Australia’s employers of choice named at the Australian HR Awards 2008
ACCENTURE, Teachers Credit Union, Sparke Helmore and Glen Eira City Council were named as Australia’s top employers of choice at the Australian HR Awards 2008.
Held on Thursday 30 October in Sydney, other winners recognised at the awards were ANZ, Janssen-Cilag, St.George Bank, Vodafone and National Australia Bank.
The awards, which recognise excellence across 16 categories of HR, are organised by Australia’s largest publication for the HR profession, Human Resources magazine, and sponsored by Aon Consulting.
“HR has sometimes struggled to achieve a cohesive identity,” said Craig Donaldson, editor of Human Resources magazine.
“Today’s HR professionals, however, enjoy an increasingly important role in the organisations within which they work. So every year, we aim to raise the bar in terms of standards to ensure we are recognising the most outstanding achievements in the industry, and this year the calibre has been exceptional.”
Accenture took out The Full Circle Feedback Award for Employer of Choice (more than 1,000 employees) for implementing a broad suite of strategies to create an attractive work environment and demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to its people and future business plans.
“We take great pride in being an employer of choice for thousands of Australians and we are extremely proud of the recognition this Award brings,” said Jack Percy, country managing director, Accenture Australia.
“Our people are the best in the business who value the insights and experience they gain from working on large scale, complex engagements. Our success as a business is directly related to our people – their talent, their performance and their engagement.”
Teachers Credit Union and Sparke Helmore were joint winners of The Frontier Software Award for Employer of Choice (fewer than 1,000 employees). Teachers Credit Union was recognised for a unique people focused culture that emphasises personal growth, learning and caring for others, while Sparke Helmore was acknowledged for its strong focus on leadership, people management and a reward system that helps encourage behaviours based on the firm’s values system.
Glen Eira City Council won The Capital Monitor Award for Employer of Choice (public sector) award for having a well-rounded HR strategy that is linked closely to its business strategy in addition to a strong customer service oriented culture, reflected in above average customer satisfaction surveys.
On an individual level, Harry Stout, CEO of ING Australia, took out The Neller HR Champion (CEO) Award in recognition of his inclusive management style as well as championing issues such as diversity, talent management, staff engagement and health and wellbeing.
Kerrie Field, general manager of human resources for St Vincents & Mater Health, won The HR Partners Award for Best HR Leader, for helping her HR team to make a significant contribution to the business by focusing on the specific challenges and opportunities facing them in the healthcare industry.
Judges noted the exceptionally high standard of entrants in this year’s awards and paid tribute to the outstanding HR professionals and teams behind the best practice HR initiatives in all categories.
“On behalf of Human Resources magazine and LexisNexis, I congratulate all award winners and commend them for their outstanding achievements in HR in 2008. I would also like to salute all finalists, who can be confident that their people management practices are amongst the best in the country,” Donaldson said.
Australian HR Awards 2008 winners, highly commended and finalists
The Full Circle Feedback Award for Employer of Choice (more than 1000 employees)
Winner: Accenture
Highly commended: Allens Arthur Robinson
Finalists: Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Inchcape Australia
The Frontier Software Award for Employer of Choice (fewer than 1000 employees)
