Agenda: Thursday, 19 November 2026
Reward and Benefits leaders want to understand the influential factors that will shape their future strategies. This year's programme will help you make strategic and tactical decisions, not just for now, or for 2026, but also for longer-term sustainability. Take a look at what's in store in the comprehensive and diverse programme, to see why you should be joining your peers this November!
Thursday 19 November
8:25am – 9:10am
OPTION 1: WORKSHOP: Beyond benchmarking: The next era of global benefits intelligence
OPTION 1: WORKSHOP: Beyond benchmarking: The next era of global benefits intelligence
This workshop is exclusively designed senior reward and benefit professionals with international responsibility.
Join this interactive workshop to explore how benefits decision-making is moving from static benchmarking and retrospective reporting towards live, predictive intelligence. Discover how combining workforce, claims, utilisation and market data can help employers anticipate emerging needs, target investment more effectively and create the conditions for stronger employee and business outcomes.
Key discussion points
- Moving beyond ‘what are other employers doing?’ to understanding which investments and conditions are most likely to create value for your own workforce
- The global, regional and local datasets that matter and how to use them to identify emerging trends, model future scenarios and understand likely cost, risk and workforce needs before making investment decisions
- Translating emerging workforce insights into targeted changes to benefits design, funding and communications that address needs earlier, reduce unnecessary spend and improve outcomes
- How AI can enable faster, more sophisticated analysis while recognising that the bigger shift is towards evidence-led, predictive decision-making and greater confidence in where investment will create the most value.
Speakers
OPTION 2: DEMO: **Starts 08.45** How Workhuman is harnessing employee recognition for real business impact
OPTION 2: DEMO: **Starts 08.45** How Workhuman is harnessing employee recognition for real business impact
Employee recognition
Discover how recognition done right is a powerful tool for strategic alignment, driving employee engagement, strengthening culture and reinforcing the behaviours that matter.
- Learn about the difference that recognition done right can make to people and businesses
- See the impact it has on high risk factors like retention, engagement, and performance
- Understand how recognition has evolved beyond a perk to a data source with real business impact
In association with Workhuman
Speakers
OPTION 3: DEMO: **Starts 08.45** How Aon is driving AI workforce transformation
9:10am – 10:15am
Opening Keynote – When bots do the work: How to build organisations when there are more bots than humans
Opening Keynote – When bots do the work: How to build organisations when there are more bots than humans
Keynote
In this provocative opening keynote, former Google Europe COO, Ben Legg explores why the biggest disruption from AI may not be mass job loss, but the entire architecture of work. From how work gets done and how organisations are designed to the skills they value and what it means for future reward, benefits and workforce strategies.
Ben will demystify what AI in the workplace actually means and take us forward into a world where routine work is increasingly carried out by agents, jobs fragment into projects and skills and people spend more of their time designing, directing and improving the machines working alongside them.
What happens when organisations start thinking about AI costs alongside salary costs? When a permanent workforce gives way to a more fluid mix of employees, fractional talent, project teams and digital workers? When the most valuable skills change rapidly, employees build agents that automate parts of their own roles and reward starts to follow skills, contribution and outcomes rather than conventional jobs?
Drawing on practical examples from organisations already experimenting with these models, as well as ways we can use AI ourselves to understand its potential, Ben will challenge you to think beyond adopting AI tools towards designing the organisation they actually want to create.
For reward and benefits leaders, the implications stretch far beyond technology. This is about the future shape of the workforce, the people and skills organisations will compete to attract and retain, how they will pay and support them and the decisions employers need to start making now to be ready for what comes next.
Speakers
OPTION 1: Beyond 2030: Future-proofing benefits for the next decade
OPTION 1: Beyond 2030: Future-proofing benefits for the next decade
Benefits design and trends
The world is changing. Fast. And success can feel further away than ever.
This future-focused session explores the social, political, demographic and technological forces redefining the workplace and employee expectations and how reward and benefits leaders need to be changing their thinking and adopting new ways of working to be ready what lies ahead.
- Revisiting what we predicted for the 2030s back in 2023, to see what is coming to pass, what interventions have occurred and whether the outlook is better or worse than imagined
- How demographic change, government intervention, economic pressures, workforce expectations and the changing nature of work are reshaping needs and outcomes
- Exploring how technology (especially AI) continue to challenge decision-making, benefits design, access to and delivery of benefits and wellbeing programmes
- Identiyfing the tools and techniques you should be applying to your reward and benefits strategies today to buck the trends and drive the outcomes you need for your organisation
- What will a great benefits programme look like 5 and 10 years from now?
Speakers
OPTION 2: Recognition as an engine for strategy: Making business priorities visible and actionable
OPTION 2: Recognition as an engine for strategy: Making business priorities visible and actionable
Employee recognition
As organisations navigate accelerating change and competing priorities, the challenge is often not defining strategy but making sure people understand it, see their role in it and act on it every day.
This session explores how strategic recognition can reinforce the values, behaviours and priorities that matter most, helping employees connect their contribution to the bigger picture. It will also examine how recognition data can give leaders a real-time view of where strategic initiatives are gaining traction, where alignment is strong and where further reinforcement is needed.
