Participants in HR tours will learn which companies in Yekaterinburg offer sleep pods to their employees.

      More than 100 speakers will take part in HR FORUM BIG FISH, which will be held from September 15 to 19 in Yekaterinburg as part of the National Week of HR and Advertising.

      At the Yekaterinburg-Expo International Exhibition Center the forum’s key events will take place on September 18 and 19. Participants can expect a rich business program: Resource Practices Day, an all‑Russian online stream dedicated to current HR issues, a student hackathon, as well as special tours for HR professionals.

      HR FORUM BIG FISH will become the largest communication platform for HR professionals from 56 Russian cities and 5 neighboring countries. In Yekaterinburg during the forum, within the National Week of HR and Advertising, cases on team, people and resource management will be presented, and federal‑level speakers will share effective methods and practices.

      The program of HR FORUM BIG FISH draws particular attention with its unique tours. For the first time, tours for HR professionals were held during the forum in 2024. Offices of 10 leading regional companies were visited by about 250 people.

      Due to huge interest in the format, this year the tours will take place at 17 enterprises: Golden Apple, Knopka, SVEL, UBRiR, Kontur, OilEnergy, R1, ATOM, ODV Optics Plant, Cyberstal and others.

      “Tours will take place at the premises only of those companies in Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk Region that have something to share and show — how many functioning systemic HR practices have been implemented in the Urals, how they affect company efficiency and success, and how the status and role of HR are growing in our region. We want to introduce forum guests to industry leaders so that every participant, after a tour, says: ‘Now that’s really cool!’ It might be a comfortable office with sleeping capsules for those who stayed late, or a café with free breakfasts where you can hold an informal meeting. There is a company on our list that uses predictive HR — analytics to prevent resignations — a practice not even implemented in all capital headquarters of federal companies, but it already exists and works in Yekaterinburg. Our tours are an immersion into reality that convinces more than the oratory skill of a speaker presenting a case at the forum,” said Marina Podgayskaya, organizer of the “Tours” track of HR FORUM BIG FISH.

      Another feature of this year’s tours is not only visiting companies but also presenting and discussing a pre‑announced topic. For example, with representatives of the construction holding ATOM, forum participants will discuss how to build better buildings and how HR practices work on product quality; at the Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development there will be a discussion on “From Stereotypes to Synergy: How to Make Generation Z Fall in Love with Finance,” and those who choose to visit the project organization R1 will discuss HR synergy and the formula for successful collaboration between an HR brand and a corporate university, and so on.

      As last year, organizers note huge interest in the headquarters of the country’s largest international beauty retailer, Golden Apple. The company was founded in Russia in 1996 and today does business in 6 countries: 14,000 people work in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Why representatives of the Golden Apple retailer are sought‑after speakers at IT conferences, how the corporate job exchange works, and more will be discussed during the meeting on “Marketing in HR and Business Games as a Tool for Employee Development.”

      Kontur will open its doors to forum participants. The company’s portfolio includes more than 70 products — e‑reporting and online accounting, services for EDI and labeling, cloud inventory management, online cash registers and more. Kontur is 12,000 employees and 3 million clients. Kontur representatives will analyze their employer practices in the spirit of employee experience: how to make what people experience, do and encounter on their professional path over time in communication with the company an exciting and unique experience.

      Factory sites will not be left out. One of them is SVEL Group. The tour topic: “A Factory Beyond Stereotypes.” SVEL has 2,200 employees, is one of the leading manufacturers of electrical equipment in Russia and the CIS, and a leader in its segment — every third transformer in the country is made by SVEL. How to combine the atypical nature of a plant with the highest responsibility for product quality? The special atmosphere of striving for transformation and improvement attracts people who care, are genuinely passionate about their profession and put their heart and knowledge into the result — this will be discussed on the tour.

      Last year participants rated the usefulness of the tour portion of the program 10 out of 10. Each group has no more than 20 people, so the HR FORUM BIG FISH organizers have opened registration in advance for those wishing to visit leading enterprises in the app at the link: store.eventicious.com/adweekhr. Enter the event ID: adweekhr25.