Covid-19 Redundancy & Restructuring Challenges: an Employer's Toolkit

Elizabeth Smith

Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)

Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.

Peter J. Wright

Partner , Leadership Forum Inc.

Peter Wright is a truly global executive experienced in leading HR functions for some of the world’s best-known companies. He has held senior positions in companies as diverse as Zurich Insurance, AIG, Estee Lauder, Merrill Lynch, BP, Allied Domecq and Unilever. He has travelled extensively and worked on every continent. He is highly skilled in leading organizations and executive teams through significant growth, crisis and business transformation, including mergers and acquisitions divestitures, restructuring, organizational transformation and public offerings. At the beginning of 2014 Peter took his many years of experience and applied it to the founding of his own consultancy Acorn Strategy Consulting. This boutique consultancy will specialize in helping companies improve their Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management capabilities as well as advising on all aspects of Talent Management. Subsequently, Peter became a partner in Leadership Forum Inc., merging Acorn Strategy Consulting with Leadership Forum Inc. In addition to his corporate experience, Peter is a business entrepreneur. In 2007 he co-founded Global Energy Talent, a business dedicated to the recruitment and deployment of people for oil and energy companies. He continues to serve as an advisor to the company. Born in London into a military family he grew up travelling around the world before attending the British Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and St John’s College Cambridge where he earned a Masters Degree in History. He served the first twelve years of his adult life as an army officer in the British Army. Peter has a unique lens on the realities of global leadership and change management. A true citizen of the world he is frequently invited to write, teach, speak and consult for businesses, executive education schools and non-profit organizations. He has a highly entertaining, provocative and motivational style and is respected for delivering sound and workable end results.

Jenny Arrowsmith

Partner, Employment Law , Irwin Mitchell LLP

Jenny is a Partner (Employment law) at national law firm, Irwin Mitchell LLP. She has extensive experience of advising employers of all sizes and in many sectors on all areas of employment law. She has a particular interest in discrimination issues and has been working with clients and leading training sessions on a number of tricky issues arising from mental health and how modern day working practices are influencing changes in the way we work such as agile and flexible working. She successfully defended the company in Ali v Capita which went to the Court of Appeal this year - one of the cases to watch of 2019 due to its public policy issues. The case related to alleged sex discrimination where men received statutory rates for shared parental leave whilst women benefitted from enhanced maternity leave). She was nominated as the “Lawyer of the Week” by the Times Newspaper for her work in this case in June.

Olga Ivannikova FRSA

Founder , Private Goodness

Robert Handley

Senior Adviser , Acas

Robert works as a Senior Adviser at Acas a role which involves assisting organisations in resolving workplace disputes, mediation, and promoting and advising on best practice on a wide range of employment related issues. This includes delivering in-house training on a range of topics including Redundancy, Discipline and Grievance, Conducting Investigations, Managing Attendance, Equality and Diversity and Mental Health. Robert has recently developed a redundancy process map to assist Employers and Employees in following the various steps of the process and ensuring that appropriate support is in place for those involved throughout. Prior to this, Robert worked for the Ministry of Justice, managing a team of HR professionals that dealt with complex Employee Relations cases across 33 Departments in the UK Civil Service, developing a specialism in all aspects of Employee Relations including Discipline, Grievance and Investigation cases. Robert has also worked for an international law firm in the field of Employment Law, predominantly representing Respondents across a range of Employment Tribunal claims.

Mark Hashimi MSc MBACP UKCP

Director , Strategic Wellbeing

Mark, having previously held a number of senior management positions over the last ten years, has significant experience when dealing with mental health and work related issues, as head of workplace wellbeing at Mind in Hammersmith & Fulham, senior revenue manager at EDF Energy, as a psychotherapist, trainer, public speaker, mental health first aid instructor and from his own personal experiences. Mark works closely with Bloomberg, WPP Group, Ogilvy, UKTV, BBC Worldwide, Cabinet Office, AIG Insurance, Allianz, Hiscox, Met Police, NHS, Sage Publishing to name a few. Mark facilitates mental health sessions with a strong focus on proactive intervention and long-term sustainability, challenging stigma and effective communication. Mark takes an “end-to-end” approach to wellbeing strategy implementation when working with clients; he is experienced in reviewing, enhancing and writing mental health policy and embedding welling strategy in line with best practice. Alongside corporate training and consultancy, Mark works as a psychotherapist and counsellor trained in transactional analysis and EMDR. Mark co-designed and delivered the “Trauma and Bereavement” training for those impacted by the Grenfell tragedy and Mind’s core mental health and emotional intelligence workshops delivered nationally.

Jenny Arrowsmith

Partner, Employment Law , Irwin Mitchell LLP

Jenny is a Partner (Employment law) at national law firm, Irwin Mitchell LLP. She has extensive experience of advising employers of all sizes and in many sectors on all areas of employment law. She has a particular interest in discrimination issues and has been working with clients and leading training sessions on a number of tricky issues arising from mental health and how modern day working practices are influencing changes in the way we work such as agile and flexible working. She successfully defended the company in Ali v Capita which went to the Court of Appeal this year - one of the cases to watch of 2019 due to its public policy issues. The case related to alleged sex discrimination where men received statutory rates for shared parental leave whilst women benefitted from enhanced maternity leave). She was nominated as the “Lawyer of the Week” by the Times Newspaper for her work in this case in June.

Malcolm Boswell

Director, West Midlands , Acas

Mark Hashimi MSc MBACP UKCP

Director , Strategic Wellbeing

Mark, having previously held a number of senior management positions over the last ten years, has significant experience when dealing with mental health and work related issues, as head of workplace wellbeing at Mind in Hammersmith & Fulham, senior revenue manager at EDF Energy, as a psychotherapist, trainer, public speaker, mental health first aid instructor and from his own personal experiences. Mark works closely with Bloomberg, WPP Group, Ogilvy, UKTV, BBC Worldwide, Cabinet Office, AIG Insurance, Allianz, Hiscox, Met Police, NHS, Sage Publishing to name a few. Mark facilitates mental health sessions with a strong focus on proactive intervention and long-term sustainability, challenging stigma and effective communication. Mark takes an “end-to-end” approach to wellbeing strategy implementation when working with clients; he is experienced in reviewing, enhancing and writing mental health policy and embedding welling strategy in line with best practice. Alongside corporate training and consultancy, Mark works as a psychotherapist and counsellor trained in transactional analysis and EMDR. Mark co-designed and delivered the “Trauma and Bereavement” training for those impacted by the Grenfell tragedy and Mind’s core mental health and emotional intelligence workshops delivered nationally.

Olga Ivannikova FRSA

Founder , Private Goodness