HR Professionals: Want To Attend This Year's Worldwide ERC Conference For Free?

Yes, good news from Peggy Smith, the new CEO of the Worldwide ERC®... If you are a government or corporate Human Resources Professional, Peggy is inviting you to attend this year's annual conference for free, as her invited guest.  That is a saving of anywhere from US$1095 to US$1495, depending when you register and whether or not you are a member of the Worldwide ERC®.

Now, I do not know Peggy personally, but I have to commend her clever strategy.  Conference organizers are always crying out for more HR 'decision-makers' to attend and vendors are always crying out for more decision-makers to attend.  The upcoming Worldwide ERC® conference in Seattle, Washington, October 25-27, has more sponsors than ever... so one can only guess that Peggy is under some moderate pressure to attract HR decision-makers to match-make with the (likely many) attending service providers.

Need some justification to explain the ROI of attending to your boss?  Well, I smiled to find that they have this covered too, in their Justification Toolkit! :-)

To me, Peggy's offer this year is a win-win-win.  If you are a Corporate or Government HR Professional, why not take advantage of this offer?  The zero registration fee reduces your organization's outlay, and you never know, in addition to networking with peers and learning about current trends... you might actually find some products/services that you would like to contract.  A win-win-win: for you; the Worldwide ERC®; and for the service providers.

To everyone going to the conference, enjoy!  Andrea

13th Annual Talent Management Summit: September 27-29: Las Vegas, United States

For HR Professionals: Next month, Las Vegas will play host to the 13th Annual Talent Management Summit, September 27-29.  The overarching theme this year will be Using Talent Management to Accelerate Strategic Change.

Here are the 7 sub-themes for the Summit:

* Running Talent Management Like a Business

* Measured Financial Benefits of Your Talent Management Competencies and Metrics

* Recognize Authentic Leadership and Self-Aware Emotional Intelligence: Metrics and Measurement to Evaluate Performance

* Successfully Leverage Subject Matter Experts in your Organization - Developing Training for Maximum Management Performance

* Growing Leaders from Within: Developing Critical Leadership Talent

* Creating a Comprehensive Talent Acquisition and Onboarding Process to Positively Impact Company Objectives

* Managing Risk and Influencing Organizational Success through Clear Talent Management Strategies


List of Speakers:

* Allison Allen, Senior Manager, Learning Solutions, Royal Bank of Scotland

* Allison Friend, Chief Human Resource Officer, Goodwin Procter

* Alysia Vanitzian, Head of Talent Management, North America, Zurich Financial Services

* Andrew LaValle, Executive Director, Worldwide Recruitment, Entertainment & Networks, Time Warner

* Arturo Poire, Global Head of Talent Management, Marsh & McLennan

* Brian Fishel, Senior Vice President, Executive and Leadership Development, Bank of America

* Carolyn Turman, Chief Learning Officer, Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division

* Cheryl Thomas, Senior Vice President, Director of Human Resources, Johnson Financial Group

* Claire St. Louis, Vice President, Talent and Career Development, United Water

* Dale DeLetis, Presentation Skills Specialist and Coach, Suffolk Construction

* David First, Vice President, Learning & Development, Suffolk Construction Company

* Dr. David S. Cohen, Owner, Strategic Action Group

* Dr. Lynn Schmidt, Director, Learning & Talent Management, Raytheon

* Doug Bryant, Director of Aerospace Organizational Development, Honeywell Aerospace

* Ed Bancroft, PrimeGenesis Executive Onboarding and Author

* Elizabeth Nieto, Global Talent and Diversity Director, Global Functions, CITI

* Eva Lynne Disbro, Vice President, Human Resources, McKee Foods Corporation

* Twyla Salaiz, Manager, Learning & Career Development, Raytheon

* Gary Wise, Senior Director, Learning Architecture, Education & Training, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

* Glenn Gutmacher, Vice President, Arbita ACES

* Jason Lauritsen, Vice President and Director of Human Resources, Union Bank and Trust Company

* Jeff Klem, Leadership Development Director, Healthways

* Karen Tracy, Vice President, Talent Management, Oldcastle Materials

* Kathleen Edge, Vice President, Talent Management, Oldcastle Products and Distribution

