HR: Lighting the way

The most sought after, the most prestigious, the longest running

The HR Excellence Awards recognise the organisations

and individuals pushing the boundaries of people strategy, and the

innovative ideas transforming business for the better

Make sure you are a part of the 22nd annual HR Excellence Awards

Entries are open now. Early bird entry price available

until 29th January

7

How to win an HR Excellence Award

310 top tips: putting an

entry together

4Tips from

the top: our judges advise

5Event of the year: 2016’s

awards ceremony

72016

awards: Who won

what & how

10HR

magazine coverage of

winners

13HR

Excellence Awards FAQs

Contents

About usEditor

Katie Jacobs 020 7501 6776

Deputy editor Jenny Roper

020 7501 6341

News reporter Bek Frith

020 7501 6773

Senior sales manager Tom Curtiss

020 7501 6729

Art director VeeSun Ho

Classified director Rachel McElhinney

020 7501 6728

Group awards manager

Edward Wyre 020 7501 6742

Studio manager Carolyn Allen

Production assistant Larry Oakes

Production manager Jon Redmayne

Circulation Manager Chris Jones

Production director Richard Hamshere

Executive director Ed Tranter

Email first.surname@

markallengroup.com

Want to win an HR Excellence Award? Of

course you do – who wouldn’t? The HR Excellence Awards are the most sought after, the most prestigious and the longest running awards in the field of HR. They recognise the organisations and individuals pushing the boundaries of people strategy. Winning an award is one of the highest accolades an HR team can achieve.

This means of course that winning or being shortlisted for an HR Excellence Award is not easy. We do not call them the HR Excellence Awards for nothing and it is true excellence that we are looking for. But that means they are worth all the more if you are successful on the night.

In the months leading up to the entry deadline for the HR Excellence Awards our awards team is inundated with queries from organisations wanting to know how to maximise their chances of making the shortlist. So, this year we have decided to put together this short ebook to help you with your entries.

In it, you’ll find a series of tips on putting together a successful entry. These tips come directly from the HR magazine team, many of whom have years of experience running the HR Excellence Awards, and from those HRDs who have judged the awards in the past – and won them. You’ll also find information about all of last year’s winners to inspire you,

and links to features about winners from HR Excellence Awards past. Many find winning an HR Excellence Award a springboard to raising the profile of their organisation and the talented individuals within their HR teams. The editorial team at

HR magazine certainly finds the winners list a rich mine of content.

HR teams all too often expend their time and energy on the development of the rest of the organisation, without finding the space to think of themselves. The HR Excellence Awards are about celebrating the value that great HR can add, and provide an opportunity for the best in the profession to recognise the fantastic work being done by their peers and colleagues.

I hope this resource will inspire you to showcase your own brilliant achievements and share your learning with the rest of the HR community, and our awards team are on hand on 020 7501 6782 to answer any other questions you might have.

I look forward to celebrating with those who make the shortlist on 27 June at the London Hilton on Park Lane. Good luck with your entries.

Katie JacobsEditor

Editor’s note

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Putting together an awards entry: 10 top tips

1Describe the issue clearly. Was this a ‘nice to do’ or was

there a genuine problem or area for improvement? Make sure you show how the piece of work fits into the overall business strategy. Think of your reader; tell the story in a lively, compelling way to bring it to life.

2Be commercial. Show there is a business benefit. Innovation

doesn’t have to be big and expensive, but it should make a difference. Remember to include the budget. It’s hard for our judges to assess a strategy fully without knowing how much money was available. Entries without a cited budget often fail to be shortlisted for this reason alone.

3Provide all the information requested. If

you miss any out it’s hard for the judges to compare your entry to others. Judges often report suspecting there was a more compelling, impressive strategy lurking just out of reach. But they can only judge what’s been described – even where they know the strategy is in reality more impressive and the submission doesn’t do it justice. Don’t rely on your success story being widely known within HR circles. To reiterate: judges can only judge what they’ve been given.