- Make strategic priorities more visible and relevant to employees
- Connect recognition to goals, values and behaviours to strengthen alignment
- Reinforce the behaviours that move business priorities forward
- Use recognition data to see where strategy is landing across the organisation
In association with Workhuman
Speakers
OPTION 3: This changes everything: What happens when agents run global benefits
OPTION 3: This changes everything: What happens when agents run global benefits
Global benefits tech
Nobody expected agents to move this fast. Claude reconciles spreadsheets. Meta's Muse books holidays and negotiates car insurance. But benefits admin has never been a job technology could take on. Until now. Seb Fallert, Co-Founder and CEO of Ben, will share what we've learned building the agents behind that shift.
- Why technology has never been able to handle this before
- Why exceptions, judgement calls and chasing (not just rules) make benefits admin the perfect use case for agentic AI
- What changes once an agent can do the work itself: reading the exception, making the call, finishing the job
- Why that doesn't just make admin faster. It removes the reason admin existed
In association with Ben
Speakers
OPTION 4: Navigating the future: Changing HR obligations in an evolving retirement landscape
OPTION 4: Navigating the future: Changing HR obligations in an evolving retirement landscape
Financial wellbeing
With employers being expected to play a greater role in supporting employees through retirement planning, proposed legislative and market developments are raising important questions about how pension schemes, providers and employers may adapt in the years ahead.
This session will explore the potential implications of the Pension Schemes Act 2026 and the emerging concept of guided retirement, alongside what this could mean for employee support, engagement and financial wellbeing.
- Consider how developments within the Pension Schemes Act 2026 may influence the retirement experience for employees and the role employers play in supporting them.
- Explore the opportunities and challenges that could emerge from greater pension scheme consolidation and the move towards retirement income solutions.
- Discuss how employers can help employees navigate complex retirement decisions, particularly where individual circumstances, needs and objectives differ.
- Examine approaches that may help improve pension engagement, build confidence and support more informed retirement planning.
- Consider the importance of ongoing guidance, communication and signposting as part of a broader financial wellbeing strategy.
In association with WEALTH at work
Speakers
OPTION 5: Taking control of healthcare costs: Shifting spend upstream for sustainable workforce health
OPTION 5: Taking control of healthcare costs: Shifting spend upstream for sustainable workforce health
Workforce health
Join this session to explore the mindset shift from managing rising claims to managing total workforce health cost. Discover how a prevention-first model using better data, early intervention and shifting investment upstream can improve workforce outcomes, reduce costly downstream demand and create more long-term sustainable cost control.
- See the whole cost: Look beyond PMI to understand the wider workforce health costs driving spend
- Shift spend upstream: Rebalance investment across prevention, early intervention, protection and recovery before health issues become more complex, costly and disruptive
- Connect the data to target action: Use claims, absence and workforce insights to identify emerging risks, personalise support and target spend more effectively
- Think beyond benefits: Build a more connected workforce health strategy that reduces duplication, improves the employee experience and supports sustainable cost control
In association with Everywhen
Speakers
OPTION 6: DEMO: How Peppy supports neurodiversity: Building an inclusive workplace through one provider
OPTION 6: DEMO: How Peppy supports neurodiversity: Building an inclusive workplace through one provider
Family care and wellbeing services
Neurodiversity is moving up the workplace agenda, but many employers are still unsure what meaningful support looks like. 1 in 7 people in the UK are neurodivergent. In a workforce of 10,000, that could mean around 1,500 employees who may think, process, communicate or work differently. Many will be undiagnosed, unsupported or quietly struggling with their needs showing up as stress, burnout, performance challenges, absence or attrition.
Existing benefits often do not go far enough. NHS waits can last years, private diagnosis can cost £1,000 to £5,000 and standard EAPs are rarely designed around neurodivergent needs.In this live demo, we will show how Peppy Neurodiversity gives employers a structured, clinician led way to support employees before, during and after diagnosis. You will see how employees can access neuro curious entry points, specialist triage, diagnostic navigation, mental health support, 1 to 1 consultations, asynchronous chat, content and webinars through one confidential app.
Key takeaways:
- Understand what neurodiversity means at work and how common traits can show up in employees’ day to day experience
- See why many neurodivergent employees remain unsupported, with needs often appearing as stress, burnout, performance challenges or disengagement
- See how practical support is delivered through the Peppy app
- Explore how Peppy’s partnership with Psychiatry UK helps eligible employees access diagnostic appointments within 10 days
In association with Peppy
Speakers
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: ***Finishes 11:35*** Evolution, revolution or extinction: The future role and value of benefits tech
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: ***Finishes 11:35*** Evolution, revolution or extinction: The future role and value of benefits tech
This workshop is exclusively designed senior reward and benefit professionals in organisations with 500+ employees.
For organisations that already have benefits technology in place, the pressure has shifted. The question is no longer whether you need it - it's whether what you have is still earning its place, and what you're going to need it to do next.
This peer-led session cuts straight to the hard questions: which parts of today's model are becoming obsolete, where legacy approaches are quietly holding employers back, and what global benefits leaders would build differently if they were starting again now.
- Then, now and next: What are current benefits technology headaches and what benefits leaders will expect from their platforms in three years’ time?
