Managing remote workers

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Time: 6.00pm - 9.00pm
Venue: Kingston Business School, Kingston Hill campus, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey
Price: free

The fourth event in the 2016 - 2017 series is entitled 'Managing remote workers'.  The evening will explore the organisational structures and management behaviours that can best support remote workers and promote their wellbeing. Research on distributed workers, sponsored by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and led by UEA Norwich Business School in association with Affinity Health at Work will also be shared.  This promises to be an exciting evening with thought provoking presentations, followed by a Q&A session and ending with drinks, canapés and networking. 

Further details will be announced in the coming weeks.

Event speakers

• Dr Carolyn Axtell (PhD, CPsychol), Senior Lecturer, Institute of Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield
• Professor Karina Nielsen (PhD), Director of the Institute for Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield
• Emma Donaldson-Feilder (MA, MSc, CPsychol, AFBPsS), Co-Director of Affinity Health at Work, Director of Affinity Coaching and Supervision
• Kate Cooper (BSc, MBA, MEd, FInsLM), Head of Research, Policy & Standards, the Institute of Leadership & Management

Agenda

• 6.00pm – Networking, tea and coffee
• 6.30pm – Welcome and introduction
• 6.40pm – 'Managing remote workers: An overview of issues' - Carolyn Axtell
• 7.00pm – 'Out of sight, out of mind? How can leaders ensure the health and safety of remote workers? Empirical findings from a recent research project' – Professor Karina Nielsen
• 7:20pm – 'Making sure out of sight is not out of mind: putting research into practice' – Emma Donaldson-Feilder
• 7.40pm – 'Going Remote: Leading dispersed teams', Kate Cooper
• 8.00pm – Panel Q&A
• 8.15pm – Networking, drinks and nibbles

Speaker abstracts

Managing remote workers: An overview of issues – Dr Carolyn Axtell

Carolyn's presentation will outline some of the benefits and challenges when working remotely and managing remote employees. She will explore issues relating to boundaries, relationships, control and trust and the need to find a balance between the pros and cons.

Out of sight, out of mind? How can leaders ensure the health and safety of remote workers? Empirical findings from a recent research project – Professor Karina Nielsen

In my presentation I will present the results of a recently completed study that was funded by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). We explored which leadership behaviours may be effective in ensuring the health and safety of remote workers. We interviewed occupational health and safety professionals about the behaviours and structures that may be put in place to support workers who do not perform all their tasks in one location. We used this information to develop a survey which we distributed to a large sample of remote workers, their line managers, and health and safety practitioners.

Making sure out of sight is not out of mind: putting research into practice – Emma Donaldson-Feilder

Following on from Karina's presentation about the 'Out of sight, out of mind?' research project findings, this presentation will provide details of the toolkit that we developed based on the research evidence. Including materials for line managers, practitioners and employers, the toolkit materials are designed to help organisations support distributed workers' occupational safety and health. For example, a line manager leadership framework, with associated questionnaires, will help managers understand the behaviours they need to adopt in this context, what they are currently doing well and where they might need to make changes to their leadership style; while checklists and frameworks for Occupational Safety and Health practitioners will help them understand what they need to do to support distributed workers.

'Going Remote: Leading dispersed teams' - Kate Cooper

Kate Cooper (MBA; MEd, BSc, PGCE, PG Dip, FInstLM) is Head of Research, Policy & Standards, joining the Institute of Leadership & Management from the university sector. Kate has appeared on BBC Television, BBC Radio 4, various other radio stations, is the leadership Columnist for Dialogue magazine is a key note speaker at conferences and provides expert commentary on a range of topics arising from the Institute's research agenda. Kate will share findings from the Institute's recent research into what it's like working with people you see infrequently, rarely or even never.

Speaker biographies

Professor Karina Nielsen, Director of the Institute for Work Psychology, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield

Professor Karina Nielsen is a research affiliate at the CPH-NEW, USA and Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. Her research interests lie within changing organisations. She is interested in the role of leaders in ensuring followers' wellbeing and has published widely on the relationships between line managers' leadership behaviours and employee outcomes. She is currently on the editorial boards of Human Relations, The Leadership Quarterly and Journal of Business and Psychology and is an associate editor of Work & Stress. She has published her work in journals such as Human Relations, Work & Stress, The Leadership Quarterly and Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

[Email: k.m.nielsen@sheffield.ac.uk]

Dr Carolyn Axtell, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Work Psychology, Divisional Director of Learning and Teaching (WEPO Division), Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield

Dr Carolyn Axtell is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Work Psychology at the University of Sheffield. She has more than 20 years experience of conducting applied research with a range of organisations in both the public and private sector. These projects have broadly related to either evaluating the impact of new technologies and new ways of working or helping organisations develop new work practices. In recent years her research has become more focused on remote work and the technologies that help facilitate working at a distance from colleagues. She has been invited to speak at a number of events on the topic of remote and mobile work (including GigaOm, SIPD Human Resource Development Conference, Holyrood Connect and the Westminster Employment Forum).

Emma Donaldson-Feilder (MA, MSc, CPsychol, AFBPsS) Co-Director of Affinity Health at Work, Director of Affinity Coaching and Supervision

Emma Donaldson-Feilder is a Registered Occupational Psychologist who aims to make a positive difference in workplaces through enhancing employee health, wellbeing and engagement, particularly by improving leadership and management skills. She is a Co-Director with Rachel Lewis and Joanna Yarker, of Affinity Health at Work, and also Director of Affinity Coaching and Supervision. In order to have the best possible evidence-base for her work, Emma is actively involved in research, in collaboration with a number of universities (including with Rachel and Jo in their roles at Kingston Business School); conversely, her consultancy and coaching with a range of organisations ensures that the research is of genuine practical use in real-world settings.

She is also an author, conference speaker and media commentator, whose writing and presenting includes sharing freely available, research-based, online guidance tools. She is also active in public policy as a member of the Health and Safety Executive Workplace Health Expert committee; and is a mindfulness and interpersonal mindfulness teacher.

Contact: Taslim Tharani

Email: KU51205@Kingston.ac.uk

Travel: If you are taking public transport, Norbiton is the closest station. You can either take the K3 bus directly to the campus, or arrange for a taxi.  

For further information about this event:

Contact: Taslim Tharani
Email: KU51205@Kingston.ac.uk