* Kathy Brooks, Vice President of Organizational Culture and Internal Communications, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

* Kelly Chapman, Director of Diversity Recruitment, Microsoft

* Larry Israelite, Vice President and Manager, Human Resource Development, Liberty Mutual Group

* Marc Effron, Founder, New Talent Management Network, Recognized as 100 Top Influencers in HR and Author of One Page Talent Management

* Mark Feurer, Global Human Resources Director, Bunge

* Melissa Lytell, Director of Human Resources Shared Services, US Department of State

* Michael McNeal, Vice President, Talent Strategy and Acquisition, Intuit

* Michelle Braaten, Director, Recruitment, Human Resources, Royal Bank of Canada

* Scott Dolny, Senior Vice President, Leadership Development, Enterprise Leadership Development, Bank of America

* Sherryl Stalinski, Director Organizational Development & Talent Management, Parsons Corporation,

* Thomas Rottenberger, Senior Vice President & Chief Human Capital Officer, Univision Communications

* Thorn Jenness, Managing Director, Human Resources, Societe Generale

To find out more, please click here. 

Thanks, and do enjoy if you are a HR Professional and decide to go!  Andrea

Report from ERC Global Mobility Conference in Hong Kong, March 10-11

Hi Everyone, I made a last-minute decision to attend the Worldwide ERC Conference (last week in Hong Kong. To my surprise, it was a very warm and friendly conference, I knew more people than I had expected, and the networking was wonderful. If you work in the global mobility and/or relocations industry, it’s a great, fun conference to be involved in and I encourage you to consider attending the upcoming conferences this year in Frankfurt, Germany (June) and Seattle, Washington (October).

Conference Sessions

To get an idea about what transpired at the conference, here is a list of the main sessions held:

• The New China (Opening Plenary)
• Managing Talent in the New Economy
• The HR Discipline of Measuring ROI
• The Effect of Global Economics on Workforce Mobility and Mobility Benefits
• Survive and Thrive in the ‘New Normal’ – Policy Trends Update and Interactive Workshop
• Global Mobility Benchmarking Workshop for Corporate HR Professionals
• Global Thought Leaders: Senior Strategists Dialogue
• Solutions Workshop: Alignment of Talent, Mobility, and Business Strategies
• Focus on Assignments in Indonesia
• Mobility Compensation Issues and Practices in Asia
• Understanding Localization and ‘Local Plus’
• India: Trends in Workforce Mobility
• Exploring Commuter and Short-Term Assignments
• The War for Talent in China: Benefits, Challenges
• Schooling Solutions for the Assignee’s Family
• Legal Update: Labor and Immigration Hot Issues
• Turn Obstacles into Opportunities Through Hope and Humor (Closing Plenary)

Insights

I am going to write up a conference report for our Expat Women April or May newsletter. But in the meantime, here are some interesting insights that I heard during the sessions:

• Last year, US$560 billion of residential property sold in China – which was an 80% increase from the year before – and clearly demonstrates the heightened activity in China at the moment

• The wealth of most of the richest residents in China is property-related, versus only 7 out of 100 on the US’s rich list being property-related.

• Martin Leese, HR manager for Citigroup (48,000 employees), commented that he is seeing a decrease in the acceptance rate of job offers – including for graduate jobs (which he noted was a general financial services trend in the United States right now).

• HR issue regarding expatriates: offering incentives that are ‘sustainable’. Various HR managers commented on their push to make expat job offers more consistent and their need to stop throwing incentives to expatriate employees that are not sustainable in the long-term.

• There was a general trend that ‘local plus’ packages (that is, local packages with some, but not all, extra/expat benefits).

• Brendan Ryan, MD Operations for Fragomen Global, said that in his twenty years of working in the field of immigration law and visas, he had never seen such a worldwide trend to both tighten and enforce immigration policies.

• Tax equalisation: Talk of more and more companies providing expat packages that are ‘tax neutral’ – that is, you don’t lose if you move to a higher-tax country with your employer, but you don’t win either (on the tax aspect... this discussion talked about 'other' benefits separately), if you move to a lower-tax country.

It goes without saying that not everyone agreed with everything (me included), but it was interesting to hear HR trends and listen to the perspectives of HR managers, who, it should be remembered, are constantly under pressure to reduce resource expenditure yet improve their company’s bottom line.