- Adding value versus need to become extinct: Where existing platforms continue to earn their place, which legacy approaches are holding employers back and what would benefits leaders design differently if starting again today?
- The siloed data issue: How can benefits leaders practically deal with multiple platforms from pensions and benefits to HR, payroll and recognition?
- AI as part of the benefits infrastructure: What do employers need and what might be heightening risk?
In association with Zest by Epassi
OPTION 1: What breaks first? The global benefits stress test
OPTION 1: What breaks first? The global benefits stress test
Benefits design and trends
Most conversations about the future of employee benefits focus on incremental change over the next three to five years. This session takes a different approach. Using a series of provocative but increasingly plausible 2050 scenarios, we will challenge some of the assumptions that underpin today's global benefits strategies.
What happens if people routinely live beyond 100? If AI companions become commonplace? If traditional family structures continue to evolve? If technology becomes deeply embedded in health, care, relationships and daily life? Rather than attempting to predict the future, we will stress-test today's benefits models against these potential realities and explore which assumptions endure and what breaks first! Join us to:
- Explore vivid, plausible 2050 scenarios already taking shape today, from emotional AI and virtual companions to longevity breakthroughs and radically different models of family, care and community
- Stress-test today's global benefits strategies against a future where employees may live and work for much longer, household structures and caregiving patterns are transformed, and technology is deeply embedded in everyday life
- Examine how these shifts could reshape health and risk benefits, insurance design, pensions and long-term savings, workforce planning and employer duty of care across diverse countries and regulatory environments
- Identify the critical governance, data, AI and strategy questions global employers should put on the agenda now if they want benefits programmes that remain relevant in a fundamentally different world
In association with Aon
OPTION 2: DC pensions: The turbulent decade ahead and how employers need to change their thinking today
OPTION 2: DC pensions: The turbulent decade ahead and how employers need to change their thinking today
Pensions and retirement
The next decade will bring profound change to the UK retirement landscape. Many of the forces are already in motion - an ageing population, economic uncertainty and evolving government policy are all interacting at a time when there is a clear demand for better outcomes from workplace pensions.
Drawing on Howden’s DC scheme analysis and Benefits IQ research from over 1,000 leading organisations across different sectors, this future-focused session will explore the economic, demographic, political and workplace forces that can’t be ignored in helping shape retirement policy over the next decade. We see this as the thinking pensions leaders need to focus on now to prepare for what lies ahead. We’ll explore:
- How demographic change, government tax and spending policy, investment confidence and economic pressures could reshape the UK retirement landscape over the next decade
- Why current retirement outcomes and continuing cost-of-living pressures may require employers to rethink established assumptions around DC pension strategy, contribution levels and adequacy
- What changing careers, longer working lives and evolving workforce expectations could mean for how employees save, access support and transition into retirement
- Identifying the decisions, interventions and strategic building blocks pensions leaders should be considering today to improve outcomes and create a more resilient retirement proposition for the decade ahead
In association with Howden
Speakers
OPTION 3: From cost centre to core infrastructure: Making the case for benefits technology
OPTION 3: From cost centre to core infrastructure: Making the case for benefits technology
Global benefits tech
Discover how reward leaders can position benefits technology as strategic infrastructure, using data and business outcomes to secure investment, strengthen workforce performance and create the conditions for greater value from existing benefits spend.
- Reframe the investment to show how benefits technology can create the visibility, accessibility and engagement needed to turn existing reward spend into greater workforce value.
- Convince the C-suite by connecting the business case to the outcomes senior leaders care about including productivity, resilience, cost avoidance and risk reduction.
- Gather the right evidence by bringing together benefits, workforce and business data to expose under-utilisation, duplication, and value leakage, and identify where better conditions could unlock greater value.
- Challenge short-term ROI thinking by positioning benefits technology as enabling infrastructure that creates the conditions for long-term value through personalisation, prevention and data-driven decision-making
In association with Benifex
OPTION 4: Building a truly comprehensive financial wellbeing strategy for 2027 and beyond
OPTION 4: Building a truly comprehensive financial wellbeing strategy for 2027 and beyond
Financial wellbeing
As workforce demographics evolve and savings gaps persist across ethnicity, gender and age, point-solution financial perks are no longer enough. Learn from Isio’s latest research and real life conversations what employees really think and want around financial wellbeing support. Explore how to deliver a comprehensive strategy that caters to diverse learning styles and individual life stages.
- Understand how demographic disparities affect financial wellbeing
- Gain practical insights on what employees want from their employer
- Learn how to deliver a personalised strategy
In association with Isio
Speakers
OPTION 5: From mental health support to psychosocial risk: Rethinking prevention at work
OPTION 5: From mental health support to psychosocial risk: Rethinking prevention at work
Workforce health
Join this session to explore how employers can move beyond reactive mental health support towards a more preventative, population-level approach, aligning to both the Keep Britain Working Review and the PLG Duty of Care Guidelines. Drawing on workforce insight, the discussion will consider how organisations can identify psychosocial risks, rethink job and organisational design, and act earlier before challenges develop into productivity, mental health, performance and absence risks.
