HR Conference

Transforming Talent & Total Rewards

Talent and total rewards have never been more top of mind for HR professionals and executive leadership than in today’s rapidly shifting business environment. The current talent shortage, competitive hiring environment and evolving candidate expectations demand a refined recruitment experience and streamlined onboarding journey. Beyond that, total rewards packages need to exhibit a resilient, high-preforming culture, while driving employee enthusiasm and engagement in order to retain talent.

MRA’s HR Conference: Transforming Talent & Total Rewards highlights best practices and innovative trends to help HR professionals stay competitive in a volatile market. Hear success stories from HR professionals on how they moved the needle in their organization. Expert speakers share real-life, practical, cutting edge, hands-on ideas, and case studies to reinvent your vision and strategy on all things employment.

Join us for one of MRA’s most anticipated events!

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: Italian Community Center (live, in-person) & Virtual (live online)

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Who Attends:
Leaders in talent acquisition, workforce planning, total rewards, compensation, benefits, workforce planning, employee relations, and employee development are encouraged to attend.

Credits:
Earn 5+ HRCI/SHRM-CP credits for attending the HR Conference. Plus, additional credits can be earned by viewing recorded breakout sessions following the conference.

Opening Session:

Social Super Glue: How to Create an Extraordinary Workplace Culture
Kris Boesch, CEO and Founder, Choose People

In this highly interactive and energized presentation, Kris Boesch weaves valuable content, enlightening stories and tangible tools to support you in creating a thriving workplace culture. Kris takes cultural savviness to the next level and unveils the secret ingredient to the secret sauce of workplace culture. Participants will learn how to create voluntary collaboration, camaraderie and connection amongst their teams. This "glue" results in a perseverance through tough times, inspiration to go the extra mile and retention of top talent.

Key takeaways include understanding:

• Why Camaraderie is a Non-Negotiable
• The 3 Critical Paradigm Shifts
• 7 Savvy Strategies to Strengthen Your Team
• How to Dissipate Divisions Between "Us vs. Them"

Talent 1A:

Engaging New Hires Before They Start – Five Steps to Preboarding Success
Sarah Gresham, MRA

If you wait until day one to engage a new hire, you’ve already fallen behind: One-third of new hires look for a new job within the first 6 months. Great organizations engage new hires during recruitment and continue to recruit them before their first day. Preboarding engages and excites your new talent about what sets you apart from the competition. Join us as we discuss the five key steps to successful preboarding.

Total Rewards 1B:

Achieving Pay Equity in Today’s Workplace
Sarah Platt, Ogletree Deakins

This session will discuss the best practices to evaluate pay equity and improve practices within your organization. We will also discuss trends in state and local laws focused on pay equity and pay disclosures. Finally, we will consider how to balance the pressure for transparency around pay equity work with the benefits of conducting the work under the attorney-client privilege.

Talent 2A:

Finders Keepers – Solving the Talent Shortage From the Inside Out
Kelly Hansen, Veit; Scott Piecek, Coldspring; Tricia Shields, Naviant; and Kristin Noack, MRA

With staff turnover at an all-time high, employers are focusing more resources on retention than ever before. Join HR leaders from three member companies as they share how they’ve adapted their strategies to engage their workforce, meet their employees where they are at, and create a sense of belonging.

Total Rewards 2B:

Top Three Compensation Strategies to Help You Navigate an Ever-changing Market
Laura Prokop, MRA

Attracting and retaining employees has become more challenging in an environment where we have seen the highest demand for labor in recent years, the highest inflation rate in 40 years, and a movement to predominantly work from home and/or in a hybrid environment. Learn how to effectively use survey data, leverage your salary budgets, and enhance your total rewards strategy to compete for talent in an ever-changing labor market.

Talent 3A:

Where Have All the People Gone? Understanding Talent Landscape by Numbers
Kathy Seidel, MRA and Maddie Davis, MRA

Hiring is hard. These days, there’s no getting around it. Hiring managers and senior leadership know the basics, but don’t truly understand the struggle without you as an HR professional showing them in a way they will understand. In this workshop, we’ll demonstrate specific ways to find the data behind the talent landscape and how to communicate that information to leaders in your organization.

Total Rewards 3B:

Employee Benefit Trends and Creative Solutions
Jill Helander, Medela and Cindy Myers, RMIC

From the pandemic to the great resignation, businesses have realized the importance of creating attractive benefit packages to attract and retain talent. As the job market continues to become more competitive, learn what’s trending in benefits and hear from a local award-winning employer about some of the programs they have implemented to bring in and keep great talent.

