2011 Agenda

Registration

Breakfast sponsored by ACUITY

Discussion with Great Place to Work Institute: Trust and Engagement

Attend this informative session to learn to learn Great Place to Work® Institute's perspective regarding Trust and Engagement in the workplace.

• Marcus Erb, Sr. Consultant & Sr. Research Partner, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

Welcome

Keynote Presentation from Ernst Lieb, President & CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA | Associate Engagement: The Best or Nothing

Times of upheaval and/or economic challenge pose either significant challenges or unique opportunities -- sometimes both. It all depends on the attitude a company chooses and how well it can marshall the talent, expertise and engagement of its workforce. MBUSA will look at several ways we evaluated our culture, the three prong approach we used to change it and what the outcome was. As a result, associate engagement has never been higher in an industry and economy that hasn't struggled this much in many years.

By starting with a baseline, implementing action plans and measuring progress year after year, the resulting cultural shift changed the way associates feel about coming to work.  Associates truly embrace the brand and are proud to personally associate themselves with it.  The presentation will give examples of programs and initiatives which are both top down and bottom up to encourage engagement throughout the organization.

• Ernst Lieb, President & CEO, Mercedes-Benz USA

Workplace Culture Session sponsored by Microsoft

As a Human Resources Professional, you know that different generations of employees have different working styles, different ways of communicating, and different attitudes about work in general. Join Microsoft Services at the Dynamic Workplace Cultural Session to experience the way Microsoft works and how Microsoft Services has helped many of our customers bring harmony to the multigenerational issue by integrating People, Place, and Technology.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

As a Human Resources Professional, you know that different generations of employees have different working styles, different ways of communicating, and different attitudes about work in general. Join Microsoft Services at the Dynamic Workplace Cultural Session to experience the way Microsoft works and how Microsoft Services has helped many of our customers bring harmony to the multigenerational issue by integrating People, Place, and Technology.

American Fidelity Assurance Company | Health Care Reform: Integrating Changes While Keeping your Culture

Health care reform poses challenges and opportunities for all companies. With increases to medical plans immanent, American Fidelity Assurance Company, FORTUNE's #39 Best Company to Work For®, has modeled health care benefits out for eight years to determine what the challenges will be not only for the company, but more so for its employees. Recognizing the importance of informative communication and a sense that "we're all in this together", the company has developed novel approaches to help employees make key decisions on their valued benefits, and to prepare them to navigate upcoming changes. Attend this session and learn how American Fidelity has created a "win-win" situation by meeting the regulations imposed, while using the opportunity to educate, empower and protect employees.

• Jeanette Rice, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Human Resources, American Fidelity Assurance Company

Kahler Slater | The Total Experience: Great Cultures Made Visible

Kahler Slater, an experience design enterprise and a seven time Best Company to Work For® winner will explore how the workplace experience and physical environment can be an essential tool in helping a company build pride, support camaraderie and demonstrate trust.  These dimensions of the Great Place to Work® Institute's Trust Model©, along with Kahler Slater's definition of a Total Experience, will be overlaid with the characteristics of great workplace environments to emphasize how the physical workplace can support a great culture.  Kahler Slater will report on the results of their recent benchmarking study of Best Companies who are leveraging the workplace to support and celebrate their award winning cultures.  From their white paper "Great Culture/Great Workplace", Kahler Slater will show concrete, tangible ideas-many of them simple to implement-on how to create a great workplace experience and environment.

• Barbara Armstrong, Principal and Workplace Experience Strategist, Kahler Slater
• Jill Morin, 3EO, Kahler Slater

Devon Energy Corporation | Workforce Planning, Succession Planning, and Employee Development—How to Blend All Three into One Integrated, High-Touch Program

Devon Energy Corporation, FORTUNE's #41 Best Company to Work For® in America, has integrated its human capital processes of workforce planning, succession planning and organization-wide development to deliver measurable results in its bench strength. Guided by data gathered in workforce planning and succession planning efforts, the company has found itself in a powerful position when it comes to understanding the development requirements of employees from the highest-level leaders to individual performers. In this session, leaders from Devon Energy will share how this integrated approach revealed the developmental needs of employees and the steps they are taking to provide tailored learning opportunities. In particular, they will highlight two highly customized programs: Devon's Attribute-Based Leadership program and Emerging Executive Academy. Both programs are grounded in Devon's culture, provide essential business and financial skills, and allow participants the opportunity for self-assessment and reflection in order to understand and ultimately leverage personal leadership strength. Attendees will also walk away from this presentation knowing how each of these important functions can be achieved by serving employees in a high-touch manner.