4Describe the results and impact with data. Include

business metrics and softer benefits. Be clear on the measurable outcomes, but remember this doesn’t mean throwing numbers around – just relevant ones.

5Read the criteria on which the award will be judge.

And make sure your entry covers all of them. Perhaps include sub headings listing the criteria. This might make it easier for the judges to get the full picture.

6Show involvement right across the business. A real

indicator of an impactful strategy is when

a CEO or other business leader comments on the value of the work you’ve done. And of course comments from those employees whose working lives have actually been impacted by your work are always a strong indicator of execellence.

7Check spelling and grammar. This is about

excellence and that includes attention to detail. Judges won’t be inclined to look favourably on sloppy work. Think about fonts and presentation too; don’t let an unprofessional, difficult to read submission detract from some great content. Also, make sure you fill in the front page of the entry summarising the work; you would be surprised how many don’t. The judges spend hours reading and discussing the submissions and it never goes down well when it looks like an entrant can’t be bothered to complete the forms properly.

8Don’t be afraid to enter something that may not

appear innovative. Even if it’s not overly innovative on the surface, is it something you did in a creative way? Context is everything.

9Make sure the entry comes from the HR team. We

understand you might want to get help writing your entry, but ones that are submitted by suppliers or PR agencies don’t tend to do as well as those that come from the HR team themselves. Getting to the heart of the story and the impact the strategy had will only come to life if submitted by the people who made it happen. Agencies may polish your entry, but be sure it comes from the team who actually implemented it.

10Make sure the entry itself contains all the

relevant material. Supporting material should be just that: to support your entry, but not crucial to judges’ understanding of it.

Frequently made mistakes

Entering a submission in the wrong category. You’d be surprised how often we move submissions into a category all judges agree makes much more sense. But this won’t always be possible. Often the way the entry is written, and the details provided, means that although the judges can see it’s really an engagement strategy, say, rather than a talent management one, it can be hard to move successfully. So think and think again: is this really an overarching CSR strategy, or should it have been entered in D&I?

Submitting self-serving ‘aren’t we marvellous’ entries. These don’t fare well with our judges. Remember modesty is a virtue...

Making the submission too long. Some categories have 20 or more shortlisted entries so you want yours to be easy to read and understand…and memorable. Don’t attach reams of appendices particularly where the information isn’t relevant.

Writing entries in textbook speak. Submissions that seem like they could have come straight from a management textbook won’t capture our judges’ imaginations and often confuse as to what’s actually been done and achieved.

Entering an initiative too soon. Often judges will all be in agreement that a HR team is doing some good things, but it seems the strategy has been entered just a year or two too early, i.e. before the team’s had chance to measure and reflect on results. So ask yourself if it would be better to wait another year to build up more supporting evidence.

Submitting exactly the same entry, word for word, in several categories. It’s fine to enter the same strategy in more than one category. But make sure you tailor your entries. Some judges will be judging both categories, and they will want to see some thought as to why each submission has been entered into each category.

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Tips from the top: What judges look for in an award-winning entry

Neil Morrison, director, strategy, culture and

innovation, Penguin Random House UK

The first thing that I look for is the relevance to the organisation, not just relevance to the HR team. I want to understand the challenges that the

organisation faces and how the work helped solve that or improve the situation. That context is really important in helping compare companies with different budgets, cultures and maturity. For me, excellence can be well-executed simplicity as much as leading

edge innovation; it all depends on the context and demonstrable results. I want to understand the data that supports a submission.

Remember that the judges are experienced professionals who will be able to sniff out dodgy or contradictory numbers. So be really

honest and straightforward. I also want to read a compelling narrative that demonstrates pride and passion and sets an

example to the profession as a whole. A really good example was a submission in the technology category one year. It wasn’t the

most cutting edge, but it was absolutely right for the business, and the submission explained why and the results achieved.

