PeopleOps Oxford — August 2026: Turning Uncertainty and Hidden Risk into Better Conversations

On Thursday 6 August, we welcomed People and HR professionals to BIPC at Oxford's Westgate Centre for our latest PeopleOps Oxford event.

The morning brought together two excellent speakers, Angela Cullimore Todd, Founder and CEO of ACT Health Ltd, and Claire Croft, who approached two very different topics that ultimately shared a common theme: how People leaders can help their organisations become more resilient when faced with challenges they cannot always predict or control.

The Hidden Risk in PeopleOps

Angela Cullimore Todd opened the speaker sessions with The Hidden Risk in PeopleOps, looking at the impact workforce health can have on productivity, talent and business growth.

One of the strongest messages from Angela's session was that workforce health should not simply be viewed through the traditional lens of absence and wellbeing. Instead, People teams should consider it as a genuine business continuity risk.

This becomes particularly important in organisations that rely heavily on specialist knowledge and key individuals. Angela asked attendees to consider what would happen if several business critical employees were suddenly unavailable for six months. Would projects stall? Would deadlines slip? Would important knowledge become unavailable?

It was a thought provoking way of reframing the conversation. Rather than simply asking how many working days are lost through illness, perhaps businesses should also be asking who they could least afford to lose and how prepared they are if it happens.

Angela explored the impact this can have on projects, retention, deadlines, knowledge and overall business continuity, particularly within specialist and technical organisations.

Her session left the room with an important question: if organisations protect their physical assets, intellectual property and operational capability, should they be taking the same strategic approach to protecting the specialist expertise held within their people?

Navigating Uncertainty

Our second speaker, Claire Croft, focused on another challenge facing People leaders and businesses: navigating uncertainty in the workplace.

Claire brought a fantastic amount of energy and humour to the room, making what can be a difficult and serious subject feel engaging, relatable and enjoyable. Her style encouraged plenty of interaction and gave people the opportunity to reflect on how uncertainty actually shows up within their own organisations.

Claire explored how a lack of clarity can lead to conversations that, despite sometimes being well intentioned, can actually make uncertainty more difficult.

She highlighted three examples: the "Pacifying" conversation, which can create false hope and unmet expectations; the "No conversation" conversation, where the impact of uncertainty is ignored; and the "Tomorrow" conversation, where putting difficult discussions off can create paralysis.

Instead, Claire encouraged attendees to think about the conversations businesses can have to create greater clarity.

This included reconnecting with who the organisation is at its core, what it wants to be known for during challenging periods and which values should guide decision making.

She also encouraged the room to look backwards as well as forwards. What have we learnt from previous periods of uncertainty? What did we do well? What could we do differently? What challenges can we already see and what action could we take now to reduce the risk?

A particularly useful part of the session focused on the collective nature of uncertainty. Rather than leaving individuals to deal with it alone, Claire encouraged businesses to examine whether their current ways of working are helping, what small adjustments could make a difference and what colleagues need from one another to be successful.

A Great Morning for the Oxford PeopleOps Community

The event gave us another opportunity to bring Oxford's People and HR community together to share experiences, ask questions and discuss some of the challenges businesses are facing right now.

A big thank you to Angela Cullimore Todd and Claire Croft for giving their time and sharing their expertise, and to everyone who attended and contributed to the conversations throughout the morning.

And finally, congratulations to Jamie Kennedy on hosting his first PeopleOps event.

We are already looking forward to the next one and continuing to grow a community where Oxfordshire's People professionals can learn from each other, make useful connections and have open conversations about the issues affecting their organisations.

Our next PeopleOps Oxford event will take place on Thursday 1 October at 10am. We would love to see you there.

The morning was sponsored by Humand Talent Solutions (humand.co.uk), contract and permanent technical talent partners, and by Laburo (laburo.io), outplacement specialists.