The International Human Resources Conference 2023 will be held from Wednesday 26 to Friday 28 April 2023 in Vienna, Austria, at Parkhotel Schönbrunn. Austria's capital Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Vienna is also Austria's most populous city with about two million inhabitants and with its high quality of life is often used as a case study for urban planners. SPAR Austria runs over 200 stores in Vienna with different store formats varying from SPAR Gourmet to INTERSPAR.

In addition to people development, other key themes of the 2023 HR Conference will reflect current challenges and future trends in HR and Training including the impact of the recession on employee experience, best practices in facing the recruitment challenge, the latest trends in training, and people analytics – how can HR professionals use data to showcase the impact of people initiatives? Updates from SPAR Partners will be heard on their latest developments in Recruitment and Onboarding and how technology can support the process. Especially in Europe, the labour market is facing a shrinking talent pool due to i.e. ageing populations and weak birth cohorts. In addition, expectations of employees regarding their work-life experience have changed as well as the way of communication. Is moving digital the solution to increase employee engagement and better communication? How can we establish SPAR as an employer of choice in a challenging labour market – what makes SPAR different? There is growing pressure on the business for succession planning with key performance players exiting the business due to retirement. We will hear from SPAR Partners on their initiatives to select the right people, how to keep talent and how to prepare them for the future.

Other topics to be addressed during the Conference include the latest developments in People and Team Management with a focus on employee experience. How do the pandemic learnings and the current recession influence and impact HR strategy and people initiatives? What can we do to create a positive and engaging employee experience? One specific area to touch on is the hybrid workplace. How do we manage the required processes to successfully run flexible working concepts? SPAR Partners will report on their findings, concepts, and experiences and how to prepare our businesses to be future-proof. People development initiatives and how training and development concepts influence performance as well as employee engagement and job satisfaction are additional topics to be covered. Are our training concepts still relevant in this changing learning environment? We will focus on the impact of change on employee well-being and how we can support our people to deal with the current changes. How can we reduce employee anxiety and strengthen resilience? More and more companies are realising that for employees to function optimally they need to feel good. We will hear from SPAR Partners on their latest initiatives in this area.

The conference participants will also visit the SPAR Academy. Founded in 1906 as a private school, the Academy opened its doors to the public in 2000. The vocational school for retail clerks currently educates over 360 students from 34 nationalities. Within the programme, visits will be made to stores, seeing SPAR Austria’s HR policies in practice. Finally, we will also look at the opportunities and challenges of HR technology and HR data. SPAR Partners will present their latest people management initiatives and how technology supported their journey and project outcome. In conclusion, the keynote speaker will highlight best practices and key future trends in the area of people analytics and how to use the findings to review and value people initiatives.

SPAR Partners wishing to register are asked to do so by Friday, 10 February using the HRC 2023, registration form. If you have any questions about the conference or other HR issues, please contact Jutta Klassen.