Aspire, the leading recruitment agency for marketing, media and digital sectors, hosted “Aspire Talks: The Workplace 2020” on 22nd January 2020, with industry-leading HR and Recruitment experts advising employers on how they can onboard and retain the best talent and align with the upcoming workplace changes with IR35. Hosted by Aspire’s Marketing Director, Archana Dhankar the event had big names like Emy Rumble-Mettle, Mark Potter, Paul Farrer and Tania Bowers on the speakers’ list.

The event was divided into two sessions with session one focusing on Key Workplace Trends for 2020 addressed how to attract and retain employees as highlighted in the “Workplace Trends Report” where the speakers went on to highlight the upcoming trends and developments in the HR landscape. The speakers for the session one included Emy Rumble-Mettle, Mark Potter, Paul Farrer as the key speakers.

Session Two with Tania Bowers, General Counsel APSCO (full form) and Paul Farrer, suggested solutions for IR35 for the employers that hire contractors while Paul Farrer and Tania Bowers presided over Session Two.

Emy Rumble-Mettle, Founder and Director of Human Being, talked about "How to Engage your Workforce" and explained the significance of employee engagement for organisations. With her two-decade-long experience of working with people, along with an in-depth understanding about combining commercial needs with individual expectations, Emy brought a fresh perspective into the concept of engaging employees by giving them what they exactly want from their work.

Mark Potter, HR Business Partner of Challenger Inc focused on “The Hiring Process and the 'Best Fit'" and went on to speak about the how the recruitment scenario has changed, both for recruiters and candidates. As everything about finding jobs and talent has transformed, employers face new challenges to compete in the recruitment landscape and secure the best talent out there.

Next on the podium was Paul Farrer, Founder and Chairman of Aspire who talked about Candidate Experience in the recruitment process and shared his insights to help employers find the best talent across the media and marketing communications industry. He had some excellent advice for organisations about building a robust recruitment process. Paul went on to speak about the factors that they need to bear in mind for keeping the workforce engaged.

Session Two of the event was meant to bring clarifications on IR35, the tax rules designed to prevent tax avoidance by employers and contractors. Tania Bowers, General Counsel of Apsco, brought a lot of in-depth knowledge on Contracts & Off-Payroll Rules for IR35. She explained the ins and outs of IR35, the upcoming changes to the legislation and how organisations can gear up for the deadline in April when there will be new responsibilities under the legislation.

Paul Farrer took over the next part of the session with his advice for organisations on IR35. He advised that they should run it past the 'builder test', which would necessarily involve setting out each parameter of the job they want the contractor to do, considering the freedom they would have to do their job their way.

Both the sessions had good attendance and there were lots of questions that attendees had on IR35 session as much clarification is still sought on this.