HR Professionals to steal limelight at “HRM Awards 2007 – Super 10”

The spotlight will yet again be on the Association of HR Professionals (HRP) when it unveils the latest edition of the ‘HRM Awards 2007 – Super 10’, with its content partner -- Hewitt Associates.

The HRP has been conducting the National HRM Awards since 2002. This year HRP has changed its format to a HRM study, “Celebrating the people factor in business growth”.

Hailed as the driver of HR benchmarks in Sri Lanka, the HRP will showcase the best HR strategies in the country, honouring trailblazers in business.
This much-awaited event on the HR calendar is expected to once again highlight Human Resources Management as a pivotal component of modern day business, and is slated for early February 2008. Participating companies will be judged by an expert panel of professionals from the international and local arena.

The award’s content partner for this study will be Hewitt Associates, the leading expert on human capital issues for many of the world’s largest companies. With more than 65 years of experience, Hewitt Associates has consulted with more than 2,300 organisations, administering human resources, health care, payroll and retirement programs for them.
Hewitt’s global footprint extends to offices in 35 countries, employing approximately 24,000 associates. Hewitt Associates in India has been partnering with leading organisations in Sri Lanka for over 5 years.

Hewitt Associates conducts the “Best Employers study” around the world in more than 20 countries. Their experience and research with over 2000 organisations has indicated that a vital ingredient in the execution of an organisation’s business strategy is a committed and high-performing workforce. As the content partner for the study, Hewitt will bring its unique approach, methodology and tools developed from years of research to help participating organisations build effective HR systems designed to achieve business and people objectives.

Questionnaires will be prepared and sent to all companies that wish to participate, from which 20 companies will be short-listed for evaluation at the next level. Consultants will then prepare a detailed analysis by visiting the selected entities to validate the information provided in the questionnaire, after which the data will be passed on to an independent panel of judges for evaluation.

The companies ranked among the ‘Super 10’ will be given special awards for their innovative strategies, while the balance 10 will also be recognised and felicitated in an awards ceremony.

The awards are open to all organisations (of both the public and private sector) with a minimum of 50 employees and at least one HRM specialist that have been operational in the past five years and are located in Sri Lanka.

The HRP strives to bring together HRM professionals in a common forum to be the leading voice of the profession in addition to providing professional development, an arena for networking, a focus for legislative intervention in national HRM issues and the sharing of experiences, knowledge and ideas to establish HRM as a dominant force in the business sector. The HRM Awards 2007 – Super 10 will highlight the value and potential of human resources and the importance of equipping them with skills and competencies through which they may be strategically managed to ensure efficiency and productivity.