‘How organisations deal with the practical implications of flexible working’ is the theme of the The Workplace Hackathon. The Workplace Hackathon takes place on the afternoon of the 5th April at The Workplace Event, a three-day exhibition and conference at Birmingham’s NEC.
The Workplace Hackathon aims to use creative problem-solving techniques to ‘unstick’ some of the challenges with flexible working programmes by asking delegates to form groups around specific challenges that this approach to work presents. FM, HR and IT teams, using their individual areas of expertise, will explore possibilities and collectively untangle the messy landscape that many organisations are facing.
The Hackathon will be facilitated by Perry Timms, founder of PTHR and author of Top 100 Business Strategy book, Transformational HR: How Human Resources Can Create Value and Impact Business Strategy. Timms will be leveraging techniques born out of Silicon Valley as fast-paced, sprint-style events aimed at bringing multiple skillsets together to intensively collaborate on software projects, delivering a cutting-edge outcome. The Hackathon will facilitate a workplace hack that will combine the skills and experience of HR, IT and FM to pick apart and reshape the challenges posed by flexible workplaces.
Timms will be supported by a group of carefully curated experts as well as enthusiastic delegates at The Workplace Conference, the centre piece of the three-day event, to embrace a practical, hands-on challenge, develop and share new ideas, innovations and concepts that could lead to positive change. As well as actively recruiting participants, the Workplace Hackathon also invites attendees to observe from the side line as issues are raised and solutions uncovered.
Tristan Norman, Group Director at Nineteen Group, the organisers of the Workplace Event, said: “When we were designing this year’s event it was clear that visitors wanted to roll up their sleeves and get involved with truly interactive sessions rather than be talked at all day. By combining our flagship keynote talks in the morning with sessions like The Workplace Hackathon we feel we’ve struck a balance between insight, inspiration and practical application.
“In terms of the topic, we recognised that whilst the narrative is leaning towards organisations offering hybrid working patterns, the reality for those designing, creating and managing this change is more complex and there are challenges that need to be explored in more detail. By using the hackathon methodology, we expect delegates to be able to do that in a fun, engaging and ultimately rewarding way.”
Broken into a series of thematic groups, the hackathon will explore workplace challenges including:
- Developing and nurturing ‘corporate culture’ in a remote workforce
- Managing workplace services (catering and cleaning) when the number of attendees is unknown
- Balancing those that want to come to the office to collaborate and those that need to come to the office to concentrate
- How workplace data can help inform decisions in real-time
- Ensuring that diversity and inclusion programmes are maintained in a hybrid environment
- How hybrid working is going to impact workplace design
- Matching real estate space needs to the demands of a hybrid workforce
- Managing change as new work patterns are established
- Adjusting leadership and management approaches with a dispersed workforce
- Mapping technology requirements to a blended ‘location approach’ to work
The Workplace Hackathon is one of a series of sessions that form part of The Workplace Conference, the content centre piece to The Workplace Event. Other sessions include keynote sessions from industry heavyweights from Microsoft, CIPD and Starbucks as well as a live podcast and much more. For more information on the programme visit The Workplace Event’s website.
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