• Frank Rudolph, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Devon Energy
• David Eberhardt, Senior Manager of Talent Management, Devon Energy

Executive Track* | Great Place to Work® Institute | Trustworthy Leaders: How the Best Lead with Honor and Integrity

Trust-based relationships between leaders and managers contribute to an organization's success in many ways - through improved communication, respectful support for professional growth, and the development of loyalty and commitment that support long term strategic planning. Creating trust-based relationships can be challenging, yet many great trustworthy leaders manage to do it with consistency and grace. This presentation will cover the key trust-building components of honor and integrity and will provide numerous examples of trust in action as well as evidence for how great leaders have developed their ability to be trustworthy. Survey evidence will be presented that affirms the key behavioral differentiators found in high trust workplaces, as well as qualitative evidence of the impact trustworthy behavior has on employee's perceptions of the quality of their workplace.

• Amy Lyman, Co-founder and Director, Corporate Research, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

Keynote Presentation from SAS, the #1 Best Company to Work For® in America | Attracting & Retaining Knowledge Workers

• Jim Goodnight, CEO, SAS, the #1 Best Company to Work For® in America

Lunch sponsored by SC Johnson

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

#1 Medium Company, ACUITY | Strategic Planning: Not Just for Executives

Property and casualty insurance companies like ACUITY have weathered the perfect financial storm as investment returns evaporated, insurance premiums fell and catastrophic regional weather raged during the last couple years. To maintain financial integrity, ACUITY, America's #1 Best Medium-Sized Company to Work For, knew strategic planning was key and a new approach was needed. While most companies limit strategic planning to executives, ACUITY realized that employees actively engaged in decisions were better prepared to execute these plans. So ACUITY invited all employees to witness the strategic planning process.  How did it work out? Join this session to learn how ACUITY shared the strategic planning process with all employees and hear some of the unexpected results! 

• Lisa Lillesand, Area Manager Personal Lines Marketing, ACUITY
• Sheri Murphy, Vice President Services and Administration, ACUITY

Qualcomm | Designing and Delivering Learning in the New Workplace

Organizational changes have brought significant changes in how learning is designed and delivered. In fact, redesigning learning to meet the new, evolving work environment is the challenge facing most heads of organizational learning. In 2009, Qualcomm  redesigned most of its leadership development programs to reflect the changing workforce and leadership needs. Over the past few years, corporate learning has been evolving and embracing new technologies and approaches to deliver training in a variety of ways, utilizing interesting and engaging tools. In this session, Tamar Elkeles, Chief Learning Officer for Qualcomm  (and 2010 CLO of the Year), will share Qualcomm's unique strategies for designing and delivering learning in today's organization. Specific topics include the optimal balance for formal and informal learning; new strategies for delivering comprehensive learning solutions; and blended learning delivery approaches, engaging managers and peers in the learning process.

• Tamar Elkeles, Vice President of Learning and Development, Qualcomm

Best Company Panel Discussion | Trust as the Foundation of a Successful Social Media Strategy

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, and other forms of social media have become powerful forces in the landscape of corporate communications. However, even in the best workplaces, many leaders are still trying to understand how to best leverage these platforms. Moreover, some are reluctant about the level of freedom these communication channels enable employees to have when it comes to messaging about their organizations. At this session,  leaders from three recognized Best Companies will share how they have successfully harnessed the power of social media among their employees, and will discuss the important role that trust plays in their respective approaches.

• Lee Vikre, Vice President, Talent and Culture, McMurry
• Erin Flynn, Senior Vice President, Employee Success, salesforce.com
• Karen Lee, Internal Communications Senior Director, SAS
• Mark Ragan, CEO, Ragan Communications

Executive Track* | PwC | The Firm within the Firm: Driving Innovation and Entrepreneurial Spirit at PwC

• Mitra M. Best, U.S. Innovation Leader, PwC

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

#1 Small Company, Dixon Schwabl | How Great Workplaces Value “Fun” as a Key Component of Company Culture

While the dictionary defines the word fun as "what provides amusement or enjoyment," how your workplace experiences fun is increasingly important in today's competitive, global business environment.  Learn how to make fun an integral part of your company culture from Dixon Schwabl's CEO, Lauren Dixon, as she describes how her firm embraces fun by listening to employees and acting quickly on their recommendations-typically within 24-48 hours.  From the Columbus Day company clambake to weekly ice cream deliveries and outdoor grilling, an on-site bocce and Wii bowling league, and a company in-house rock band, Dixon Schwabl strives to make fun a part of the everyday workplace. Lauren Dixon will share how the management team at Dixon Schwabl makes fun a priority by creating a line item in the annual company budget for fun, and empowers employees at any level to introduce a new approach to fun at the agency.  Contrary to popular opinion, it does not take a huge budget or time-consuming planning to create fun at work.  It does take a company committed to employee satisfaction and a strong culture!

