Special

Creative jack-of-all-trades, professional fun lover, brainy marketing specialist. Robert van Impe is more than just an actor and content creator. At HRtech, he speaks in his typically engaging way about entrepreneurship, guts and exploring the unknown. Drawing on his own experience, he encourages everyone to embrace the ‘black hole’ of entrepreneurship. Get ready for a stunning, not-so-average keynote speaker: this is Average Rob.

Being able to let go of everything for a while and find peace in your mind. According to top doctor Steven Laureys, it is something we do too little these days. Both personally and professionally, the world around us is turbulent. Internal changes, economic uncertainty and social unrest are taking their toll. It is a challenge to find the right balance in society as well as to avoid losing touch with ourselves. Is meditation according to science the solution or does it remain a woolly waste of time?

Sophie has been called many names: futurist, technologist, researcher, anthropologist, keynote speaker, you name it. She is an unrivalled busy bee bombastically buzzing her way through the tech savvy world of CEOs, nerds, fashionistas, politicians, media moguls and the like. Her career path reads like the Bible, Koran, Tora and the Mexico City Yellow Pages combined. Sophie is a terrific translator between academics, technologists, corporates and governments. Rather than providing answers, she challenges organisations to question themselves.

This lack of levity is why comedian and scientist Lieven Scheire’s new show, A.I., contains plenty of witty observations. The show’s title is a nod to the technology that is the talk of the town right now, both among journalists and entrepreneurs. Curious? Scheire will be a keynote speaker at HRtech. Lucky us: we didn’t even need to apply to be on his new show!

Equal pay for equal work may seem like a straightforward concept, but not always easy to achieve. In Belgium, for example, a law on pay transparency has been in place for about a decade, but it emphasises awareness-raising through reporting rather than enforcement. As the pay gap has not decreased quickly enough, the European Directive of 30 March has added a legal dimension to this issue and gives EU member states three years to translate it into national legislation.

How do we keep our employees motivated, sharp, and skilled in a continuously evolving environment? It is a question that Miet Achten and Veerle Hendrikx, Talent & Development Specialists at Groep Hasselt, have been figuring out.

Taking the easy road will not make you stand out as a business anymore. Today, employees are searching for an employer who prioritises their individual talent development and, as a result, using the same traditional training model for everyone is clearly out of date. From now on, coaching is the way to go. What are the advantages? And how can it be made accessible to everyone? Patrick Rütten, Senior Behavioural Scientist at CoachHub and Carmen Shooter, Senior Manager Human Resources at Wallenius Wilhelmsen share their thoughts.

Happy employees are the most important asset in any company. By creating a culture that prioritises personal development and allows employees to learn when and where they want, you boost job happiness and performance. After all, nothing is more frustrating than being left to your own devices when you notice that you do not fully master certain skills. The Federal Public Service (FPS) Finance was also looking for a way to better support lifelong learning.

Have you hired someone new? Onboarding marks the first ‘real’ contact with the company. An exciting moment for the employee and a crucial one for any company in the war for talent. At imec, together with Flexso, they wrote a new onboarding story to keep the wow feeling in employees and unburden every starter end-to-end. Aurélie Saenen of imec and her colleague Sabine Billen talk about how they are bridging the gap between IT and HR with this project.

Happy employees, that's what it's all about today. Those who pay attention to well-being at work are more attractive when it comes to attracting top talent and retaining good workers. By celebrating special moments together as a company and supporting each other in difficult times, you show appreciation in a simple way and encourage commitment. But how can you remember the important moments in all your employees’ lives, and what do you buy for which occasion? For GroupM, Kadonation is the solution.