The Foundation for Human Resources Development celebrates outstanding achievement in people management through its annual event, the Malta People Awards. This initiative recognises the projects and resourcefulness that have transformed business performance and made the biggest contribution to the way people are engaged, managed and developed. This year, 23 Maltese companies decided to enter one or more of the Awards’ seven categories.
“The Awards put everyone together. We are very excited about sharing our experiences and practices because the more you share, the more you learn and people will grow,” explains Petra Ellul Mercer, Training & Development Manager at CHI Hotels & Resorts, one of the participating companies in the first award entitled People Management Impact on Business Success.
Four companies are participating in this section: Alberta, FTIAS Ltd, GlobalCapital plc and CHI Ltd. This category rewards companies that are transforming the way they manage and develop their people in order to build sustainable organisation performance. Kathleen Vella, Training, Personal Development & HR Consultant at Alberta said: “We initiated a re-structuring exercise and organisational change three years ago. Our strategy is to use people potential to have the right people in the right roles. It was a holistic organisational upgrade. We are running a marathon as a team and every member of the team has to be a strong member in his or her own right.”
As a subsidiary of an international company, FTIAS Ltd considers that the People Awards encourage foreign companies to continue investing locally by raising awareness that investment is protected by skilled and motivated individuals. According to Dr Paul Simonini, Senior Manager – HR & Premises from FTIAS, it also helps build a foundation of trust both for employees of the company and potential future employees. “It gives recognition not only to the company but to all employees who have played an important role in developing various policies and practices throughout the company.” Such recognition provides further motivation and staff ownership within the company.
(Putting forward)
employee engagement
Employee involvement leads us to the second category, which aims to reward an initiative that is meant for maximum employee engagement in the strategy and operations of the organisations. Three organisations are taking part in this Employee Engagement Award: Gozo General Hospital; the Medicines Authority and Green Skip Services & GS Rec Ltd. These three entities commented on the human factor, including the feeling of belonging on the part of their employees. “We want our employees to feel part of our organisation,” explains Paul Buttigieg from Gozo General Hospital. “Gozo is different from Malta because it is more difficult to implement changes here. But the success of our strategy is that now employees are participating in our educational, cultural and sporting activities.”
The Medicines Authority has been prioritising employee engagement for a number of years and tries to create a positive culture by encouraging open communication and the involvement of staff. “We are a small public entity of 40 people. Our organisation is our people, who enable the effective regulation of medicines in Malta,” said spokesman Gavril Flores, while explaining their 2010 motto Together we excel. “That’s not only about excelling, but about excelling together,” he added.
What is special about waste-management company Green Skip Services Ltd is that it employs a considerable number of employees of different nationalities. It gives great importance to the self-development of its workforce, which includes office staff, plant workers and drivers. “Each employee is kept up-to-date with the latest news in the industry. For us, every person is an investment. Consequently, their sense of belonging is greater,” explains joint managing director Doris Sammut. “It is not always easy to build communication between foreign employees but the positive aspect is that they come up with new ideas and methodology of work. We encourage them to be creative. We don’t employ robots,” adds Edward Bugeja, H&S and Projects at Green Skip Services Ltd.
Ms Sammut considers that writing the report was a good exercise as it helped them review their position. “We are very interested in the feedback because it is the first time we are being tested in this area. It is important to keep your eyes open in HR to continue to improve every day.” Edward Bugeja, who did most of the preparation for the report, agrees that he was “all for it”.
The Malta People Awards consists of seven different categories in Human Resource Management and Development. More than one company can be awarded any of the awards.
The overall achievement, called the Excellence Award, is presented to a company for achieving a level of HR standards that goes beyond good practice into the realm of excellence. This award is sponsored by Castille Resources. The People Management Impact on Business Success Award is sponsored by GO plc and The Employee Engagement Award is sponsored by Malta International Airport.
The Foundation for Human Resources Development will present the awards to the winning organisations at a ceremony to be held on 10 December at 8pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s. For participation please contact Nancy Vella on 2137 8895 or send an email to [email protected].
Ms Gransard is a Belgian journalist at the Foundation for Human Resources Development