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UK PRESIDENCY
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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High Performance Workplaces – Because people
mean business
15th September 2005
Hilton Paddington Hotel, London |
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Please click here to download the
full conference report.
The challenge of globalisation means that
European business needs to be able to become even more competitive - and
changing demography means more people need to encouraged into the workplace for
a longer overall working life. To be successful business needs to make the best
use of all its resources, and the most valuable resource is people. The concept
of the High Performance Workplace is about managing in a way that enables and
encourages people to maximise their potential – in their own interests and in
the interests of business performance. Those were the key messages given by a
Presidency conference held in London on 15th September 2005 to look
at high performance workplaces, and how they can help to change the future of
Europe.
The conference looked at a range of employment
related issues surrounding high performance workplaces – from the latest
developments made by researchers in the area to the role of policy makers in
creating an enabling environment for high performance practice. In their
opening speeches to the conference, Minister Gerry Sutcliffe and European
Commissioner for Employment, Vladimir Spidla were keen to stress that the way
people in Europe work has changed radically in recent years, and firms must take
account of this in their work organisation, in order to get the best out of
their staff. As Mr Sutcliffe pointed out, “People no longer see it as desirable
to spend all their working lives in one company, or even one career. They want
to be able to balance work commitments with their lives and responsibilities
outside work as parents or carers. They want to make full use of their skills in
rewarding careers that stretch and develop them”.
Businesses are constantly competing to recruit
talented and skilled staff who can help to add value in a dynamic, fiercely
competitive global economy. A number of firms gave presentations to the
conference on their experiences of high performance working, and the benefits
that increased employee involvement, innovative work organisation and reward
schemes, training initiatives, diversity initiatives and flexible, family
friendly working patterns have brought to their organisations – along with the
difficulties that those firms faced in becoming high performance workplaces.
Copies of their presentations can be downloaded below.
High performance work practices are good for
employers, as they contribute to achieving good, successful businesses with high
turnover and solid profit margins. They are also good for employees, thanks to a
high degree of investment in skills development and training, combined with open
communication channels between managers and workers, flexible working policies
and the involvement of employees.. A culture of High Performance can contribute
to the economic success of Europe in increasingly competitive global markets. As
Commissioner Spidla said, “Europe needs high performance workplaces because they
constitute the engine driving the modernisation and competitiveness of our
economies”. Will Hutton, Director of the Work Foundation, pointed out the role
that governments and supranational institutions such as the EU have to play in
building and supporting the institutions of employee engagement that generate
trust and effective leadership, corporate governance and sustainability.
Afternoon workshop sessions of the conference
looked at three key areas:
- Raising standards in the workplace - quality of
work, innovative work organisation, reward and commitment and employee
involvement practices;
- Human resource management – raising skills and
encouraging lifelong learning, active promotion of equality and diversity in
the organisation, the role of community involvement;
- The role of the research community – what
academics can do to encourage the development and adoption of high performance
work practices.
The conference workshops highlighted the fact
that stakeholders –governments, businesses and trade unions, the research
community – were focussed on the same goals. The recurrent theme that emerged
from all sessions of the conference was that by taking steps to create a valued,
diverse and involved workforce, any business can maximise its potential and gain
an edge over its competitors. The challenge seemed to be to find a way to share
best practice with each of these groups and to enhance cooperation between
Member States. There was a wealth of experience at national level in high
performance practice: workshop discussants had highlighted some of the best
initiatives in place, from a Portuguese “Equality is Quality” award for gender
equality within companies, to the UK’s “Model Workplace” booklet, a “dispute
prevention” set of guidelines produced by Acas, building on years of experience
of dispute resolution in the workplace. However, workshop participants and
panellists felt that something was needed to pull this knowledge and experience
together at European level. Lenia Samuel, Deputy Director General, European
Commission, agreed to examine the idea of a web-based guide to high performance
practices to promote best practice between Member States. As she pointed out,
“good business practice is also conducive to productivity and quality“ and such
a tool would be useful for European policymakers, social partners and academics
alike.
Bill Callaghan, the conference Chair, concluded
the conference by thanking all those who participated in the event and calling
for all the main agents of change, from policymakers to academics, to share in
the exchange of best practice and make high performance workplaces a greater
feature of the European economy.
Key speeches and conference documents can be
found in the links below. For further details about this event, please contact
melissa.perry@dti.gsi.gov.uk
Click here to download the conference research report
Click here to download the
research report launched at the conference
Click here to download the conference programme
Click here to
download the speaker biographies
Click
here to download a copy of Bill Callaghan's opening speech to the conference
Click here to
download a copy of Minister Gerry Sutcliffe's speech
Click here
to download a copy of Commissioner Vladimir Spidla's speech
Click here
to download a copy of Lenia Samuel's speech (Deputy Director General, DG
Employment and Social Affairs, European Commission)
Click here to download a copy
of the closing remarks made at the conference
Click here to view some of the photographs taken
at the conference
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