• Lauren Dixon, CEO, Dixon Schwabl

State of Georgia Governor’s Office of Customer Service | Becoming a “Great State to Serve” Through Employee Involvement

Employee satisfaction is often correlated with customer satisfaction, but rarely are the two acted upon at the same time. For the past four years, the State of Georgia Governor's Office of Customer Service (OCS) has taken on the challenge of simultaneously improving both employee and customer satisfaction, successfully leading the transformation of how the state serves its customers-the citizens of Georgia-as well as its employees. By understanding the key drivers of employee satisfaction, and creating a model for involving employees in the organization's transformation, OCS has driven process improvements, cultural change, and valuable service delivery to its customers. Attendees from the private and public sectors alike will find value in understanding how OCS developed a model for improving employee job satisfaction and engagement, uniting around the goal of becoming "A Great State to Serve." OCS leaders will discuss the challenges encountered, best practices implemented for cultural change, and key outcomes and accomplishments resulting from this work.

• Katie Christopherson, Director of Continuous Improvement, State of Georgia Governor's Office of Customer Service
• Joe Doyle, Commissioner for State Personnel Administration and The Governor's Office of Customer Service, State of Georgia Governor's Office of Customer Service

Microsoft | Creating a Dynamic Workplace to Engage Multiple Generations

"In 2020, the workplace will look entirely different than it does now. By staying ahead of the curve, companies will be able to effectively prepare and smoothly transition into the next decade."

Lori Dernavich, business advisor, Lori Dernavich, LLC, CCH HR Management | 2010-02-08

Boomers are retiring, Gen Xers are sandwiched, and Millenials are looking for their next big role. How do we keep a multigenerational workforce engaged?  How do we retain and attract new talent? Organizations like Microsoft are focused on retention efforts and have created a Dynamic Workplace to attract, retain talent and manage the multigenerational workforce.  Join Martha Clarkson Global Workplace Strategist and Rupert Bader Director People Insight, on how Microsoft has created this environment and some of the challenges we have had along the way.

After the session, be sure to stick around during the break to participate in the Microsoft Dynamic Workplace Cultural Session.

• Martha Clarkson, Global Workplace Strategist, Microsoft
• Rupert Bader, Director People Insight, Microsoft

Executive Track* | Herman Miller | The Role of Employees in Maintaining a Positive Corporate Reputation

Herman Miller is a 100-plus year old furniture manufacturer in West Michigan, who has been ranked first in its industry in Fortune's "Most Admired" 22 of the last 24 years and has also been recognized as one of the FORUTNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in America. At Herman Miller, employees are the company's most active and effective brand advocates. A rich history of employee engagement and corporate values has translated into active advocacy for Herman Miller among employees and within the company's creative network of designers, researchers, and suppliers. Herman Miller has long been known for its management philosophy, design leadership, environmental advocacy, and community service.

CEO Brian Walker, a 20-year employee at Herman Miller, discusses the reasons behind Herman Miller's tradition of employee engagement and why today Herman Miller em­ployees are the number one reason for the strength of the company's brand among its customers and corporate community.

• Brian Walker, President and CEO, Herman Miller

Keynote Presentation From The Methodist Hospital System | The Value of Values

On any given day, a patient in an average American hospital can expect good medical care, well trained nurses and acceptable customer service. Ten years ago, The Methodist Hospital System in Houston added to that formula, and integrated values into the mix. President and CEO Ron Girotto describes how Methodist employees selected a core set of values to create a culture that translated into best in class patient care and employee and  customer satisfaction. Since that time, Methodist has earned a spot on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For® List, and is consistently ranked as one of America's Best Hospitals. At this keynote address, you will hear how to assimilate values into your workplace and transform your company into a more unified, more successful unified organization.

• Ron Girotto, President & CEO, The Methodist Hospital System

Closing Remarks

• Ricardo Lange, CEO, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc.

Happy Hour Send-Off