INTRODUCTION

A two-day Work-Life Summit will take place at Lancaster House on 8 and 9 March to bring together academics, employers and Government representatives. The event will be held over two days and attended by UK and international delegates as a forum for discussion and debate on both practical and theoretical issues in the area of work-life.

With the launch of the Employers for Work-Life Balance and the Government campaign on 9 March 2000 by Tony Blair, the issue of work-life balance is now firmly in the eyes of the public and in the minds of employers and employees. The first National Work-Life week took place and The National Work-Life Forum launched its report on ‘Work-life Strategies for the 21^st Century’. The year 2000 is a year in which Government, business and academics have concluded that the changing workforce and workplace of the new millennium requires a new approach. A global Summit on the issue of Work-Life Balance in 2001, on the anniversary of the launch of Employers for Work-Life Balance, is the next step in recognising and exploring the importance of the issue.

AIM

Specifically invited delegates will come from the USA, Continental Europe, the South Pacific and the UK to attend the Summit. They will discuss and explore fundamental topics regarding work-life such as:

• Best practice from around the world
• The business case for work-life balance – sharing results and impacts
• Work-life in the future
• Social justice and economic efficiency

The proceedings from this diverse and informed atmosphere will be recorded in a Summit publication.

QUESTION TIME

Although not all can attend the event we would like to extend the opportunity for all to participate in the Summit. If you would like to pose questions to the international delegates that will be in attendance then please click here and send us your queries. We will then pass them on to either the workshop groups or to the general audience to be discussed at the Summit. Once we have received feedback we will post the answers received on the website for all to access.

(We cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered by specified individuals or that you will receive a reply immediately)

THE PROGRAMME

The programme was designed to move away from "experts speaking to the converted". As those attending are relatively familiar with and exposed to current thinking in the field of work/life it was felt that having speakers who were not expert in the field but who could apply their "view of the world" to it, would provoke some new thinking.

THE CHAIR

Ed Smith, Chief Executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Ed Smith is the PricewaterhouseCoopers UK Board member for strategy and transformation of the UK into an e-business centric organisation. His role also encompasses strategy and implementation around knowledge management and addressing the factors (culture and process) to create a more innovative organisation. He is, in this role, also a member of the following global groups:-

• e-business Strategy Group
• Strategic Technology Group
• Knowledge Management Council
• Innovation Council

He was chairman of the National Work Life Consortium and head of its strategy group during the development and publication of "Breakpoint/breakthrough: Work-life strategies for the 21^st Century". His principal interest is in the role of leaders in organisations in setting the tone for cultures which accept a broad employment basis and enable high business performance in the "Digital Age".

SPEAKERS AT THE EVENT WILL BE:

Charles Hampden-Turner – the Global Experience

Charles Hampden –Turner is senior research associate at the Judge Institute of Management Studies, Cambridge University. He is director of research and development and Fons Trompenaars is president of Trompenaars-Hampden-Turner Group, a cross-cultural consulting and training company based in Amsterdam. Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars are coauthors of The Seven Cultures of Capitalism and Riding the Waves of Culture

Ted Childs – The business case

Ted Childs is IBM's Vice President of Workforce Diversity with world-wide responsibility for workforce diversity programs and policies. In addition to a variety of human resource staff and management assignments, Mr. Childs served as Executive Assistant to Dr. Benjamin L.

Hooks, Executive Director of the NAACP, on an IBM Social Service Leave.

He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), American Society on Ageing Business Forum; The Conference Board's Work Force Diversity Council; the American Business Collaboration Board of Champions; the American Association of People with Disabilities Board of

Directors; The Executive Board of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities; and the Leadership Education for Asian Pacific's Board of Directors (LEAP).

He was appointed a member of New York State Governor's Advisory Council on Child Care and in 1996, Mr. Childs was invited by Vice President Albert Gore to serve on the eight person planning team for the 1996 Family Reunion "V" that the Vice President and Mrs. Gore hosted in Nashville, TN. Mr. Childs also serves as an advisor to the Secretary's Working Group on Child- Care. The group was convened at the request of President Clinton to facilitate business and labor leaders' focus on best practices which address childcare problems facing working parents.

James Bellini will be addressing Work-life in the Future

James Bellini has a long and distinguished track record as an analyst, writer, speaker and conference chairman. He specialises in future issues affecting business and management with a strong emphasis on retailing, financial services, information technology, brand values and corporate reputation. He has an MA from Cambridge in Law and History and a PhD from the London School of Economics and has written or co-authored eight books and special reports. He is currently completing a major study on business issues in the 21st century.

Dr Bellini was invited to join the Hudson Institute - the renowned US-headquarters ‘think tank’ - as their first British member. He subsequently became Head of Political Studies at the Institute’s European division in Paris. Since 1975 he has been a regular broadcaster on British television and radio presenting The Money Programme for three years before moving onto ‘Tonight’ and ‘Panorama’. He is Chairman of Media Counsellors, a London-based Consultancy working in corporate reputation and crisis management.

Eva Pascoe – Social Justice and Economic Efficiency

As head of Arcadia Group Web sites she has been responsible for the successful launch of Zoom the ISP and on line retailer. Ms Pascoe first came to prominence when she co-founded the highly successful the Cyberia Group and was responsible for the development of the Cyberia cybercafe concept and rolling it out world-wide.

From Poland she came to study Cognitive Psychology at London University and was responsible for interfaces for on-line information systems for both consumer and corporate Intranet applications. Ms Pascoe is a visiting lecturer at Hypermedia MA at Westminster University, honorary research fellow at Consumer Computer Psychology at Madrid University, and is the Independent's columnist covering the Internet. She has been awarded both the Grand Award and the Design Award for her to the Information Superhighway by The Sunday Times and British Telecom.

Eva is asked to speak on various topics including Business in the 21st Century, Change Management, E-commence, Investors in People, IT, Internet, Organisational Change, Public Relations, Women in Business.

Laila Harre – Minister for Womens Affairs, New Zealand.

Other portfolios include:

• Minister of Women's Affairs
• Minister of Youth Affairs
• Minister of Statistics

Educated Auckland Girls Grammar. BA (Political Studies); LLB. Graduated from university in 1987.

Worked in Geneva with the Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom as Disarmament Intern 1988. Returned to NZ and worked as a Mediation Officer with the Human Rights Commission Auckland 1989. Appointed Executive Assistant to the Minister of Disarmament Wellington 1989. Solicitor with the National Distribution Union Auckland 1990-94. Director, Watercare Services Ltd, Auckland from July 1993-December 1995.

Edited "Employment Advice Handbook" 1991. In private practice as an industrial relations lawyer from 1994.

Labour Party member 1982-87. Labour Council member 1987: resigned to become founding member of the New Labour Party. Stood as Alliance candidate for Te Atatu in 1993, 1996, and 1999. Elected to Parliament as a list MP in 1996. Placed at number 8 on list for 1996 election, and number 6 in the 1999 election.

Member of Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom.