Wednesday, 7 October 2026
8:30 AM
REGISTRATION & REFRESHMENT
9:00 AM
Welcome remarks
9:10 AM
[Opening Keynote]
Hong Kong’s new workforce mandate: Talent scarcity, productivity pressure, and HR’s evolving role
- Clarifying the importance of workforce planning and skills visibility as strategic business priorities for HR leaders.
- Why regional consistency must be balanced with local market agility.
- How HR can prepare for a more data-led, agile and future-ready workforce agenda.
9:40 AM
[Case Study]
Positioning workforce wellbeing as a productivity lever to strengthen resilience and trust
- Earning employee trust through wellbeing initiatives that are relevant, accessible, and measurable
- Balancing wellbeing investment with rising costs and long-term organisational sustainability
- Using AI and digital tools to understand employee needs and optimise wellbeing investment
10:05 AM
[Case Study]
Benefits by design: Simplifying programmes to help employees understand and maximise what they already have
- Streamlining benefits programmes to help employees better understand available support
- Tailoring benefits communication across employee groups, life stages, and working arrangements
- Improving utilisation by making benefits easier to access, explain, and measure
10:20 AM
MORNING COFFEE & NETWORKING
10:45 AM
[Case Study]
Real-time recognition: Modernising how organisations manage value, contribution, and motivation
- Shift rewards and recognition away from static annual cycles towards more responsive, data-informed employee experiences.
- Use recognition patterns, contribution insights, and employee preferences to support smarter reward decisions.
- Balance personalisation, fairness, governance, and cost discipline when modernising rewards and recognition.
11:15 AM
[Panel Discussion]
Wellbeing that works: Moving from reactive support to everyday resilience and healthier ways of working
- Shifting wellbeing from one-off campaigns to daily work practices and manager routines
- Expanding support around stress, burnout, mental health, caregiving, and financial wellbeing
- Evaluating wellbeing investment through absence, engagement, productivity, and employee trust
11:45 AM
[Case Study]
Seeing the workforce clearly: Turning people data into business decisions
- How to connect workforce data with business planning and strategic decision-making.
- The role of HR in anticipating attrition, capability shortages and productivity gaps before they become business risks.
- Opportunity for HR leaders to use evidence-based insights to increase their credibility and influence with the business.
12:00 PM
[Flash Talk]
The APAC expansion blueprint: Hiring and managing remote talent effectively
- Top challenges faced in hiring and managing talent across the region, including examples on the latest legal obligations.
- Insights on closing the gap between a large remote workforce and the lack of technology to manage HR and payroll.
- Gauge how markets are progressing on hiring full-time employees and contractors.
12:30 PM
NETWORKING LUNCH
1:30 PM
[Panel Discussion]
Digital adoption: Improving HR technology uptake by designing around real employee use cases
- Identifying the employee tasks where HR platforms need to feel easier, faster, and more useful
- Guiding adoption through in-flow support, feedback loops, and practical user habits
- Reading adoption signals beyond logins, including completed journeys, fewer workarounds, and better service outcomes
2:00 PM
[Flash Talk]
Agentic HR: Preparing HR service delivery for AI agents by setting clear service boundaries
- Mapping HR queries where AI agents can safely support employees without creating unnecessary risk
- Setting escalation points for sensitive, unclear, or policy-heavy cases that need human HR judgement
- Monitoring agent performance through accuracy, resolution quality, and employee trust
2:30 PM
[Fireside Chat]
Workforce planning in an uncertain economy: The art of scenario planning for HR leaders
- Ways to balance workforce cost, capability, productivity, and growth readiness in a slower and more uncertain business cycle.
- Approaches to use scenario planning to prepare for shifts in headcount demand, critical skills, redeployment needs, and role redesign.
- How HR can support more confident workforce decisions when market conditions, talent supply, and business priorities keep changing.
3:00 PM
AFTERNOON BREAK & NETWORKING
3:20 PM
[Case Study]
The new HR operating model: What should HR stop, pause, start, and automate?
- Examine new ways of structuring HRBPs, centres of excellence, shared services, and digital delivery teams for sharper business impact.
- Clarify ownership across HR, managers, technology, and regional teams to reduce duplication and decision bottlenecks.
- Discuss what it takes to build an HR function that is lean, consistent, commercially aligned, and responsive to change.
3:50 PM
[Panel Discussion]
C-suite conversation: Strengthening leadership effectiveness by equipping managers to deliver business priorities
- Aligning C-suite leaders on how managers can carry change, communication, and business priorities more effectively
- Equipping managers with the tools, data, and decision rights needed to act with confidence
- Measuring leadership effectiveness through execution quality, employee trust, and consistency of organisational messaging
4:20 PM
Closing remarks by Human Resources Online
4:30 PM