Results 2022
AWARD CATEGORIES
Best apprenticeship scheme
Virgin Media O2
At a time when skills shortages are rife, particularly in the tech sector, any organisation that can home-grow talent stands to be head and shoulders above the competition. And that’s exactly the approach the winner of Best apprenticeship scheme, telecoms giant Virgin Media O2, adopted.With the newly merged entity responsible for maint...
Shortlist: Anglo American with Accenture UKI
Shortlist: Bishop Fleming LLP
Shortlist: Howdens
Shortlist: Kier
Shortlist: Pepper Advantage
Shortlist: UBS
Best change management initiative
Coventry Building Society
Instead of a performance management process with objectives, mid-year reviews, end-of-year reviews and a performance rating, Coventry Building Society wanted something new and empowering that would help to create a place where all its people could be brilliant. Coventry asked its staff what they thought of the current performance manag...
Highly Commended: Trayport
Shortlist: Business Services Organisation
Shortlist: e&
Shortlist: Mott MacDonald
Shortlist: United Nations Development Programme
Shortlist: Vodafone
Best digital/technology initiative in HR/L&D
Deutsche Post DHL Group
In an effort to break away from traditional approaches and become more employee centric amid the height of the pandemic, Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL) recognised the need to create a fresh learning strategy and reflect the needs of its 570,000 employees worldwide.As the company pondered how to join up all those people and ensure everyone h...
Highly Commended: Mott MacDonald
Shortlist: Lowell Financial
Shortlist: Network Rail
Shortlist: Network Rail Training
Shortlist: SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
Shortlist: Tesco (supported by Electric Circus)
Best employee experience initiative
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
When it launched its sustainability initiative, national environmental solutions company Suez wanted to enhance its employee experience by harnessing and increasing employee enthusiasm for sustainability.Its people share the firm’s commitment to the environment and to a triple bottom line, balancing people, the planet and profit in eve...
Shortlist: Acacia Training
Shortlist: Alzheimer's Society
Shortlist: Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Shortlist: Landbay Partners Ltd
Shortlist: Ombudsman Services
Shortlist: Virgin Money
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Best flexible working initiative
Citizen
Housing provider Citizen summarised its commitment to its ~1,000 employees in terms of supporting and equipping them to do the best job they can. But, like many employers, the pandemic changed its whole approach: a 2020 survey showed 90 per cent of their employees wanted to work more flexibly in the future, while another poll a year la...
Shortlist: Reward Gateway
Shortlist: Worksome
Best health and wellbeing initiative – private sector
Bosch UK
When Bosch found through its Mental Health at Work 2020 summary report that 41 per cent of its staff experienced mental health symptoms caused or worsened by work during the pandemic, the organisation knew it had to do something.Spurred by the data, and also determined to combat the decline in positive mental health impacting absence r...
Highly Commended: SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
Shortlist: Bristol Myers Squibb
Shortlist: Centrica
Shortlist: Grosvenor Property UK
Shortlist: Softcat
Shortlist: Ubisoft Reflections / Ubisoft Leamington
Best health and wellbeing initiative – public/third sector
Midland Heart
The Covid-19 pandemic posed a challenge for organisations to foster a safe and supportive working environment, where individuals felt included, valued and empowered to reach their full potential with colleagues’ wellbeing more important than ever. With this approach in mind, Midland Heart developed a wellbeing strategy that supported t...
Shortlist: Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Shortlist: Fife College
Shortlist: Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
Shortlist: North Wales Police
Shortlist: Shaw Trust
Shortlist: Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Best HR/L&D consultancy
The Clear Company
Starting on a mission to tackle diversity challenges the construction sector is often familiar with, The Clear Company leaned on to its innovative equality, diversity and inclusion strategy to address the imbalance within its client’s workforce – infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty.The client was eager to understand the strategic value ...
Highly Commended: Culture Consultancy
Shortlist: Edgecumbe
Shortlist: Management Dynamics Global Ltd
Shortlist: Peoplewise Ltd
Shortlist: The Connor Consultancy
Shortlist: The Wellbeing Project
Best HR/L&D supplier
OpenBlend
OpenBlend created its unique performance management model, designed to facilitate effective employee-manager conversations, in a bid to move away from the traditional ‘tick box’ method of monitoring performance and objectives. Through its partnership with leading estate agency Foxtons, established in 2020, the company achieved its goal...
Shortlist: Corndel
Shortlist: Own The Room Europe Limited
Client: Citi
Best inclusion and diversity initiative
Shaw Trust
With 3,600 employees and 800 volunteers, Shaw Trust is a not-for-profit social company that supports people with disabilities and social and economic issues from ‘kid to career’. The trust provides services to a variety of clientele that encounters numerous obstacles and it saw the value of hiring and maintaining diverse talent in deli...
Shortlist: Browne Jacobson
Shortlist: Network Rail
Shortlist: Openreach
Shortlist: The Sovini Group
Shortlist: UNISON
Shortlist: UnLtd
Best L&D initiative – private sector
Arla Foods Ltd
Being part of the dairy industry, which is a cooperative business model with tight learning budgets, Arla Foods recognised the demand for employees to learn efficiently.As its 2017 annual employee survey indicated a need for enhanced skills development, but also opportunities to grow in terms of employees’ careers, the company responde...
Highly Commended: Openreach
Shortlist: andpartnership
Shortlist: CGI
Shortlist: Circle Health Group
Shortlist: Howdens
Shortlist: PageGroup
Best L&D initiative – public/third sector
United Nations Development Programme
The well-known international organisation focused on eradicating poverty and inequality, the United Nations Development Programme, launched its initiative, Leaders for 2030, last year. Its initiative, a comprehensive senior executive leadership programme, sought to excel in leadership and people management, business management and inte...