Irene Stark, group HR

director,ATS Euromaster

Your entry needs to be

something truly connected to a business need and delivering commercial

value, not something dreamed up by HR. I like to see involvement of people across the business and not just HR. I like supporting data but it is important

to make it concise and relevant. I dislike entries where HR seems to have gone to an external consultant who’s done all the work. Of course external people have their place but it’s great when HR has done much themselves

or at least in conjunction with an external company. It’s always great

when an entry has added bottom line value, but if something is more

intangible it’s good to see creative ways of measuring results. I like entries

that demonstrate value to the customer as well as employees and

the business.

Eugenio Pirri, VP of people and organisational development, The

Dorchester Collection The key to any submission is to understand why you are applying to win the award. I

believe it is key to ask yourselves these questions initially: What is your purpose in applying? What are you trying to achieve? How does what you do align to your company vision and strategic

plan? What was the value obtained as a result of your actions? Based on this, the evidence must

support this by providing: actual timeframes and outcomes (outcomes should not be listed only in

percentages, but numbers as well); what the actual value of the initiative was; what constituents in the business have benefited; and what challenges were experienced and how they were overcome.

Then the entry must address: what’s next? Where do they go from here?

Danielle Harmer, chief people officer, Metro Bank

The winning awards tend to be those that had an impact on the organisation and the people

within it and were genuinely offering life-changing benefits for employees. Or they tend

to be those that made something hard seem as simple, easy and painless as possible for the

organisation and the people in it. They made me proud to be in the HR profession and to see the difference HR makes when it is done

really well. For example: the Wincanton submission on wellbeing last year, which had reduced the incidence of driver heart attacks and had genuinely saved lives, was brilliant. It

was simple, low cost and engaged the company’s people to bring about sustainable

change and make their lives better (and longer)!

Andrew Dodman, chief HR & corporate officer, The University of Sheffield

The best entries are those that are about people, rather than process, practice or policy. The judges

want to hear how the HR ‘excellence’ has genuinely inspired people, and changed

working lives for the better. A strong authentic narrative will help, preferably one that offers

quantitative evidence but also provides stories of personal impact and contribution. We want to see and hear the voice of the

employee, and not just the HR/management team. Often a good submission will also be one that demonstrates that the HR team has taken a risk, and delivered something different from before, and

with the outcome positively influencing the whole of the

workforce. The very best entries are those that are fresh and fun to read,

and moreover leave the judge desperately wanting to implement

the initiative.

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Winner of HR Future Leader of the Year Rachel Bushby with 10Eighty’s Michael Moran

Fitness First celebrates winning Best Global HR Strategy

Wayne Clarke, headline sponsor the Global Growth Institute

Jaguar Land Rover won Best CSR Strategy for for its War for Military Talent Strategy

The Wincanton team with Miles Jupp and HR’s publisher

A glittering event: 2016’s gala dinnerHR ebooks HR Excellence Awards

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Miles Jupp entertained as compère

Juliana Lim from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, joint winner of Best HR Strategy from Overseas

Editor Katie Jacobs kicks off proceedings

CEO of RHP David Done, joint winner of Most People-Focused CEO

The United Learning Trust celebrate winning the Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy Award

The team from Wincanton, who won the overall Gold Award, celebrate their success

The winners of the HR Excellence Awards 2016 were unveiled at the London Hilton Park LaneA glittering event: 2016’s gala dinner

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Health & Wellbeing: WincantonThere aren’t many HR departments that can claim to have actually saved lives. But when Wincanton experienced driver deaths linked to long-term health and lifestyle issues, it kick-started a two-year programme of increasing health awareness, which resulted in a significant reduction in deaths related to heart conditions – from 10 in 2014 to three in 2015. Other results include a reduction in absence rates, saving the company a staggering £335,000. Judges were blown away by this strategy, calling it “simple, inexpensive and impactful”. One judge simply commented: “Wow – love this”.

Wincanton also won the Gold award, given to that entrant who impressed the judges most across all categories

Best CSR Strategy: Jaguar Land RoverLong gone are the days when a strong CSR strategy involved painting homeless shelter walls. Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) Winning the War for Military Talent strategy perfectly epitomises a much more business-lead CSR approach. Chief executive officer Ralf Speth puts it perfectly: “Military servicemen and women are extremely well-trained. Their unique skills and behaviours will be an asset to many companies.” To date, JLR has assisted more than 200 ex-armed forces personnel to find employment and potentially life-changing opportunities across the company, saving an estimated £700,000 in recruitment costs. In January JLR was awarded the prestigious Gold Award by the Ministry of Defence.

