HRZone is proud to partner with Workforce Solutions. The new two-day Conference and Exhibition will take place at the NEC, Birmingham on 6 and 7 October 2026.
Co-located with the World of Learning Conference & Exhibition, one of the UK’s longest-running L&D events, it brings senior HR decision makers together with workforce solutions providers through a programme of case studies, seminars and discussion forums.
This year, the agenda explores algorithmic decision making, skills-based organisations and AI-enabled operating models. Plus workforce planning, productivity and organisational design.
Day one: Data, decisions and the next operating model
To begin, the first day starts with an exclusive session for all two-day delegates on the responsible use of data and algorithmic decision making. In this interactive, conversation-led session, Daniel Sykes, Head of Analytics at Orsted, covers building trust in people data. As well as managing bias and who’s accountable when the model gets it wrong.
Following this, the Conference opens with Chair Nebel Crowhurst, Chief People Officer, welcoming all Delegates. Dr Laura Weis, who leads Human-AI Strategy and Transformation at WPP, will then deliverthe keynote. This is Making HR feel human in the digital age: a look at what it takes to keep people at the centre of a function that’s becoming more automated by the year.
Highlights of day one include Perry Timms, Chief Energy Officer and founder of PTHR, discussing the next operating model for HR: the evolving people profession – what HR’s structure and remit need to look like next.
Finally, the day will end with a Community Exchange roundtable on skills-based organisations and workforce fluidity. Delegates from both Workforce Solutions and World of Learning will come together to drive the discussion.
The agenda explores algorithmic decision making, skills-based organisations and AI-enabled operating models
Day two: Planning for an unpredictable world
On day two, Tejal Shah, former Chief Talent Officer at Kantar, leads the HR Huddle on day two. This will explore Workforce planning in an unpredictable environment. As well as building people strategy when conditions won’t stay still long enough to plan around.
Next, keynote: David Blott, COO of Future Ways of Working at Lloyds Banking Group, follows with the day two opening session for all delegates: The future of work: designing organisations for an AI-enabled world. This will explore how organisations should be designed as AI becomes embedded in everyday work.
A panel on workforce productivity: driving commercial performance brings together Fatou Okafor (Executive Director, HR, Thermo Fisher Scientific), Julie Griggs (Deputy Chief People Officer, Open University) and Bethany Jayne Rutt (Wellbeing and Employee Engagement Lead, GXO) to discuss how HR demonstrates commercial value without losing sight of the people side of the job.
To close the Conference, Nebel Crowhurst presents Human by Design: how we lead in the next era of work. This is a keynote on leadership in a function that’s being rewritten as it goes.
Alongside the headline keynote speakers, the Conference brings together practitioners from organisations including First Bus, Primark, CityHR, Halfords, Women in HR and Matthew Syed Consulting, offering Delegates a broad mix of real-world case studies and perspectives on the workforce challenges facing organisations today.
Free-to-attend Exhibition features are open to all visitors
Beyond the agenda
Alongside the Conference programme, delegates can take part in facilitated networking opportunities and informal receptions. These opportunities are designed to encourage peer learning and discussion.
Free-to-attend Exhibition features are open to all visitors. This includes the Mental Wellbeing Zone focused on workforce mental health and resilience and Sip & Learn sessions, which are short, informal roundtable conversations on topics like skills development and organisational change.
While Exhibition entry is free, a Conference ticket is needed for the sessions above. Anyone already attending World of Learning can bring HR colleagues at a 40 per cent discount.
Be inspired by the industry’s leading thinkers and practitioners and get into the issues shaping HR right now.
Learn more and register to attend: https://www.learnevents.com/workforce-solutions-birmingham/
