Categories 2019

Distinction in Talent Attraction

Distinction in Talent Management

This award recognises an organisation which has developed effective and sustainable strategies to manage and retain employees in an inclusive manner with the aim of getting the most out of your talent base; improving both business value and the ability of the organisation to reach its strategic goals.

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates:

• A clear link between talent management strategy or initiatives and the wider business strategy
• Measurable evidence of sustainable and advanced strategic workforce planning/succession planning initiatives that forecasts the talent pipeline and addresses the talent management landscape
• Measurable evidence that your strategic workforce planning/succession planning initiatives have contributed to the achievement of sustainable business goals and organisational purpose
• A clear integration of strategies or initiatives for developing, engaging and retaining High Potentials and business critical roles.

Distinction in Organisational Learning

This award recognises an organisation that has implemented an effective learning strategy or initiatives that enhances the skills, knowledge, and capabilities across all levels of the organisation.  

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• A learning strategy or initiatives that demonstrates a clear alignment to the business strategy that supports continuous learning and capability building – re-engineering the way the organisation learns together.  
• Evidence of how the learning strategy or initiative is support by the wider organisation; including endorsement from Board Level/Senior Leadership 
• Effective implementation of the learning strategy or initiative that aligns to the organisational purpose and demonstrates long-term investment plan to achieve clearly defined outcomes 
• Evidence the learning strategy or initiative is effectively communicated to the wider organisation 
• A clear and measurable impact on individual and organisational performance, culture and engagement levels.  

Distinction in Apprenticeship/Graduate Programme

This award recognises an organisation’s excellence in developing a business-led, early career training scheme/programme – including apprenticeships, recruitment programmes and school leaver qualification-based schemes. The winner will demonstrate innovative ways to attract, retain and develop new talent to the profession while delivering real bottom line results. 

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• Clear links between the training scheme/programme and the strategic goals of the business 
• Effectiveness of the scheme/programme to attract, develop and retain high performing talent and support workforce planning 
• Evidence of how the scheme/programme is support by the wider organisation; including endorsement from Board Level/Senior Leadership 
• Measurable evidence that the programme has contributed to individual excellence in performance and improved business performance.
   

Distinction in Leadership Development

This award recognises an organisation that has implemented an innovative and sustainable management and leadership capability framework/programme that strengthens the skills, knowledge, and capabilities of current and future managers and leaders.   

Judges will be looking for:

• An effective management and leadership framework that promotes continuous learning and demonstrates integration with the organisation’s talent management planning, performance management and reward initiatives  
• A clear alignment between the organisation vision and leadership principles  
• Demonstration that the management and leadership programme creates and sustains appropriate long-term leadership behaviour across the organisation, and equips with the skills to embrace change, respond proactively with foresight to guide the organisation to success.   
• Measurable evidence that the programme has contributed to individual excellence in performance and improved business performance.

Distinction in Reward & Benefits

This award recognises an organisation that has implemented an innovative and creative total rewards and benefits strategy that attracts, motivates, retains and engages employees.   

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• A competitive and well formulated reward and benefit strategy that demonstrates a clear alignment to the reward philosophy, employee value proposition and the broader business strategy  
• A clear and effective communication of the rewards and benefits strategy that supports early adoption and engagement 
• Evidence of leading innovation in the market or within your sector to drive performance or change 

• Measurable evidence that your reward and benefits strategy has contributed to the achievement of strategic business goals. 

Distinction in Employee Engagement and Experience

This award recognises an organisation which has demonstrated a fresh take on employee engagement that has delivered real organisational benefits. 

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• A clear link between employee engagement strategy and the wider business strategy 
• Evidence of innovative and sustainable engagement initiatives that supports the organisational purpose; values and culture  
• Utilisation of new and innovative measurement metrics that demonstrate an innovative approach to engagement 
• Evidence of high levels of engagement which have contributed to the overall organisation’s performance.  

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include direct employee feedback and testimonials  

*  Where possible impact should be demonstrated by evidence available publicly, this could include social media or Glassdoor. 