- Keeping your people well: How workforce insight can help organisations better understand wellbeing, health and engagement at work and mitigate future mental health risks
- Making prevention more proactive: Using digital screening, psychosocial risk assessment, behavioural insight and personalised support to identify need and intervene earlier
- Turning workforce data into action: Spotting patterns across roles, sectors and workforce groups to understand where risks are emerging and what may need to change
In association with Onebright and Mindstep
OPTION 6: DEMO: Hosted by The Electric Car Scheme
OPTION 1: PANEL: How pension reform will reshape reward, workforce planning and long-term benefits strategy
OPTION 1: PANEL: How pension reform will reshape reward, workforce planning and long-term benefits strategy
Pensions and retirement
As pensions reform gathers pace, employers will need to look beyond scheme compliance and consider the wider impact on workforce planning, total reward, financial wellbeing and the future employee value proposition.
- Redefining employer responsibility and how changing regulation, adequacy expectations and retirement outcomes could reshape the role employers are expected to play
- Connecting pensions with workforce strategy exploring what reform could mean for retention, retirement patterns, succession planning, later-life working and the overall shape of the workforce
- Repositioning pensions within total reward and how employers can integrate pensions more effectively with financial wellbeing, pay, benefits and the EVP to create a more coherent long-term reward strategy
With strategic partner: Cushon
Moderator: Debi O’Donovan, Co-Founder and Director, REBA
OPTION 2: SPOTLIGHT: Family-forming and women’s health benefits – The hidden workforce risk employers can’t ignore
OPTION 2: SPOTLIGHT: Family-forming and women’s health benefits – The hidden workforce risk employers can’t ignore
Family care and wellbeing services
As expectations, regulations and workforce health needs evolve, gaps in family-forming and women’s health support are creating growing risks for employers.
These sessions brings together three expert perspectives to explore how employers can respond through smarter global design, stronger governance around gender pay, progression and policy and a clearer link between investment, workforce resilience and business outcomes.
Spotlight 1: Reframing family-forming and women’s health: Designing global benefits for key life stages
Dr Asima Ahmad, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder, Carrot Fertility
Spotlight 2: Smarter care, stronger outcomes, sustainable cost control: How AI and technology are reshaping women’s health
Carolina Garcia, Regional Vice President, Maven Clinic
Spotlight 3: Why women's health sits at the centre of the gender pay gap
Eileen Burbidge, Executive Director, Fertifa
In association with Carrot Fertility, Maven Clinic and Fertifa
OPTION 3: PANEL: How the reward role will change: From jobs to skills: Reinventing pay for a modern workforce
OPTION 4: PANEL: Rethinking future benefits: Designing for a radically different working life
OPTION 4: PANEL: Rethinking future benefits: Designing for a radically different working life
Benefits design and trends
Gen Alpha will likely enter work with very different expectations, financial pressures and career patterns from previous generations. This panel will challenge employers to rethink their benefits strategies and consider how benefits will need to evolve to support health, wealth and security across longer, less predictable working lives to support Gen Alpha and early-career talent with greater clarity, security and confidence in their future.
- A new wealth journey: What later home ownership, student debt, fragmented careers and changing retirement patterns could mean for future pensions, savings and financial wellbeing
- Managing employee health over a longer working life: How employers may need to respond to rising mental health needs, digital-first care, chronic conditions and the prospect of longer working lives
- Rethinking the benefits proposition: How more personalised, flexible and portable benefits could support a workforce whose lives, careers and expectations look very different to those of Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z.
In association with MyGroup
OPTION 5: MASTERCLASS: What If? Three futures that could break today’s health benefits model
OPTION 5: MASTERCLASS: What If? Three futures that could break today’s health benefits model
Workforce health
Join this fast-paced, interactive masterclass to pressure-test three ‘what if’ futures that could reshape workforce health benefits and explore the capabilities employers need now to stay relevant, resilient and ready for what comes next.
Rather than assuming the future will be an extension of today, we’ll explore three very different possibilities:
- What if private healthcare became the new workplace pension?
- What if AI became the front door to healthcare?
- What if employees stopped valuing health insurance and started demanding health outcomes?
We’ll put each scenario to the room, then unpack the results in real time surfacing the opportunities, risks and signals already emerging. Expert perspectives from a business leader and clinician will combine strategic insight with on-the-ground realities to explore where the market could be heading and what it could mean for employers.
Designed to turn uncertainty into action, the session will leave you with five no-regret moves you can make now whatever future emerges.
In association with Marsh
OPTION 6: DEMO: Zero-budget headcount for your benefits team: Ben's AI agent that asks before it acts
OPTION 6: DEMO: Zero-budget headcount for your benefits team: Ben's AI agent that asks before it acts
Global benefits tech
Find out what benefits admin looks like when you finally get the extra headcount you've always wanted — without having to get approval from finance. That headcount is AI: an agent that takes the manual work off your hands, but still shows you exactly what it's done, and leaves the judgement calls that matter to you.
Sam Carter, Ben's Head of Product, has been working with Reward and Benefit leaders to understand exactly what that agent needed to do — then he built it. Join him to learn:
- Why AI for Reward and Benefits shouldn't be a black box — and what "showing its work" looks like in practice
- Where the agent stops and asks, rather than acting on its own
- What the audit trail behind every action looks like: proof of what happened, when, and why
- What's actually left for you to decide once the admin's off your plate
In association with Ben
Speakers
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: Great benefits by design: What leading employers are doing differently to prepare for what’s next
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: Great benefits by design: What leading employers are doing differently to prepare for what’s next
This workshop is exclusively designed senior reward and benefit professionals in organisations with 2,000+ employees.