Highly Commended: Shaw Trust
Shortlist: Civil Service HR Casework team and MatchFit
Shortlist: Devon Air Ambulance
Shortlist: EY and Sellafield
Shortlist: Network Rail
Shortlist: Network Rail
Best organisational development or organisational design initiative
Circle Health Group
Circle Health Group is the UK’s largest private healthcare provider, offering a network of 50+ private hospitals and employing more than 8,000 permanent employees. In 2020 a merger between BMI Healthcare and Circle Health took place, creating Circle Health Group. This merger brought big changes and challenges, including the merging of ...
Shortlist: Civil Service HR Casework and MatchFit
Shortlist: Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust
Shortlist: Lakeland
Shortlist: Mott MacDonald
Shortlist: Saudi Aramco
Shortlist: Veolia
Best people analytics initiative
Standard Chartered
The topic of hybrid and flexible working has become a key issue for people teams across a range of organisations, and the winner of the people analytics initiative has shown how vital this is in the workforce of today. UK-based global bank Standard Chartered understood this need, which is why, in 2021, they launched their phased approa...
Highly Commended: Cadent Gas Limited
Best resourcing initiative
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Police Service of Northern Ireland
In 2021, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) – the policing organisation for all of Northern Ireland – decided to transform its approach to recruitment by launching a new initiative that would alter perceptions about the PSNI as a career option, confront recruitment barriers, and increase the reach of its advertising among un...
Highly Commended: Midland Heart
Shortlist: Audit One, hosted by Cumbria Northumbria Tyne and Wear NHS Trust
Shortlist: Circle Health Group
Shortlist: Seetec
Shortlist: Trayport
Shortlist: Veolia
Best responsible business initiative
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Accenture & World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Cognician
RL Challenge
Best reward or recognition initiative
SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
Recycling and waste management company Suez launched Payroll Autosaving for new joiners last year. After testing the waters with a trial, in 2021 it launched the scheme in partnership with TransaveUK, automatically enrolling new starters in the scheme with the option to opt out.The company said EAP data and employee survey results duri...
Highly Commended: Westminster Drug Project (WDP)
Shortlist: Howdens
Shortlist: Welcome Break
Best SME people management initiative
Maverick Media
After video game creative agency Maverick Media put the finger on the pulse of its employees’ experience, it decided to act on the feedback and foster better engagement and employee experience.Realising that the company’s work-life balance was affected by a significant amount of overtime work, the organisation decided to launch the ‘Ha...
Highly Commended: N T Killingley Ltd
Shortlist: Lee Kum Kee (Europe) Ltd
Shortlist: Scrutton Bland
Shortlist: Strategi Solutions
Best talent management initiative
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United Nations Development Programme
This entry impressed the judges with its clear focus on tackling underrepresentation across the organisation on a global basis and across many aspects of inclusion. The programme was committed to changing lives and changing perceptions by releasing talent with demonstrable support and leadership of those pioneering this approach. The U...
Shortlist: Coca-Cola HBC
Shortlist: Network Rail
Shortlist: Vakif Katilim
Michael Kelly outstanding student award - foundation/intermediate level
Gemma Berrington
Softcat Ltd
After being a fully remote workforce during the pandemic, Softcat transferred to a hybrid working model in November 2021, a move it hoped would encourage employees back into its offices to improve culture and employee engagement. Gemma Berrington, early years L&D team leader at Softcat, noticed how fundamental the induction process was...
Shortlist: Lorraine Barnett
CAMURUS LTD
Shortlist: Natasha Garcia
London Borough of Barnet
Shortlist: Sarah Sims
Cervus Defence and Security Limited
Shortlist: Sarra Al Breiki
Borouge Abu Dhabi Polymers Limited
Shortlist: Sinead Leach
Wells and co
Shortlist: Troy Winfield
Cygnet
Michael Kelly outstanding student award - advanced level
Jamila Lecky
Mott MacDonald
At Mott MacDonald, the employee-owned engineering, development and management consultancy, a global people transformation programme has been underway since 2019. Jamila Lecky, who had joined two years prior as a change consultant, launched her initiative, ‘Connected Conversations’, in 2020, which sought to improve the firm’s performanc...
HIGHLY COMMENDED: Angela Emefa Tagboto
The London School of Economics (LSE)
Shortlist: Michelle Weir
Philip White Tyres Ltd
Shortlist: Uddalak Banerjee
Dabur India Limited
Best HR/ L&D team of the year – public/ third sector
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
The Covid-19 pandemic brought challenges to the NHS like none ever seen before, testing all staff to their limits, frontline or otherwise. Critical to the health service’s work during the two years was its HR teams, whose vital role in everything from nurturing staff wellbeing to redeploying workers into other roles helped support work...
Highly Commended: Humberside Police
Shortlist: United Nations Development Programme
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Best HR/ L&D team of the year – private sector
Circle Health Group
Circle Health Group (CHG) is the UK’s largest group of independent private hospital brands, with 50+ hospitals, clinics and specialist centres, across the UK. We are the UK’s most patient-focussed healthcare organisation and have been acknowledged by ministers for our support of the NHS during the pandemic. Having made significant inve...
Highly Commended: Wales & West Utilities Limited
Shortlist: Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Shortlist: Cadent Gas Limited
Shortlist: Cleveland Clinic London
Shortlist: e& (Formerly Etisalat)
Shortlist: Trayport