Distinction in Leading Transformational Change

This award recognises excellence in an organisation’s ability to plan, implement and manage the ‘people aspect’ of a business transformation project. 

Judges will be looking for: 

• A clear business case and understanding of the business drivers and objectives for workplace change  
• Evidence of how HR has partnered with the wider business in driving organisational change  
• Innovative engagement and communication strategies to support people impacted by the change  
• Evidence that the change has strengthened the agility, culture, vision and performance of the organisation.
   

Distinction in Organisational Strategy and HR Innovation

This award seeks to recognise an HR Team taking the most unique, different, and innovative approach to organisational design, structure, processes and or strategy to improve operational effectiveness and business performance. 

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• A clear explanation of the new, agile and integrated approach or project  
• Strong links between the innovative approach or project and the strategic goal of the business 
• Evidence of the change in methodology and the involvement of its people in implementing and driving change 

• Clear and measurable return on investment – examples of how the new approach has had a positive impact on the employee experience, operational excellence, and business performance. To strengthen your entry, please provide evidence quantifiable financial or commercial benefits.  

Distinction in HR Innovation through Technology

This award recognises the radical and innovative use of technology by an in-house HR team to improve synergies, deliver insight and increase efficiency to the wider organisation. 

Judges will be looking for: 

• Clearly understood business and strategic objectives applied to the development of the technology 
• Strong links between the innovative approach and the strategic goal of the business 
• Evidence of HR’s role in the design and engineering of the technology and its deployment 
• The scale of the innovation: the complexity and size of the project, information, campaign, or business issue 
• A clear understanding of how the technology deployed has made a measurable difference to all concerned, including leaders, their teams, and customers 
• Evidence that the use of this technology has improved business efficiency, productivity, and generated a return on investment.
   

Distinction in Health and Wellbeing

This award recognises an organisation which has developed outstanding strategies aimed at ensuring the health and wellbeing – whether mental, physical, emotional or financial of its employees and its workforce more broadly in an effort to promote wellness and performance across the organisation. 

Judges will be looking for: 

• A clear explanation of a holistic and innovative health and wellbeing strategy that is linked to the wider engagement strategy  
• Effective implementation of long-term health and wellbeing initiatives that achieve sustainable business benefits 
• Evidence of adoption, engagement, and integration of the wellbeing initiative across the organisation 
• Clear and measurable return on investment – examples of how the strategy has had a long-term positive impact on the employee experience, operational effectiveness, and business performance.  

Distinction in Inclusion and Diversity

This award recognises an organisation that has embedded outstanding strategies to create a truly diverse workforce that reflects the mix of customers and communities it serves whilst fostering an inclusive culture where staff feel that they belong and can perform at their very best.  

Judges will be looking for a specific initiative or an overall strategic plan that demonstrates: 

• A clear link between Diversity and Inclusion strategy and the wider business strategy, demonstrating that it is embedded within the organisational culture 
• Demonstrated an action-orientated approach to enable a thriving diverse team and ensure a level of transparency that drives its continued success  
• A clear explanation of how Diversity and Inclusion initiatives achieve impact and positive results, going beyond policies and procedures that drive basic compliance or just raise awareness 
• Measurable evidence that these initiatives promote the growth and sustainability of the organisation
   

HR Team of the Year

This award recognises the HR team who have excelled within their function and across the organisation; by partnering with the wider business to achieve cross-functional synergies and bottom line performance. 

Judges will be looking for a HR team that: 

• Showcases a united front and acts purposefully for the good of the organisation by generating tangible results 
• Influences and inspires their company by employing innovative and unique approaches to addressing key business issues and/or supporting new ways of working  
• Demonstrates a strategic approach to all aspects of HR management and can clearly evidence the impact of their function on the wider business, employee experience and customer satisfaction

• Clearly shows an approach that benchmarks and strives for HR excellence within the function.  

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include 360 feedback or endorsements from your CEO, Heads of Functions, suppliers and/or wider organisation you partner with.  