This workshop is designed for senior reward and benefits leaders from organisations with established benefits strategies who are already embracing the challenges of redesigning their programmes for the modern workplace and are ready to look at what’s next.
With employee expectations, cost pressures and technology all actively reshaping the benefits landscape, this interactive peer-led workshop will explore what great benefits design looks like today (in response to those pressures) and how leading employers are making more deliberate choices about where to invest, simplify, expand or rethink provision over the next three years.
Key discussion points:
- What are the pressure points inside benefits programmes that leading reward and benefits professionals are having to respond to and how are they responding?
- What great benefits design looks like today, taking into consideration demographics, sector, size and other factors – learning from across the full UK workforce
- How are models shifting, where is funding being reduced, increased or reshaped and which cohorts of the workforce are the focus of these changes?
- What challenges reward professionals fee they are bracing for in the next few years and whether today’s leading benefits design models will have to evolve further
This session is designed to help like-minded peers together shape the future of great benefits thinking from across the UK workforce spectrum.
In association with Howden
OPTION 1: Exclusive first look at new Isio research: The emerging trends shaping benefits design and employee engagement
OPTION 1: Exclusive first look at new Isio research: The emerging trends shaping benefits design and employee engagement
Benefits design and trends
Be the first to preview brand-new, proprietary Isio research, conducted by YouGov, revealing how employee needs, wellbeing priorities and workforce demographics are reshaping modern benefits strategies. Against a backdrop of ongoing financial pressures, shifting working models and rapid technological change, join Isio for early, exclusive insights that spotlight the key trends set to redefine reward strategies over the next three to five years.
In association with Isio
OPTION 2: Beyond the policy: What really makes parental leave work?
OPTION 2: Beyond the policy: What really makes parental leave work?
Family care and wellbeing services
Parental leave policies have evolved rapidly in recent years, with enhanced offerings becoming increasingly common across employers. Yet despite this progress, many organisations continue to see challenges around uptake, return-to-work experiences, retention, and long-term career progression. The reason? Policy alone is rarely enough. Join Jennifer Liston-Smith as she reveals key findings from the 2026 Parental Leave Benchmark, one of the most comprehensive studies of parental leave in the UK, and discover:
- The hidden gaps between policy and employee experience
- What parents say matters most before, during, and after leave
- Why manager support, workplace culture, and return-to-work experiences are critical to success
- How leading employers are measuring the real impact of parental leave support
In association with Bright Horizons
Speakers
OPTION 3: Reimagining the reward operating model: Future-proofing strategy, agility, and governance
OPTION 3: Reimagining the reward operating model: Future-proofing strategy, agility, and governance
Pay and reward
This strategic session explores how senior reward leaders can evolve beyond technical execution to architect holistic, future-ready reward strategies that align directly with board priorities and business growth.
- Adapting foundational components (base pay, bonus structures, benchmarking and job architecture) to build a flexible, future-proof framework.
- Navigating competing forces, including pay transparency and fairness demands alongside the disruptive impacts of AI and skill-based work models.
- Transitioning from technical expert to strategic business leader to make high-impact decisions.
In association with Innecto
Speakers
OPTION 4: CASE STUDY: Financial awakening: How Travelodge is transforming policy momentum into workplace action
OPTION 4: CASE STUDY: Financial awakening: How Travelodge is transforming policy momentum into workplace action
Financial wellbeing
Workplace finance is moving up the policy agenda. From financial inclusion to productivity and workforce participation: politicians, economists and civil-society organisations are increasingly recognising the workplace as a powerful route to better financial outcomes. For employers, this matters. Financial pressure affects employees’ wellbeing, focus and resilience. Addressing that pressure delivers significant benefits for companies and, in turn, the wider economy.
In this session, Stream will be joined by Travelodge People Director to explore what the growing momentum behind workplace finance means in practice for employers. Drawing on Travelodge’s experience and its role as a founding member of the National Coalition for Workplace Savings – they will discuss how employers can turn this into policy momentum into meaningful support for their people
- The growing evidence linking financial wellbeing with employee wellbeing, engagement, productivity and resilience
- What the UK’s increasing policy and institutional focus on workplace finance means for employers – and how it can strengthen the internal case for investment
- Inside Travelodge’s award-winning financial wellbeing strategy: how its approach has evolved, the role of employee feedback and the impact it is seeing
- What effective workplace finance looks like in practice – supporting employees with immediate financial needs while helping build longer-term financial security
In association with Stream
OPTION 5: From weight loss to workforce health: Is weight management the next must-have employee benefit?
OPTION 5: From weight loss to workforce health: Is weight management the next must-have employee benefit?
Workforce health
Obesity is no longer viewed as a lifestyle issue, rather a medically defined chronic health condition and as GLP-1 use accelerates, should weight management now sit alongside mental health and MSK in benefits strategy? Join this session to hear how employers can respond to growing demand with safe, clinically supported approaches that improve health while managing future workforce and healthcare costs.