Talent 4A:

Overcoming The Cultural Obstacles in Creating a Strong Employee Value Proposition
Shawn Gulyas, humanworks8

Join Shawn Gulyas, The Thought Catalyst at humanworks8, as he leads you through a new perspective on the employee value proposition – through a culture lens. What do your employees want right here and right now to stay engaged in your business? What will attract and retain the talent you need for future growth? Get to the heart of the matter and take away questions to challenge your executive team and actions you can implement tomorrow.

Total Rewards 4B:

Creating a Solid Compensation Program: A Recent Case Study
Jodi Gibson, Zoological Society of Milwaukee

Are you thinking about developing or updating your compensation program but are not sure where to start? If so, this session is for you. Jodi Gibson will provide a step-by-step overview of how the Zoological Society of Milwaukee (the Society) developed and launched its new salary structure this winter. As she walks through the organization’s journey, Jodi will share candid insights and helpful hints about what she and the Society learned along the way. Key takeaways include understanding:

• The sequence of work required to design and implement a compensation program.
• The importance of clearly defining and differentiating job levels.
• How to build internal alignment and launch a program.

Closing Session:

Acquiring and Retaining Talent on Their Terms: The Great Sansdemic 2022
Jim Morgan, VP, Business Development & Workforce Strategies, MRA - The Management Association

The biggest employer challenge of the next decade (and longer) is in the headlines everyday:

"Record Numbers Quit Job"
"17 Million Leave Workforce To Be Their Own Boss"
"More Deaths Than Births Spells Trouble"

So, what is causing it and what can employers do? The causes are many: a daunting demographic shift leaving us with fewer workers, professionals deciding they want to run their own “gig”, employees who got a taste of remote work and loved it, employers who were slow to pick up on the needs of potential employees, incredible flexibility made possible by technology, more options, and creative employers who are out front setting the bar high. Regardless, we have seen a seismic shift in the balance of power between the employer and the employee, exasperated by the pandemic, but inevitable nonetheless.

In this session, we will dig deep into what employers can do to meet employee needs, while at the same time doing what is best for the business. We will dive into the impact of The Great Sansdemic on:

• Talent Acquisition
• Compensation
• Learning & Development
• Emerging Leaders
• Different Generational Expectations
• Culture
• The Future of Work

It will be a great opportunity to see the coming trends and pick-up some practical examples from innovative companies are doing their best to survive the talent issues of the next decade.

Sponsoring MRA events is a tremendous opportunity to bring your message of business value to our growing membership of organizations HR professionals and business leaders. Our members represent all industries including manufacturing, service, distribution, finance and health care! 80% of event attendees are new at each event offering you the opportunity to network with new contacts. We are very excited about the event this year and hope you can join us!

For more information on sponsorship and exhibit booths, call Kim Mitschke at 262.696.3505 or [email protected].

Accommodations and Special Requests

Please contact us at 800.488.4845 or [email protected] in advance for any accommodations, special requests, or dietary needs. Nursing mothers, please ask the MRA representative at the front desk or the program instructor to show you our private area. Food and beverages provided at conferences, programs, and Roundtables will vary. If you have any special dietary needs (gluten-free, vegetarian, allergies, etc.), please contact the MRA location in advance, so we can provide an appropriate meal.

Event Safety & Responsibility

MRA considers the safety of all those onsite at the HR Conference: Transforming Talent & Total Rewards as our top priority. In partnership with the Italian Community Center, we will ensure:

• Masks are not required, but optional disposable masks will be available at the registration desk.
• Hand sanitizer will be positioned at registration and beverage stations.
• Responsible food and beverage service and room sets.
• Venue space will be cleaned thoroughly and frequently during the conference.

If you feel sick the day of the event or have been in close contact with someone who is ill, please consider staying home and tuning into the event virtually. Please call MRA at 262.696.3319 for an access link.

Virtual Event Guidelines

MRA is committed to providing a safe, productive, and welcoming environment for all event participants and MRA staff.

To ensure a comfortable learning environment for all event attendees, discussions should be focused on the meeting topic at hand. Expected behavior is outlined below:

• Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
• Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
• Be mindful of your surroundings and of your fellow participants. Alert the online MRA moderator if you notice violations of these guidelines or have concerns about fellow participants.

Participants violating these Guidelines will be asked to stop any inappropriate behavior and are expected to comply immediately. If the issue continues, MRA reserves the right to take any action deemed necessary and appropriate, including, but not limited to, removal of the participant from the public chat, from the event, and/or banning from all future events.