HR Excellence Awards 2016 : Who won what – and how

D&I Award: TfLTransport is still a very male-dominated sector; in rail alone, only 15% of employees are women. Transport for London’s (TfL) 100 Years of Women in Transport (YOWIT) campaign sought to seize the opportunity of this centenary to celebrate the fact things are now moving in the right direction. Its aim was to showcase those women now building exceptional careers, to inspire generations to come. The judges loved the creativity of this strategy, describing it as “in a different league” and “streets ahead.” One judge commented: “Love this. Creative, powerful, impactful.”

Most Successful Change Management Strategy: West Dunbartonshire CouncilThe historical change management approach at West Dunbartonshire Council was an all-too familiar one. Typically it was a one direction change initiation from the top down, resulting in lack of staff engagement, no clear communication strategies and the failure or lengthy implementation of change. But this wasn’t the case with its programme to relocate 300 staff, where the approach was to involve all employees. The award judges were impressed with the results, particularly given the scale of the challenge. “When people don’t have a desk anymore, culturally it can be a nightmare,” commented one. Another said no one should be in any doubt that this is “hard stuff to do”.

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Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy: United Learning TrustAn in-house employee survey at United Learning Trust in 2011 attracted just a 46% response rate, demonstrating real issues with levels of engagement as well as mistrust around the survey itself. So the HR team identified ‘staff survey ambassador’ in each of United’s then 31 schools, responsible for managing the survey and local action planning. School leaders heavily promoted the survey to staff, achieving a leap in response rates to 70% by 2013. A whole range of other activities supported this, leading to an impressive result of employee engagement rising to 72% – well in excess of the MORI education sector norm of 60%. Judges praised this entry’s “clear strategic link to the business case” and the fact this was a “big investment leveraged”.

Most Innovative Deployment of HR Technology: QuestbackQuestback offers enterprise feedback management technology; so it’s only right the firm practices what it preaches. After a period of rapid growth, the company decided it needed to look to its own employees to drive change and innovation. Step forward: MySay, which went live in July 2015 and allows every employee to feed back ideas through a simple, mobile-friendly platform. In the first six months, more than 3,800 dialogues took place – an average of over 12 per employee. Of these, 10-15% resulted in immediate changes. The judges praised this entry as “fresh and interesting”.

Best L&D Strategy: Stonegate Pub Company If you’re looking for an icon to base your L&D strategy on, who better than Albert Einstein? That was the view of Stonegate Pub Company. It wanted to offer a career pathway with blended learning development, assessment and evaluation for every level, to its 14,000 employees operating in hundreds of UK locations. So it hit upon the idea of Albert’s Theory of Progression, creating a learning pathway loosely based on the periodic table and online platform ‘Albert Online’. Turnover has dropped dramatically, particularly among those sent on development programmes. Online training has an almost 100% completion rate and Stonegate has also introduced Albert’s App.

Best HR Strategy from Overseas: Dubai Police and IDALike all police forces, Dubai Police faces the training challenge of wanting to upskill officers in an environment that is both hands-on but also safe. In a move the judges described as “brilliant” the force embraced cutting-edge video game technology to create virtual incidents, developing its training programme and all related technology entirely in-house. Meanwhile joint winner the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the organisation spearheading the transformation of Singapore’s vision to be the world’s first ‘Smart Nation,’ impressed judges with its talent strategy. The judges praised its ‘Influencing Tomorrow’ strategy as a diverse and fully integrated campaign for achieving the objectives IDA set out to achieve.