- How changing perceptions of obesity as a chronic health condition, falling stigma and rapidly increasing GLP-1 use are reshaping the case for weight management as an employee benefit
- The links between weight, absence, productivity and downstream health costs and where better weight management could deliver value for both employees and employers
- Why GLP-1s should form part of a broader clinically led weight-management pathway incorporating appropriate prescribing, behavioural change, coaching and long-term maintenance rather than a stand-alone solution
- Funding models, the role of flex and affordability and how employers can help employees navigate a rapidly expanding private market safely as NHS capacity struggles to meet demand
In association with Doctor Care Anywhere
Speakers
OPTION 6: DEMO: Origin’s Enterprise Benefits Intelligence in practice
OPTION 6: DEMO: Origin’s Enterprise Benefits Intelligence in practice
Global benefits tech
Find out what's new in Origin: Statutory benefits mapped across 34 countries, renewals run as governed workflows and insights flagging duplicate cover the moment an acquired company's benefits land. Plus, Origin's growing connections with leading enterprise HR platforms. Expect practical ways to cut cost, stay compliant and answer the C-suite faster.
Key takeaways:
- See how statutory benefits for 34 countries, including the UK, sit alongside your own benefits in one view, with new EU pay transparency reporting built on the same record
- Learn how an acquired company's documents, in multiple languages, become a structured benefits record, with duplicate cover and harmonisation choices flagged before integration decisions are made
- Find out how renewals run as governed workflows tied to each renewal date, and how the same benefits intelligence can flow into the enterprise HR and workflow platforms many organisations already run on
In association with Origin
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: **Finishes 15.00** Tomorrow by design: Using today's actionable insights to shape a future-ready benefits and employee experience strategy
OPTION 7: WORKSHOP: **Finishes 15.00** Tomorrow by design: Using today's actionable insights to shape a future-ready benefits and employee experience strategy
This workshop is exclusively designed senior reward and benefit professionals in organisations with 2,500+ employees.
Reward and benefits leaders face increasing pressure to balance cost, workforce needs and employee expectations. In this interactive boardroom simulation, participants will tackle real-world workforce challenges and explore how access to deeper workforce insights can transform decision-making.
This workshop is exclusively designed for senior reward and benefit professionals in organisations with 2,500+ employees.
Key discussion points
- Collaboratively explore practical approaches to future-proofing benefits strategies while balancing cost pressures, employee expectations and business goals
- Unlock the power of the data already at your fingertips to make informed benefits and platform investment decisions
- Harnessing AI, discover how you can predict tomorrow's workforce needs and priorities
- Leave with actionable ideas to maximise value, enhance employee experience and build a benefits strategy fit for the future
In association with Aon
Speakers
OPTION 1: CASE STUDY – More investment, better outcomes? How Workday is rethinking the workforce health ecosystem
OPTION 1: CASE STUDY – More investment, better outcomes? How Workday is rethinking the workforce health ecosystem
Benefits design and trends
Employers are investing more than ever in employee healthcare, expanding benefits and wellbeing programmes to address rising employee expectations, increasingly diverse workforce needs and growing pressure on business performance. Yet more investment does not always translate into better outcomes. When support operates in isolation, employees, particularly those with more complex health and wellbeing needs, can struggle to access the right help at the right time.
Through both employer and adviser perspectives, this session explores what a more connected workforce health ecosystem could look like and the practical steps employers can take to move towards it. We’ll explore how organisations can reduce fragmentation, improve access to support and better meet diverse health and neurodiverse needs, while working towards a more consistent baseline of care across the workforce. We’ll delve into:
- Why increasing investment does not always improve outcomes
- The hidden costs of fragmented health and wellbeing provision
- How to identify gaps, overlaps and barriers across existing support
- The role of navigation, accessibility and early intervention in creating a consistent standard of support for all employees
- Lessons from creating a more connected health ecosystem that delivers value for employees and employers
In association with Gallagher
OPTION 2: Fireside chat: The impending cancer cost juggernaut: Why employers need to act now
OPTION 2: Fireside chat: The impending cancer cost juggernaut: Why employers need to act now
Workforce health
Cancer is becoming the biggest emerging risk in employer healthcare, driven by rising incidence in the working demographic, late diagnosis, and a new wave of ultra-high-cost therapies that could fundamentally change benefit funding models. This session explores how preventative action and evidence-based healthcare, powered by data, can help employers act earlier, spend smarter and deliver better outcomes for people and businesses.
- Why the rising incidence of cancer is becoming a major risk for working-age populations, and what this means for employers
- How late diagnosis, complex treatments, molecular therapies and cancer as a managed chronic condition are reshaping cost and coverage models
- How data-led, evidence-based flexible benefit design can reveal risk earlier, improve access and outcomes, and reduce avoidable costs.
In association with Healix Health
OPTION 3: CASE STUDY: Scaling through M&A: How DaVita is integrating benefits across a fast-growing global business
OPTION 3: CASE STUDY: Scaling through M&A: How DaVita is integrating benefits across a fast-growing global business
Global benefits tech
As acquisition-led growth expands DaVita’s international footprint, this fireside chat will explore how the benefits team is navigating integration, local complexity and faster decision-making across an increasingly diverse global workforce.
