Explore the Agenda
8:30 am Registration & Networking
9:00 am Chair’s Opening Remarks
Making Total Rewards Fit for Long‑Term Data Center Programs
9:10 am Panel Discussion: Designing Sustainable Compensation, Benefits, & Mobility Models for Data Center Scale
- As data center programs expand across multiple regions and markets, where are existing compensation, benefits, and relocation frameworks creating unintended risks around inequity, burnout, or retention, even when hiring targets are being met?
- How are organizations incentivizing mobility, flexibility, and availability in ways that support long‑term workforce sustainability, rather than relying on short‑term financial mechanisms that become difficult to unwind as programs mature?
- With owners, operators, and contractors increasingly intersecting on extended, multi‑year programs, how are organizations maintaining internal equity, cost discipline, and consistency while operating in labor markets where compensation expectations are shifting rapidly?
10:00 am Networking Break
Creating Clarity, Readiness, & Progression in Live, Mission‑Critical Operations
10:50 am Discover: Scaling Career Development in Mission-Critical Environments: How Microsoft’s Data Center HR Team Used AI to Deliver High Impact Growth at Speed
- Designing an AI-enabled career development model for 200+ data center employees using podcast style speaker panels and manager led coaching workshops, achieving 100% satisfaction, 95% panel ratings, and 80% continued AI platform adoption in a frontline, operationally critical environment
- Equipping managers to lead career conversations at scale through practical toolkits (10+ templates, decks, and surveys), enabling regional teams to deploy development programming 50% faster while saving 40+ hours per site and reducing reliance on bespoke HR support
- Building a repeatable, scalable framework that balanced speed, consistency, and local relevance, establishing a global model now being scaled across all data center metros throughout the Americas, even amid intense competition for technical and operational talent
11:10 am Develop: What Are the Most Effective Ways to Create Workforce Clarity & Confidence in High‑Stakes Operating Environments?
This interactive Q&A explores how organizations are strengthening retention and performance by giving employees clearer expectations, progression signals, and confidence in what “good” looks like in role especially in live, mission‑critical settings. It examines how development approaches that equip managers, define standards, and remove ambiguity can improve engagement and reduce voluntary attrition, even in highly competitive talent markets. Participants will share how clarity and consistency are being embedded into day‑to‑day operations rather than delivered as standalone HR initiatives.
11:30 am Action: What Will You Change to Accelerate Readiness, Development, & Retention in Mission-Critical Roles?
- Where do unclear expectations, inconsistent development experiences, or limited career visibility create the greatest barriers to readiness and retention today?
- What tools, learning pathways, or manager-led development practices could help employees reach proficiency faster while building greater confidence in their long-term growth opportunities?
- How can role clarity, career development, and workforce capability be embedded into day-to-day operations so employees understand what success looks like and how to progress towards it?
11:50 am Innovate: The People Plan Behind the Power Plan
- The scale of the problem: A look at the data behind data centers’ fastest-growing hiring gap, including why installation and maintenance roles are under the most pressure
- Why this is a capacity problem: Even the best version of today’s workforce pipeline doesn’t get the industry where it needs to be, we’ll unpack what that means for how the industry needs to think differently
- An invitation to the room: A look at what it could take for the industry to solve this together, and how attendees can get involved
12:00 pm Networking Lunch
Building a Sustainable Entry‑Level Talent Supply for Long‑Term Data Center Growth
1:00 pm Discover: Moving from Talent Competition to Talent Creation: How AWS Is Building Scalable Workforce Pipelines for Data Center Growth
- Addressing the structural talent shortage limiting data center growth by shifting from competing over existing talent to building net new workforce capacity, positioning workforce development as a shared industry challenge rather than a zero sum hiring market
- Designing a multi-year “ready to hire, ready to work, ready to grow” workforce strategy that combines pre-hire engagement, hands-on training environments, and structured career pathways to expand local pipelines, accelerate time to productivity, and improve operational readiness at scale
- Strengthening long-term capability and retention by embedding technical career pathways and manager development programs, recognizing that sustained growth depends on building leadership and expertise internally rather than relying on external hiring alone
1:20 pm Discover: Scaling Mission‑Critical Talent at Speed: How Ace Electric is Building Entry‑Level Capability to Meet Data Center Demand
- Responding to rapid growth in data center work (from ~1,100 employees to a projected 2,100 in under two years) by shifting from reliance on scarce, fully‑rounded electricians to a skills‑led workforce model focused on developing entry‑level and early‑career talent into mission‑critical specialists
- Designing accredited apprenticeship, high‑school pipeline, and internship programs to build bench strength at scale, pairing targeted scope mastery (e.g. cable tray, cable installation) with experienced field leadership to accelerate productivity while managing safety and quality risk
- Improving retention and workforce stability by breaking down silos across seven regional divisions, introducing structured workforce planning and new‑hire orientations, and reducing annual attrition by 38 points through better forecasting, internal mobility, and earlier engagement of talent
1:40 pm Discover: Your Data Center is on schedule. Your HR systems aren’t.
- The problem: Data center builds are hitting their infrastructure milestones, but the people systems meant to staff, certify, and run those facilities are quietly falling behind, turning an "on schedule" build into one that's not actually on track for a fully-staffed launch
- Why it happens: HR platforms get sequenced as back-office IT instead of critical-path infrastructure, tooling gets built before requirements are defined, and each region configures data locally so leaders can't answer basic questions like staffing-to-plan, certification status, or labor cost vs. budget with confidence
- The fix: A practical playbook for HR leaders. Define requirements before configuring systems, build one global source of truth for people data, and turn HR analytics into a forward-looking planning tool so scaling a new campus becomes a repeatable process rather than a one-off scramble
2:00 pm Develop: What Does it Take to Convert Early Interest into Capable, Committed Data Center Talent?
This interactive Q&A explores how organizations are addressing workforce shortages by shifting focus upstream and strengthening their ability to absorb and grow new entrants. It examines what happens after awareness is created and how early career pathways, structured progression, and frontline leadership determine whether entry‑level talent becomes productive and retained, or churns out. The discussion will surface what differentiates organizations that successfully build bench strength from those that remain trapped in cyclical hiring pressure.
2:20 pm Networking Break
2:30 pm The Big Takeaways: Reflection & Action Planning
Don't let your best insights stay in your notebook. In this interactive closing session, you'll work with your peers to reflect on the conversations, challenges, and ideas that stood out over the last two days, helping you prioritize the actions, opportunities, and connections that will make the biggest difference when you're back in the office.