Best Talent Management Strategy: WincantonWincanton recognised it needed to focus on overcoming future skills shortages, and that raising the profile of talent management as an essential component to business success was key. With the business at the heart of their thinking, the HR team created a governance structure for its talent strategy, getting essential buy-in from key stakeholders. The team built a new talent identifying tool into its performance processes, focused on potential. An Aspiring General Manager programme has been very successful, with a 70% promotion success rate. This entry was all the more impressive given Wincanton had little or no structure in place only three years ago.

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Best Global HR Strategy: Fitness FirstAs the largest privately owned health club group in the world, with 360 clubs worldwide and almost 930,000 members in 16 countries, Fitness First needs to take a truly global view. Following major organisational changes and a rebrand, the chain refocused its efforts on talent investment in all markets. The HR team worked closely with the global CEO, executive team and regional HR teams to devise a set of comms tools, designed to work across a diverse range of cultures. The judges praised Fitness First’s performance in a tough market, adding that this was particularly impressive given the backdrop of a general redesign of the brand and wider business.

Most Effective Recruitment Strategy: LV=In 2007, LV= had no in-house resourcing capabilities, no employer brand, and 86% of recruitment was done through agencies. Fast forward to 2015, and the landscape looked completely different, with 96% of recruitment delivered directly by a 19-strong internal resourcing team and a brilliant employer brand. In 2014, 20% of group risk hires were made through third parties. By 2015, only 6% were. Since February 2015, LV=’s dedicated careers website has seen a 32% increase in applications.

Most Effective Use of Internal Communications: AmeyEnsuring all staff understand the risks they navigate on a daily basis is a top priority for Amey, reflected in its safety campaign Target Zero (TZ). Its philosophy is simple: ‘Injuries are not inevitable, harm is not acceptable, and risks are ours to manage.’ The message to employees was one of empowerment, reminding them they have the skills and knowledge to mitigate risks. The judges were impressed with the alignment of the campaign to Amey’s core values of being progressive, accountable, collaborative and effective. Success of the campaign, and its eventual target of zero harm, is evidenced in the steadily falling accident rate at Amey.

Best HR Team: Financial Compensation Services (FSCS)The FSCS HR team’s philosophy is: keep employees engaged and the culture healthy by always considering new ways of working. A newly developed Competency Framework allows FSCS to generate a personalised competency development plan for everyone. Learning Pathways show a journey of possible courses and learning opportunities, allowing staff to take control. The judges praised the team’s focus on their ambitious targets; by 2018/19, FSCS’s people team hope to be recognised as a Sunday Times Top 100 employer, maintain a sickness target of 2%, and be recognised as a Gold Investor In People.

HR Future Leader of the Year: Rachel BushbyOne of Rachel Bushby’s major achievements is the improvement of the Tesco’s Early Careers team. Over the past two years, 50% of

their original resource has been redeployed due to efficiencies she instigated. The judges agreed that Bushby’s track record for success, despite the size of her organisation, and her positive, collaborative attitude, mark her out as a leader of the future.

Most Effective Benefits Programme: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council Sandwell Council is the largest employer in its area with approximately 4,500 employees and so has a constant need to attract, recruit and retain talented and dedicated people. Given a backdrop of cuts, it also had to make savings, and so needed a benefits programme fit for this purpose. It settled on an excellent solution: a single reward platform, providing retail discounts and access to the entire benefits offering, with a variety of salary sacrifice options, an employee assistance programme and offers in the local economy.

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LV=Insurance company LV= won Most Effective Recruitment Strategy 2016 by converting a ‘post and pray’ approach to one aligning internal recruiters to business functions rather than markets. A refreshed social media presence and new dedicated careers website have also been key, resulting in a 32% increase in applications from 2015 to 2016.

The University of SheffieldThe perennial complaint is that HR isn’t commercial enough. But this accusation certainly can’t be levelled at The University of Sheffield, with the team recently launching externally facing, profit-generating health and wellbeing consultancy Everyday Juice Limited. No surprise then that the brains behind this were highly commended in 2016’s Best HR team category and that health & wellbeing was the award scooped in 2014. Read more about Sheffield’s commercial venture here and HRD Andy Dodman’s thoughts on job design and work/life balance here.

