Melcrum Remarks
Mandy Thatcher Head of Content, Melcrum

WestJet Airlines is renowned for its unique corporate spirit and hospitable employees. The culture is so desirable that the airline regularly receives over 1,000 unsolicited resumes each week. This thriving culture is even more impressive given that the airline operates with razor thin margins and succeeds in an industry that has never made money in North America. But why is this type of environment the exception and what can other organizations do to build the loyalty commonly found among WestJet employees?

This session will examine the communication and people practices WestJet employs on an ongoing basis to foster an engaged corporate culture. Learn about innovative ways to connect with employees, even those that spend their time away from an office setting, including video, storytelling, and the role of middle managers. And most importantly, discover how to sustain this idyllic environment over the long term.

Richard Bartrem Director, Culture and Communications, WestJet Airlines

Michelle Dupont Senior Leader, Organizational Learning and Development, WestJet Airlines

This session will demonstrate that employee engagement can not only make a real difference, it sets apart the great organizations from the merely good ones. But what exactly are these differences? And what can you do to move your employees from compliant to committed? Using case studies from a variety of industries and referencing the recent research, discover the behavioral strategies that are critical to achieving full engagement in your organization - including the 10 Cs of employee engagement.

Gerard H. Seijts Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, Richard Ivey School of Business

First, it was employee satisfaction, later, it was employee productivity; today, it is employee engagement. What's the difference? The difference is that engagement translates into tangible results, results companies can drive and measure by the decisions they make about organizational practices and communication.

Watson Wyatt's ongoing WorkAttitudes and Communications ROI research studies reveal that employee attitudes and expectations are changing. The key differentiators between top performing organizations and their competitors include a demonstrable commitment to connecting employees to overall business strategy and success factors, as well as an ability to communicate expected skill sets and behaviors and their correlation with rewards and recognition.

This session will:

• Dispel myths about employee motivation
• Challenge conventional wisdom and traditional ideas
• Demonstrate the connection between employee engagement and financial performance
• Provide a forum for provocative discussion about employees, business vision and strategy, and the critical relationship between them and achieving successful outcomes.

Debra Horsfield Practice Leader, Organization Effectiveness, Watson Wyatt Worldwide

Jacqueline Taggart Senior Communication consultant, Watson Wyatt Worldwide

To blog or not to blog is a serious consideration for many CEOs lately. Some CEOs have concerns about the time commitment, legal issues, and content. And do they have the style and personality to inform and inspire their audience? For others, a CEO blog presents a tremendous opportunity to connect and engage with a primary audience - their employees. Jim Estill, CEO of Synnex Canada, Ltd., launched his blog (www.jimestill.com) in 2005 when he took the reigns of the billion dollar wholesaler of computer equipment and needed to connect with his employees. This session will explore Jim's approach to blogging, as well as his role as a communicator for the company. Hear how a leader establishes trust with employees and what corporate communicators can do to assist their CEOs with being even more effective in this role.

Jim Estill CEO, Synnex Canada Ltd.

During this structured networking session you'll meet 6 new contacts in thirty minutes. This valuable and exciting session will increase the worth of the entire conference by ensuring that you meet other professionals with similar backgrounds, challenges, interests, and experiences. You'll be sure to leave this conference with a multitude of new and beneficial connections.

Recognizing that employee engagement is critical to delivering citizen-centred service, the Region of Peel developed and managed an improvement process known as B.E.S.T. (Building Employee Satisfaction Together). The process had two components: an annual employee survey and a resultant action planning and implementation process. Since 2002, B.E.S.T. has provided the region with a clear definition of employee engagement and a roadmap for improving it over time. This session will examine their successful process for identifying the drivers of engagement in their environment, the approach to keeping employees current with survey results, and the model for creating actionable plans for improvement based on survey results.

Laura Nashman Commissioner of Employee and Business Service, Region of Peel