If you are not already an Expat Women member, please sign up so you don’t miss my full report in one of our upcoming newsletters. Thanks for your support, Andrea.

Various Expat Women News Tidbits

Hi once more Everyone, Following on from my earlier post today about how easy it is to put tidbits of information on Twitter, here are some of the tidbits I have posted on Twitter recently that might interest you...

Seeking: American and British Expats in Singapore for a Research Project
"For Third Culture Kids Seeking: American and British Expats currently in Singapore to participate in a research project. Single recording session approx 2 hrs, reading English sentences. Monetary Token of appreciation will be given at the end of the session. Contact Nicole at dataproj.sg@gmail.com if interested."

Which Airport has been Voted Best in the World for the 5th Year in a Row?
You'd be surprised!

Top 100 International Exchange and Experience Blogs 2010
Over 19,000 votes.

13 Mistakes For Americans to Avoid When Filing Taxes This Year
If you are American and needing to lodge a tax return in the United States this year, read on...

American Council on International Personnel's 36th Annual Symposium
June 7-10
Washington DC
Main topic: Immigration

Totally Expat Show for Global Mobility Industry Professionals
London 24 May 2010

Families in Global Transition Conference
March 4-6
Houston, Texas, United States
It's not too late!
I really wish I was going...

7 Reasons Not to Put All Your Eggs in the Twitter Basket
Interesting blog post on Social Examiner by Jay Baer, a social media strategist and coach.

Managing Home Leave
Recent article by Paragon Relocations:
"Is there a connection between Home Leave and employee attrition/retention? Home Leave was intended to help minimise the effects of the culture shock of an international assignment. It allows assignees to maintain family ties and stay current with home business contacts and associates; and keep connected with their community and culture. Still, attrition rates upon completion of assignments remain high. Is there a disconnect between the philosophy of the home leave provision and its actual impact to assignment satisfaction?"

Looking for Expat Experts to Contribute to Our ExpatArrivals Guides
If you are interested, read the short message.

Expat Coach Megan Fitzgerald in Top 10
Congratulations to previous Expat Women Business Idea interviewee and long-time ExpatWomen.com supporter, Megan Fitzgerald, who was recently named by The Undercover Recruiter in their top ten Facebook fan pages for job seekers and career-minded folk.

Authors Needed for Culture Smart Books
If you are interested, please contact Jo Parfitt, who will then link you to Culture Smart. Thanks.


To catch all of these updates as soon as I make them, I invite you to follow me on Twitter.

Thanks, Andrea.

11th Annual Talent Management Summit (IQPC), 20-23 October, Las Vegas

Hi Everyone, If you are looking for fresh strategies to engage and retain your employees, then look no further than the 11th Annual Talent Management Summit, this October in Las Vegas.

This conference, themed Aligning Talent Management With Business Goals, "unveils the latest tools for developing your employees including career pathing, onboarding, analytics, as well as other cutting edge topics including multi-generational workforces, RPOs, employer branding, engaging millenials, global talent, HR and business strategy and more".

Keynote speakers include:

Marc Effron, Vice President, Talent Management, Avon, Founder of the New Talent Management Network

Deb Capolarello, Chief Talent Officer, MetLife, Fortune 500

Jay Conger, Henry R. Kravis Research Chair in Leadership Studies

Scott Fleming, President, Replacements Ltd.

Joseph Cabral, Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer, North Shore-LIJ Health System

Susan Hailey, VP Talent, Harrah's Entertainment, Fortune 500

Susan Hamilton, Chief Diversity Officer, CSX, Fortune 500

Robert Vosburgh, SVP and Head of HR, CenterCity, MGM Mirage, Fortune 500

Best of all, the conference will be held at The Venetian Resort (gorgeous place to stay, if I might say so myself).

Conference-only prices:

If you register by 1 August, US$1,608

If you register by 29 August, US$1,800

After 29 August, US$2,399

If you would like more details, or know someone in your HR department who would, Click Here to request your free PDF brochure from our friends at IQPC (International Quality & Productivity Center), who are also hosting the Global Talent Management Summit, August 25-27, in Chicago. Thanks Everyone!