Successful Employee Engagement: Beyond the Rhetoric

The event is hosted by CIPR Inside the Chartered Institute of Public Relations' specialist group for communicators with a professional interest in employee communications and engagement.

With over 9,500 members, involved in all aspects of communications, the CIPR is the largest body of its type in Europe. The Institute advances the PR profession in the UK by making its members accountable through a code of conduct, developing policies, representing its members, and raising standards through education and training.

Event partners:

What's the event about?

The report to Government “Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement” identifies 4 key enablers for an engaged workforce - Leadership, Engaging managers, Employee voice and Integrity; with best practice case studies cited for each.

In the foreword of the report Rt Hon Lord Mandelson states “there has never been a more important time to think about employee engagement”. We believe there has never been a more important time to act.

This event brings 4 of the best case studies to life through the perspectives of different functions accountable for employee engagement: a Chairman, a CEO, a Director of Human Resources and a Director of Corporate Affairs.  By sharing their experiences and inviting questions, the speakers will demonstrate how you can make the case for employee engagement in your organisation.

What's the event format?

We've brought together the best of British brands with a reputation for excellence in diverse business areas from safety and quality assurance to innovation and customer service. Operating in very different sectors, they all have 1 thing in common - an engaged workforce. To showcase how they have built their brands from the inside out, each speaker will focus on 1 of the 4 key enablers for employee engagement: Leadership, Engaging managers, Employee voice and Integrity.

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Chair:   Sean Trainor | Managing Director | Über Engagement ________________________________________________________________________

Speaker 1:   John Armitt | Chairman |Olympic Delivery Authority  talks: Leadership ________________________________________________________________________

Speaker 2:   Frank Nigriello |Director of Corporate Affairs | Unipart talks: Engaging Managers ________________________________________________________________________

Speaker 3:     Tanith Dodge | Director of Human Resources | M&S talks: Employee Voice ________________________________________________________________________

Speaker 4:     Chris Pilling | Head of Direct Banking | HSBC talks: Integrity

Speakers' Biographies

Sean Trainor started Uber Engagement in November 2009. He was previously Principal Consultant at The Brand Union, WPP’s global branding agency, where he led the London brand engagement practice.  Sean started his career as an engineering apprentice in the nuclear industry, he was sponsored through university and joined the BNFL management trainee scheme after graduating in 1993. Fulfilling senior managerial roles he became Group Head of Strategic Communications, specialising in stakeholder engagement and change management. He went on to head up employee communications for BBC Sport and then Network Rail before becoming a consultant in 2006. Sean is an active committee member of CIPR Inside.

John Armitt was appointed Chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority on September 2007. John was previously Chief Executive of Network Rail. John started work in 1966 with John Laing as a graduate civil engineer becoming Chairman of Laings International and Civil Engineering Divisions in 1986. From 1993 he was Chief Executive of Union Railways, the company responsible for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. He became Chief Executive of Costain in 1997, joining Railtrack in 2001 just after it had been put into administration. John is also Chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and is a Non-Executive Director of the Berkeley Group. He was awarded the CBE in 1996 for his contribution to the rail industry.

Frank Nigriello joined Unipart as Director of Corporate Affairs in 1994 and has spent nearly twenty years at the sharp end of designing and delivering radical corporate change programmes in companies such as IBM and Barclays. Frank set up and ran Unipart’s learning consultancy until 2005 and has designed and delivered corporate learning systems for BusinessLink, Buro Happold and the Ceramic Industry Learning Network. He is currently developing an electronic coaching system for Unipart. Frank also chairs Oxfordshire Economic Partnership, Oxfordshire’s Employment and Skills Board and is a member of the South East Economic Development Committee.

Tanith Dodgewas appointed to Marks and Spencer plc as Director of Human Resources in March 2008 and she is also a member of the Executive Committee. Tanith was formerly Group Human Resources Director at WH Smith since 2003, where she also held responsibility for Public Relations, Communications and Post Office Operations. Prior to this, she was Senior VP Human Resources for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), at InterContinental Hotels Group. Tanith has also fulfilled two HR Director roles for divisions of Diageo Plc and before this was International Human Resources Manger for Prudential Corporation Plc.

Chris Pilling has been Head of Direct Banking for HSBC since July 2008, managing the 350 million customer contacts in HSBC and first directs telephone and internet business. Before this Chris was the Chief Executive of first direct, the UK’s first 24/7/365 internet, telephone & mobile direct bank. Prior to joining first direct, Chris has spent his entire career in Marketing, Sales & Customer Service roles. The 1st part of Chris’s his career was in FMCG, spending 7 years with Procter & Gamble & then Kraft Foods on Brands such as Ariel, Daz, Vidal Sassoon, Philadelphia & Vitalite. The 2nd part in customer service companies as General Manager of Marketing & Customer Relations at British Airways; Marketing Director of the cable company Telewest Broadband & latterly was ASDA’s longest serving Marketing & Customer Service director.