Thirteen companies and organisations, with 17 nominations between them, competed for the prestigious Human Resource Awards 2009.
Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD) CEO Joe Gerada said that the winners had been chosen jointly with the two chairpersons of the committees, Roderick Cutajar and Jozie Devoy, who adjudicated all the nominee companies.
The companies had to submit documentation as evidence of the work that they had done and the results they had achieved in the various categories for which they wanted to be assessed. The Foundation had all the documentation evaluated by HR professionals who visited and interviewed senior management of the nominee companies as well as conducting a sample survey with the companies’ employees to cross check the findings with the employees themselves.
The HR Awards, which have now been held for eight years, have become a major event by which Maltese Industry can acknowledge the standards of HR practices in Malta. Foundation president John Muscat Drago said that industry was already engaged in improving its people management practices, but the place of work was dynamic and ever-changing, and therefore practices had to change accordingly. He referred to the European Association for Personnel Management and the Boston Consulting Group report about people management world-wide that clearly showed that the involvement of employees in the strategy of the company, as well as an environment that offered the development of talent for the work force, ranked high in those companies that are doing well in the current economic climate. He said that interest was also growing from the public sector and acknowledged that two public organisations had submitted their nomination for this year’s awards – namely the Ministry for Social Policy (Health, Elderly and Community Care) and the Medicines Authority.
• The Overall HR Achievement of the Year award went to Gasan Enterprises Ltd.
• The Excellence in People Management (Malta) Award went to Hilton Malta.
• The Excellent Human Resource Initiative Award went to:
Alberta Ltd.
Gasan Enterprises Ltd.
GlobalCapital plc
HSBC Bank Malta plc
Island Hotels Group Holdings plc
MaltaPost plc
Ministry of Social Policy (Health, Elderly and Community Care)
• The Excellence in Training and Development Award went to MaltaPost plc.
• The Excellent Training & Development Initiative Award went to
Alberta Ltd.
Bank of Valletta plc
Medicines Authority
Playmobil Malta Ltd.
In his address, the Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, Dr Johnny Sung said that next year the centre and the Foundation will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the partnership that he described as exceeding all expectations. He said the centre was honoured to be able to contribute to this national event as they are committed to the HR profession in Malta and seek to improve on the service provided to local students.
In his concluding remarks Joe Gerada said that the FHRD was charged to be a catalyst for change and innovation in the area of human potential. He said that organisations can go from average to outstanding by nurturing their human potential and having the ability to translate this force into innovation, drive, competence and results. FHRD was looking into ways of being accessible to industry, especially to SMEs in their journey to build successful and profitable organisations. He said the awards are not intended only for larger organisations but also for small ones, which accounted for most of the business organisation in Malta and by whom most Maltese workers are employed. Mr Gerada said that the FHRD would be ready to support any small companies wishing to improve its people management and participate in these awards alongside the more established, larger organisations.
The awards were sponsored by Malta International Airport, Malta Enterprise, MISCO and the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, while GO was the general sponsor. Other sponsors for the evening included Studio Seven, Outlook Coop, The Malta Independent on Sunday, The Malta Business Weekly and Agenda Bookshop.