NEAUK organisations are certainly not alone in facing an aging workforce challenge. And so why not look to other countries for HR strategy inspiration? Winner of Best HR strategy overseas 2015, Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA), is one organisation –through its re-employment scheme and tech training for older generations for example – making great strides here. So HR magazine caught up with them when they came to the UK to attend the 2015 awards to get the inside track.

The great and good (and really good) of

award-winning HRCoverage in HR magazine of HR Excellence Award-winners over the years

HR Excellence Awards 2016 - Who Won What and How

The United Learning TrustThe United Learning Trust has been a staple on our award winners list for the last two years – with Lindsay Batchford winning HR practitioner of the year in 2015 for her role in supporting the growth of the organisation – and the team as a whole winning our Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy this year. Read director of people Mandy Coalter’s fascinating take on how we need more nuanced solutions to business’ gender challenge here.

Surrey County CouncilSurrey County Council impressed our judges in 2014 with its strategy to make employee pay go further through innovative use of local discounts, refreshed salary sacrifice schemes and better communicated benefits, scooping the Most Effective Rewards Strategy as a result. Firmly on the HR community’s radar since for progressive public sector HR strategies in tough times, the council impressed once again with its restorative HR programme, which sought to combat the adversarial approach all too often characterising the public sector with a preventative ‘good quality conversation’ approach.

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CEO of the Year winners Home repairs and insurance firm HomeServe had been through torrid times, but 2016 joint winner Martin Bennett’s leadership has helped it back onto an even keel. He became group CEO in 2014 and his direction has seen engagement rise from 56% to 84%, customer retention rates to 83% and profits to £56.4 million. An impressive 94% of employees agree they understand what Homeserve is trying to achieve as a business, up a huge 19 percentage points from the year before. And Bennett is one of the highest rated CEOs on Glassdoor. Here he talks the power of listening and transparency.

Joint 2016 winner CEO of housing association RHP David Done, was highly praised for this authenticity. In the past five years RHP’s operating surplus has increased from £13 million to £18.6 million, it has had a 24% reduction in complaints, and its service has been rated the friendliest in the UK. Here he shares five things he’s learnt along the way and what he wants from HR.

HCL TechnologiesIf anyone knows how to roll-out and ensure the success of innovative technology, it’s surely a $6.1 billion turnover, global IT company. No surprise, then, that HCL Technologies won Most Innovative Deployment of HR Technology in 2014. In these articles chief HR officer Prithvi Shergill discusses inverting the pyramid, so that leaders identify their role as empowering employees to become ‘the CEO of their own career’; using gamification to keep candidates engaged in the time between accepting a job offer and starting the role; and creating permanently agile organisations through savvy use of tech.

Nottingham City CouncilMaking those cuts required by a climate of public austerity, while simultaneously creating a strategy to boost engagement, attraction and retention of staff, is no mean feat. Yet this is exactly what Nottingham City Council has done with its ‘Work Perks’ strategy, making it a worthy winner of our 2015 Most Effective Rewards and Benefits Strategy award. (Indeed the judges pronounced it fantastic not only in the context of public sector cost-cutting, but worthy of being judged against private sector strategies too.) So Nottingham was the ideal organisation to feature in a piece last year on how the public sector

can best weather wave after wave of cuts.

Financial Services Compensation SchemeWhen David Blackburn first joined FSCS as head of people in March 2013, he found an organisation highly resistant to change, with the HR department stuck in a transactional rut. Fast forward three years and it’s a much more lively, agile and engaged place to be, making the HR department a worthy winner of our Best HR Team award in 2016. Find out more here.

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HRD of the Year winners

Karen BeavenDuring her time at River Island, HRD Karen Beaven has led a significant transformation programme for the HR function, giving it full backing of the CEO and senior leadership team. In 2014, Beaven developed an idea for a commercial venture, River Island Style Studio, which she launched and now leads. No surprise, then, that Beavan won HRD of the Year 2015, and that River Island also scooped Best HR Team: Private Sector, Most Effective Recruitment Strategy and the Gold Award that year. Post-win, Beavan shared details of Style Studio, and discussed HR’s role in spotting commercial opportunities and proactive recruitment in a tough retail climate.

