The Higher Education Staff Management Conference

The Higher Education Staff Management Conference

Hire, Nurture, Empower & Retain Top University Talent

Program & Key Topics

All speakers are still to be confirmed (TBC).

Key Discussion Topics

1. HR Challenges for Universities
   • Explore unique human resources challenges, including compliance with educational policies and managing diverse faculty needs.
   • Delve into specific HR issues encountered by regional universities in Australia, such as addressing community integration and attracting talent to remote locations.
   • Discuss emerging challenges like funding cuts, declining international student numbers, complex pay legislation, and competition from hybrid work in other sectors.
   • Address teacher and academic staff shortages, worsening student-to-staff ratios, and declining interest in higher education careers.
2. Recruitment and Retention Excellence
   • Discuss common recruitment and retention problems, focusing on strategies to attract and keep top academic talent.
   • Identify and rank the Top 10 Most Important Recruitment and Retention Factors influencing success in Australian universities.
   • Showcase successful recruitment and retention strategies and best practices implemented by Australian universities.
   • Investigate the disparity between high and low recruitment success rates per influencing factor, proposing methods to bridge this gap.
   • Explore nurturing redundancies: compassionate approaches to managing staff reductions while maintaining morale and supporting transitions.
   • Cover nurturing and dealing with unhappy staff: strategies for identifying dissatisfaction early, providing support, and turning around engagement.
3. Optimising HR Operations
   • Evaluate the performance and ratings of HR departments in Australian universities, discussing key metrics and feedback.
   • Examine strategies to enhance autonomy, collaboration, and support between HR and other university departments for more effective recruitment and retention outcomes.
   • Discuss compliance with new employment laws, including criminal offences for intentional underpayments, privacy law reforms affecting employee data handling, and updated union rights of entry.
   • Address handling workplace investigations, particularly for bullying, sexual harassment, and psychosocial risks, with a focus on avoiding bias and ensuring fair processes.
4. Strategic Sourcing and Future Planning
   • Analyse projections of future shortages in key academic disciplines across Australia.
   • Discuss strategies for sourcing international candidates, including participation in international job fairs and the use of global recruitment platforms.
   • Assess the importance of various recruitment media channels (social media, academic journals, job boards) and identify the most effective e-recruitment platforms for attracting qualified academic professionals.
   • Explore leveraging a growing labour pool and shifting talent dynamics to address skill gaps in higher education.
5. Emerging Trends: Wellbeing, Development, and Innovation
   • Prioritize employee wellbeing and mental health: tackling workload pressures, stress, burnout, and psychosocial working conditions through targeted initiatives.
   • Best training and development practices in higher education today: upskilling and reskilling programs, professional development opportunities, and building a strong learning and development (L&D) culture to reduce attrition and support career advancement.
   • Creating a positive workplace culture in uncertain times: fostering engagement, motivation, and anti-fragile workers amid economic and sectoral uncertainties.
   • Integration of AI in HR: adopting AI tools for automation, data-driven decisions, recruitment, onboarding, and productivity enhancement without replacing roles.
   • Managing hybrid and remote work models: navigating policies, feasibility for academic roles, and offering alternate benefits for onsite staff to improve retention.
   • Addressing generational differences: engaging the Gen Z workforce through flexible work, aligned expectations, and retention strategies as they become a larger part of the university staff.
   • Enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): strategies for affirmative action, meeting diversity targets, and maintaining programs under anti-discrimination laws.
   • Human-centered digital transformation: using integrated HR tech, self-service tools, real-time analytics, and payroll systems to boost efficiency, equity, and staff empowerment.