*  Where possible impact should be demonstrated by evidence available publicly, this could include social media or Glassdoor. 

Learning & Development Team of the Year

This award recognises an L&D team who demonstrates excellence in business partnering by helping the organisation translate a business level strategy into behaviours and business performance outcomes. 

Judges will be looking for a L&D team that: 

• Showcases a united front and acts purposefully for the good of the organisation by generating tangible results 
• Have a comprehensive understanding of their organisation and learning philosophy which they have embedded into “work”, and can demonstrate how it is “lived” on a daily basis 
• Enable and equip the organisation to lead a learning culture – creating innovative, inclusive, and meaningful work around key organisational themes 
• Influences and inspires their company by employing innovative and unique approaches to addressing key business issues and/or supporting new ways of working  

• Demonstrates a strategic approach to all aspects of Learning and can clearly evidence the impact of their team on the wider business, employee experience, performance and customer satisfaction  
• Identifying and building critical skills/competencies throughout an organization to democratize technology and reduce digital skills gap 
• Clearly shows an approach that benchmarks and strives for Learning excellence. 

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include 360 feedback or endorsements from your CEO, Heads of Functions, suppliers and/or wider organisation you partner with.  

*  Where possible impact should be demonstrated by evidence available publicly, this could include social media or Glassdoor. 

Talent Acquisition Team of the Year

This award recognises a Talent Acquisition team who demonstrates excellence in sourcing, vetting, attracting and recruiting high performing talent to meet organisational goals and fill project requirements or business critical roles.    

Judges will be looking for a Talent Acquisition team that: 

• Showcases a united front and acts purposefully for the good of the organisation by generating tangible results 

• Evidence of utilising different recruitment channels to build employer brand, locate new pools of talent and build networks  
• Influences and inspires their company by employing innovative and unique approaches to addressing key business issues and/or supporting new ways of working  
• Demonstrates a strategic approach to all aspects of Talent Acquisition and can clearly evidence the impact of their team on the wider business, employee experience, diversity and customer satisfaction  
• Clearly shows an approach that benchmarks and strives for Talent Acquisition excellence.  

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include 360 feedback or endorsements from your CEO, Heads of Functions, suppliers and/or wider organisation you partner with.  

*  Where possible impact should be demonstrated by evidence available publicly, this could include social media or Glassdoor.

Rising Talent in HR

The Rising Talent in HR recognises an individual who has a clear understanding of the business and demonstrates an outstanding approach to their work which goes beyond conventional expectations of their level. Entrants will need to show that they have not only excelled, but that they have gone above and beyond in their attitude to development. This might include assuming extra responsibilities, taking on and completing special projects, or assuming a role much earlier than would otherwise be expected. 

Judges will be looking for an HR professional, including (but not limited to) business partners, advisors or managers): 

• Who have demonstrated levels of commercial awareness, strategic intent, business partnering, and emotional intelligence not normally associated with level of the role 

• Real understanding of organisational priorities and how they can add value to the delivery of these 
• Innovative thinking to challenging situations and brings fresh perspectives to the overall HR team and wider organisation 
• Evidence of quantifiable achievements within the role across the last 12 months.   

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include 360 feedback or endorsements from your CEO, CHRO, suppliers and/or wider organisation you partner with. 

HR Director of the Year

The HR Director of the Year award recognises an individual who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and business best-practice at the executive level to drive business strategy and performance. 

Judges will be looking for a HR Director who has: 

• Led the effective implementation of a bold, visionary, innovative people strategy that aligns to the overall business strategy and contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives 
• Developed an HR Team that is business integrated, evidence driven and a trusted strategic business partner 
• Created an executive culture in which people issues are at the heart of every important business decision 

• Demonstrated commercial contribution to the business through the team they lead 
• Evidence of quantifiable achievements within the role across the last 12 months.   

*  To strengthen your entry, you may wish to include 360 feedback or endorsements from your CEO, CHRO, suppliers and/or wider organisation you partner with.  

*  Where possible impact should be demonstrated by evidence available publicly, this could include social media or Glassdoor.