Kath AustinIn 2010, when Austin joined, Pizza Hut hadn’t had a profitable year since 2006. It’s a very different story now. In its final quarter of 2015 the chain reported its ninth consecutive quarter of growth, thanks to a strategy that puts people at its heart, and the complete alignment of the internal and external. “It’s great to see an HR person responsible for another area of the business and make a demonstrable contribution to business success,” was one HR peer’s comment in voting for Austin. Another described her as “an exemplar for HR”. Here she talks empowering leaders, Pizza Hut’s hospitality business management degree and her dual HR/marketing role.

Neil MorrisonIn a sector not hugely famed for moving with the times and championing cultures of innovation, or indeed for HR sitting on and influencing boards, Neil Morrison stands head and shoulders above the crowd for his no-nonsense but always deeply considered approach. After starting life as a lecturer in psychology and then working in a variety of HR roles at FTSE100 companies, he joined the Random House Group in 2008 and has been one of the main leads in helping to steer the merger with Penguin – the most significant in publishing history. Here he is talking about his mission to make HR sexier, the most depressing phrase in HR and developing more HR talent.

Eugenio PirriThe Dorchester Collection has been another regular on our winners lists over the years (scooping four awards in 2014 and HR Young Talent of the Year and Best Talent Management Startegy in 2015), and a regular in terms of commenting in the magazine. Here we gain insight into 2014 HRD of the Year winner Eugenio Pirri’s rise to the top in the hospitality industry and on the close alignment of the hotel chain’s people and customer satisfaction strategies, and read his thoughts on how to approach talent; why everyone should, but often don’t, love HR; and global OD.

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Frequently asked questions...

What is the deadline to submit an entry to the HR Excellence Awards 2017?You must submit your entries by Monday 6 March 2017.

How much does it cost to enter?If you enter before 20 January 2017 you can take advantage of a discounted rate.For private companies, it costs £350 (increasing to £385 after the 20 January).For public and not-for-profit companies, it costs £175 (increasing to £195 after the 20 January). For private companies entering more than one award, each subsequent entry costs £195.

How many entries may I submit?There is no limit on the number of entries you may submit. However, you should avoid duplicating entries across multiple categories, tailoring the entry specifically to the criteria of the category you are entering.

May I submit on behalf of a client?Yes, although their permission must be obtained and evidence of this shown. You will be asked to provide contact details of a senior person at the organisation. We may or may not contact this person. Entries which do well are ones which get to the heart of the story and demonstrate the impact the strategy has had. If you are a supplier and entering on behalf of a client, please ensure that the entry is written from the perspective of the HR team of the client and get as much involvement from them as possible.

Can I enter if I am an international company?In 2017 international companies can enter the Best HR Strategy Overseas and Most Innovative Deployment of HR Technology. International companies who have a presence in (have offices in or do a lot of business in) the UK are able to enter any category.

What is the difference between the entry document and supporting material?The main component of your entry is the entry document. All key information listed in the criteria for the category needs to be in the entry document and not in the supporting material. Supporting material is optional and may be submitted in addition to the entry document. It should be used to illustrate/demonstrate what is in the entry document. Supporting material may include, but is not limited to: photographs, testimonials, graphs/data, videos (please send a USB stick), and hard copies of any printed material (e.g. brochures).

What happens after I have submitted my entries?Once you have submitted your entries they will be processed by the awards team, ready for judging. Judging takes place in April and we will announce the shortlist during the week of 10 April.

When are the winners announced?The winners are announced at a ceremony on Tuesday 27 June, in London. Please keep this date free in your diary.

Who are the judges?The HR Excellence Awards 2017 will be judged by a panel of judges made up of some of the UK’s top HR directors working in leading organisations.

If your question is not answered here, please get in touch with the awards team on 020 7501 6782, who will be happy to help.

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