Key takeaways:
- The practical challenges of integrating benefits through M&A
- How DaVita balances the need to move quickly with understanding local market requirements, existing provision and employee expectations
- Why acquisition-led growth prompted DaVita to rethink how it manages global benefits and using a platform to create greater visibility and consistency
- How better access to data is changing benefits decision-making, enabling the team to move from instinct-led choices towards more informed, evidence-based decisions
In association with Origin
OPTION 4: Future-proofing the EVP: Combining AI and human insight for inclusive financial resilience
OPTION 4: Future-proofing the EVP: Combining AI and human insight for inclusive financial resilience
Financial wellbeing
Nearly one-in-four UK workers come from a lower socio-economic background, while the typical workforce has four different generations. Therefore employees' financial wellbeing needs are shaped more by life stages and background than by pay grade. Discover how leading employers combine human insight with AI to develop targeted, inclusive financial resilience programmes that boost their employee value proposition (EVP).
- Uncover the hidden drivers of financial inequality: Why employees across different generations and life stages need vastly different levels of financial support.
- Combine human insight with scalable tech to close that gap: Learn how to balance AI with financial coaching to deliver the targeted money support each employee needs.
- Gain practical, case-study-backed insights on moving away from one-size-fits-all financial wellbeing to elevate your overall EVP
In association with Octopus Money
Speakers
OPTION 6: DEMO: Hosted by Marsh
OPTION 1: CASE STUDY: A Whole New World: How one global entertainment company’s benefits system removes admin, connects to its AI hub and hyper-personalises benefits for every employee
OPTION 1: CASE STUDY: A Whole New World: How one global entertainment company’s benefits system removes admin, connects to its AI hub and hyper-personalises benefits for every employee
Global benefits tech
One of the world’s most recognisable brands is reimagining global benefits through one system that brings administration, flexible benefits, reporting and the employee experience together. The ambition was to give benefits teams greater control and a single source of truth, while creating an employee experience that reflects the same high standards the organisation sets for its customers. Hear what they’ve learned so far, where the technology is heading next and how connecting benefits directly to the corporate AI hub could transform the experience altogether.
- Discover how this Fortune 50 company is building one global benefits system that brings administration, flexible benefits, TRS, reporting and personalised employee experiences together, giving global benefits teams greater visibility and control while removing much of the admin.
- See hyperpersonalisation in action and what it means for employees and the business. Learn how benefits data, employee insights and AI are making benefits, recommendations and communications more relevant to every employee, while generating the behavioural insights needed to redesign programmes, target investment and reduce unnecessary cost.
- Explore what comes next: see how this global benefits ecosystem is connecting directly into the organisation’s corporate AI hub. Euphoric is its first global integration, bringing personalised benefits into the technology employees already use.
In association with Euphoric
Speakers
OPTION 4: Beyond the ‘biggest buck’: Strategic shifts in high earner pay and reward
OPTION 4: Beyond the ‘biggest buck’: Strategic shifts in high earner pay and reward
Pay and reward
Senior-level compensation is undergoing a profound shift as non-financial motivators, public scrutiny and sector-specific ethics redefine what top talent values. This session explores the evolving psychology and optics of high earner remuneration, equipping reward directors to align C-suite pay with modern organisational culture, transparency demands and changing expectations.
- Understand how optics are expanding the spectrum of senior pay beyond traditional high-cash models.
- Explore how perceived self-worth influences pay expectations rather than monetary need.
- Examine how non-financial drivers, corporate purpose, and tax thresholds alter executive value propositions.
- Discover how gender influences perceptions of self-worth in executive reward structures and navigate the broader impact of equality legislation and transparency.
- Evaluate the limits of traditional incentives and how to build resilient, ethically aligned retention strategies.
In association with Turning Point
Speakers
OPTION 5: Rebalancing workplace healthcare: Blending physical care, AI and workforce insight
OPTION 5: Rebalancing workplace healthcare: Blending physical care, AI and workforce insight
Global benefits tech
As employers look for more effective ways to manage rising health risk and constrained budgets, physical on-site care is re-emerging alongside virtual provision as a way to reach employees earlier and engage those that digital solutions often miss. This session explores how on-site primary care, diagnostics and screening can combine with AI and workforce data to create more targeted, intelligent and sustainable healthcare strategies.
- How emerging analytics can combine benefit usage, employee questions, health trends and diagnostic insight to identify previously hidden risks, segment populations and inform future health investment.
- Reassessing the role of on-site care (such as on-site GPs, screening, diagnostics and health kiosks) and using them to engage employees that digital-only models often miss
- Building a smarter blended health ecosystem that combines virtual and face-to-face care to understand what works best when and how smarter pathways can improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary referrals
- Measuring engagement, health outcomes, claims and absence to build a stronger case for future healthcare investment
In association with WTW
OPTION 6: DEMO: How Isio is building the future of benefits technology
OPTION 6: DEMO: How Isio is building the future of benefits technology
Global benefits tech
The future of benefits technology is built around the person, not just the employee. It's time for benefits to evolve. Every person is different: a new parent, a carer, a night-shift worker. Imagine a platform that starts with what matters in each person's life, answers their questions in the moment and is there whenever life happens. You don't have to imagine it. We've built the future of benefits technology and, for the first time, we're revealing it at the REBA Future Forum.
