This masterclass explores how the UK can attract, develop, and retain the next generation of infrastructure talent, addressing key workforce challenges while building stronger pathways into technical and engineering careers.
What You’ll Gain from This Masterclass
An understanding of the key skills gaps and workforce challenges in the UK infrastructure sector.
Insight into the barriers preventing young people from entering technical and engineering careers.
Practical ideas to strengthen collaboration between industry, education, and employers.
Strategies to improve career visibility and education-to-employment pathways.
Guidance on developing talent with the technical and digital skills needed for modern project delivery.
Actionable takeaways to help build a sustainable, future-ready workforce.
Moderator: Michael Stull, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup UK.
Panellist: Debbie Joce, Babcock Skills Director. Rob Denham, Director Safety & Assurance: Technical Services at NATS. Gary Summerhayes, Thales, UK Engineering Delivery Manager. Jules Hyam, Open Cosmos, TA Director
Design how work flows across HR, Procurement, Finance and the wider business to unlock enterprise value − shifting from fragmented workforce management to orchestrated, outcome‑driven results.
What you’ll gain in this masterclass:
A best‑practice orchestration blueprint showing how workforce decisions should flow across the enterprise to drive speed, governance and consistency
A future‑ready work design approach that intentionally blends human, AI and freelance/gig talent to meet real business demand
A change‑led adoption model that ensures AI embedded in human‑led work delivers sustained value
Panellist: Kelly Webster, Global Client Experience Director, TAPFIN. Chris Arthur, Head of Europe Delivery, TAPFIN
In this interactive masterclass, our subject matter experts unpack new research on how HR and talent acquisition leaders are navigating AI‑driven transformation with a dual lens: process and people. The session will explore how AI is reshaping talent processes and workforce strategies − from streamlining administrative work to accelerating skills development and redefining careers. We’ll discuss what today’s leaders are investing in, the biggest barriers to progress and how organisations are measuring meaningful ROI. Join the session for practical guidance on building AI‑ready workforces and best‑practice insights into successful, human‑centred transformation.
Panellists: Claire Scholes, Principal Consultant, Right Management. Sarah Hernon, Principal Consultant, Right Management. David Archer, Head of Client Experience, Talent Solutions RPO EU/APME. Gemma Milner, Head of TA and Global Mobility, PWC.
Workstream 2:
Organisations are under increasing pressure to control workforce costs while still attracting, hiring and retaining the talent needed to drive performance. In this masterclass, we’ll explore how businesses can take a more strategic approach to workforce planning to improve efficiency without compromising talent outcomes.
Through practical insights and discussion, we’ll examine how organisations can optimise their total workforce strategy, improve hiring success and unlock greater value from their talent investments in today’s evolving labour market.
Moderator: Tom Buckell, Enterprise Managing Director, ManpowerGroup
Panellists: Tom Cox, Head of Customer Value, ManpowerGroup UK. Keir Tutt, Operations Director, ManpowerGroup UK.
This Masterclass focuses on a world where specialist skills are becoming the new currency of competitiveness. Organisations are facing a perfect storm: a talent-short market, a skills-short market and a workforce that’s ageing faster than capability can be replaced.
At the same time, candidate expectations are changing at speed. People want more from work today − flexibility, growth, purpose − and the next generation will want even more tomorrow. The challenge isn’t just finding great people anymore… it’s understanding what talent actually values, what motivates them to stay and what will matter in the future.
And while the demand for specialist capability is accelerating, the supply isn’t keeping pace.
This widening gap places real pressure on organisations to rethink how they attract, retain, grow and plan their workforce.
That’s where data, insight and intelligence become the differentiator.
Moderator: Teresa Wilson, Operations Director, Brook Street Social Care
Panellists: Dionne Jackson, Marketing Intelligence Consultant, ManpowerGroup UK. Aaron Wallace, Operations Director, Skilled Specialist Recruitment, ManpowerGroup UK. Julia Mixter, Founder & Executive Consulting, HumAIn Consulting Group. Helen Garrett, Head of HR, Zeiss UK & Ireland.
This masterclass helps local employers better understand what today’s talent truly values, and demonstrates how a human-centred approach to hiring can improve attraction, candidate show-up rates, performance and long-term retention. The session is grounded in insights from our Talent Barometer research, alongside real-world experience from our branch network.
Moderator: Donna Armstrong, Operations Director, Manpower.
Panellist: Leigh Davis, Head of Region Commercial Staffing, ManpowerGroup UK. Richard O'Brien, Head of Region Commercial Staffing, ManpowerGroup UK. Rachel Allen, Head of Region Commercial Staffing, ManpowerGroup UK. Mat Woolford, Head of Region Commercial Staffing, ManpowerGroup.
