Organised by the Productivity Forum for Yorkshire and Humber and the North East, based at Sheffield University Management School, the “Skills, People Management and Productivity” event held at the Millennium Gallery saw over 80 individuals from the private, public and third-sectors come together to talk about the evolving regional skills environment and the important contribution that human resource management and employment relations can make to boosting business productivity. The event was run as part of National Productivity Week, an initiative led by The Productivity Institute, a UK wide research organisation funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Participants included experienced individuals with backgrounds in management, HR and employment relations, policy, education and training, research and consultancy.
Keynote speaker, Peter Cheese, CEO of CIPD, gave an extremely interesting and insightful overview of the UK’s current productivity challenges and highlighted the importance of good work, investment in training and skills development and supporting employees’ wellbeing. Mr Cheese emphasised that “We have to find ways to invest more in skills, aligning government policy and support, bringing education and employers closer together across the regions, and focusing on good people management, inclusive cultures, and good work. These are business priorities which HR can enable."
Both Katrina Ritchie, Group People and Culture Director at Gripple UK & Ireland, and Claire Watson, Head of HR Operations at Arla Foods, gave passionate and illuminating presentations on their companies’ people management practises and approaches to support, empower and develop their employees. Claire Watson emphasised that “people are the business” and must therefore be at the heart of a business’ strategies, whilst Katrina Ritchie outlined the importance of the Gripple spirit to “treat people right, manage people right, and develop people right".
There then followed a lively and stimulating industry and policy expert panel discussion chaired by Sarah Tulip, Managing Director of &Then Consulting. The panel, which comprised Jonathan Cooper (The Unlearning Company and SY CIPD branch co-chair), Jill Cooper (South Yorkshire Institute of Technology), Alice Rubbra (SYMCA), Kamal Birdi (Sheffield University Management School) and Dawn Huntrod (MAKE UK) explored the changing skills needed across the region and the importance of increased collaborative working between employers, education providers and policymakers aimed at strengthening the skills base and pathways into work.
The event also saw the launch of the Yorkshire and Humber and North East Forum’s Insights paper that examines the landscape of Productivity, Training and Skills in Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East.
The excellent presentations and panel discussion clearly set our many of the productivity challenges faced by the Yorkshire, Humber and North East regions, but they also pointed to steps that employers, policy makers, educators and other stakeholders might take to address those challenges, particularly in relation to creating a stronger skills base and higher quality jobs, developing more secure pathways into work, and encouraging approaches to HRM and employment relations that support and enable employees
Professor Jason Heyes
Academic Forum Lead