Don’t miss this milestone moment. Gain priority early access and join our demonstration session to:
- Experience a standout employee user journey
- Discover new insight into how our benefits technology will benefit you and your people
In association with Isio
Speakers
4:15pm – 4:55pm
OPTION 1: Benefits tech and AI: How AI and digital platforms are transforming benefits delivery
OPTION 2: Data maturity and predictive analytics: Turning workforce data into forward-looking insight to target risk; optimise spend and strengthen resilience
OPTION 3: Future of healthcare: What emerging health tech; diagnostics; genomics and data-driven awareness means for workforce health
OPTION 4: Future of pay and reward: Designing reward structures to attract, retain and motivate talent
OPTION 5: Future of pensions and retirement journeys: How pensions reform is going to reshape employer obligations and long-term benefits strategy
OPTION 6: Future of work: How cultural shifts; macro pressures and Generation Alpha will reshape benefits strategy
OPTION 8: Global benefits design; management and delivery: Leveraging technology and AI to deliver consistent; compliant and efficient benefits
OPTION 9: People risk, prevention, early intervention and whole-of-workforce strategies to improve integration; outcomes and cost control
4:15pm – 5:00pm
Curated roundtable and meet the case study discussions or visit exhibition
Curated roundtable and meet the case study discussions or visit exhibition
Curated Roundtable Discussions
Meet and exchange knowledge, discuss challenges and explore solutions with peers. Join your dedicated table to gain insights from a carefully curated case study, followed by an interactive group discussion to enable peer exchange, shared problem-solving and practical learnings.
Speakers
OPTION 11: Case study roundtable discussion: Connecting pay equity to total reward strategy
OPTION 11: Case study roundtable discussion: Connecting pay equity to total reward strategy
Meet the case studies
Gain insights from a carefully curated case study table host who will kick off with a 5–10 minute case study - setting out strategy, progress and key lessons - followed by an interactive group table discussion focused on shared challenges, practical solutions and real-world insights. Connect, challenge and exchange ideas with peers tackling the same issues.
The case study roundtables will cover three main topics:
- Connecting pay equity to total reward strategy, with Michelle Ord, Director of Reward & Wellbeing, Costain
- Global benefits design and optimisation, with Emma Govus, Global Director of Health Lifestyle & Wellbeing at Aveva
- Using strategic recognition to drive business change, with Gemma Stokes, Head of Accenture EMEA benefits and Avanade Global Benefits, Accenture
Speakers
OPTION 12 : Case study roundtable discussion: Global benefits design and optimisation
OPTION 12 : Case study roundtable discussion: Global benefits design and optimisation
Meet the case studies
Gain insights from a carefully curated case study table host who will kick off with a 5–10 minute case study - setting out strategy, progress and key lessons - followed by an interactive group table discussion focused on shared challenges, practical solutions and real-world insights. Connect, challenge and exchange ideas with peers tackling the same issues.
The case study roundtables will cover three main topics:
- Connecting pay equity to total reward strategy, with Michelle Ord, Director of Reward & Wellbeing, Costain
- Global benefits design and optimisation, with Emma Govus, Global Director of Health Lifestyle & Wellbeing at Aveva
- Using strategic recognition to drive business change, with Gemma Stokes, Head of Accenture EMEA benefits and Avanade Global Benefits, Accenture
Speakers
OPTION 13 : Case study roundtable discussion: Using strategic recognition to drive business change
OPTION 13 : Case study roundtable discussion: Using strategic recognition to drive business change
Meet the case studies
Gain insights from a carefully curated case study table host who will kick off with a 5–10 minute case study - setting out strategy, progress and key lessons - followed by an interactive group table discussion focused on shared challenges, practical solutions and real-world insights. Connect, challenge and exchange ideas with peers tackling the same issues.
The case study roundtables will cover three main topics:
- Connecting pay equity to total reward strategy, with Michelle Ord, Director of Reward & Wellbeing, Costain
- Global benefits design and optimisation, with Emma Govus, Global Director of Health Lifestyle & Wellbeing at Aveva
- Using strategic recognition to drive business change, with Gemma Stokes, Head of Accenture EMEA benefits and Avanade Global Benefits, Accenture, and Becca Joanes, Global Benefits Manager at Brambles Limited.
5:00pm – 5:30pm
Closing keynote: On the sofa with Rob Brydon, BAFTA-nominated actor, comedian, presenter and writer
Closing keynote: On the sofa with Rob Brydon, BAFTA-nominated actor, comedian, presenter and writer
Keynote
One of the most beloved comic talents in Britain, Rob Brydon will bring the REBA Future Forum 2026 to a close with his natural charisma and hilarious comedic delivery.
Best known for playing the lovable and quirky Uncle Bryn in Gavin and Stacey, Rob's career began with his one-man radio series Marion and Geoff for Radio Wales -since then, he's become a familiar face across film and television, hosting BBC's Would I Lie to You?, and starring alongside Steve Coogan in The Trip, along the way picking up two British Comedy Awards and ten further nominations from the likes of the BAFTAs.
In conversation for this year's closing keynote, Rob will bring his easy-going style and wry commentary on the world around him, sending the event out on a wave of laughter.
