this, he highlights that the gap between leadership and employees is becoming more disparate, with 60% of senior managers reporting that they feel supported, compared to only 40% of employees.
“Let’s start talking about how we close the gap,” he said, “because this finding is not just about navigating change, it’s about navigating people through that change and making sure we don’t leave anyone behind.”
He continued to highlight the gap, sharing that 93% of senior managers feel prepared for their role, compared to only 87% of employees.
To improve this, businesses need three things: Clarity, security and inclusion.
“The higher up you go in the career ladder, the easier it is to miss the gap.
Leadership today isn’t just about vision, it’s about translation. It’s about making the strategy real, relevant and resonant. That’s how we start to rebuild trust,” he added.
To achieve this, Burney insisted that we “need to stop asking whether the tech works,” and instead, ask how we’re going to work with it.
“Successful transformation comes from choosing to build a view intentionally, inclusively and with courage,” he concluded.
“If you want AI to work for people, not just processes, we need to stop leading and start redesigning. Not just upgrading tech, but upgrading our thinking, our structures and our leadership.”
Deploying effective wellbeing strategies to boosts performance
Can an effective wellbeing strategy boost business performance?
And if so, how can this be achieved?
For Sports Psychologist, Rebecca Levett, wellbeing is a key driver of business success. While taking centre stage at The Roundhouse, she shares with the audience how and why she’s using wellbeing to boost the culture within some of the UK’s top sports teams.
To begin with, she highlights the stark difference between performance and results.
“Performance does not equal results,” she shared. “Performance is something that, on the whole, is completely within our control. Results are not within our control.
When we think about performance, it’s all the things that we are. You try thinking about this idea of wellbeing, but really, this fight to wellbeing is about meeting our potential, building relationships, and doing things that we fear are important and worthwhile.”
She then turned her attention to culture, presenting an image of an iceberg on screen.
At the tip of the iceberg – above the water – was what people see culture as at face value. But below the surface, there are ‘hidden’ often unspoken factors, such as advice someone new would honestly receive, or what the walls would say if they had eyes and ears.
“The biggest risk we have is when there is a lack of alignment between what we say about our cultures and what goes on in reality,” Levett added.
“We’ve got to be brave enough to bring that waterline down and to create conversations about what’s really happening to then develop what we say and what we do.
“That’s when we’re really talking about being able to develop sustainable cultures and places where people want to be and when people thrive.”
To tie this together, Levett gave examples of how she has worked to boost morale and inclusivity with the men’s England football team, before asking crucial questions to the audience.
“How well do we really know our peers?
“How do we take time to consider the experiences that people have been through?
“What can we do to make people feel more connected to what they’re doing?” All of this provided food for thought for the HR leaders present, inviting them to reflect on how they can create safer and stronger workplace cultures.
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