The Malta People Awards are back for the ninth year. Twenty-three Maltese companies have entered eight categories, including the Excellence Award. By organising this event, the Foundation for Human Resources Development enables the organisations to benchmark their work against the best of HR practices. The different awards are standards in people management and therefore there could be more than one achiever in each category. The competition is open to all types of organisations operating in Malta – from small, family-run businesses to large companies, to public sector, local authorities and not for profit organisations.
One of the awards focuses on the use of technology in companies. It aims at recognising initiatives and projects that contribute to an upgrading of the skills and competencies of employees and thus strengthen the business position of the organisation through technology. Four companies applied for this award: Chetcuti Cauchi, Enemalta, GlobalCapital plc and Alberta.
Chetcuti Cauchi, a professional services group providing legal, financial and business support services to the local and international business community, is participating in the Malta People Awards for the second time. “The Foundation for Human Resources Development is highly regarded and considered as an authority in relation to HR in Malta. Thus, having our activities recognised by the foundation is important to us,” said Human Resources Manager Romina Abdilla. Chetcuti Cauchi applied for the “Excellence through Technology Award” since it regards its IT system as “empowering and motivating for employees”. “Technology keeps improving, be it through the changes in the requirements dictated by the growth that the company is experiencing or through the suggestions made by employees to improve the system,” the manager added.
Technology plays an important role in Human Resources Management, as it enables employees to be more efficient and effective in their respective duties. According to Robert Delia, Manager Organisational Design & Planning of Enemalta, the use of technology has played a significant role in the culture change implemented by Enemalta’s senior management over the past few years. “Now our intranet portal enables our people to consult at any time with all the corporate information regarding Enemalta. Through technological applications implemented in the Human Resources Department over the past few years, Enemalta has for example also given access to a number of employees in other departments to perform HR-related functions – ranging from inputting of vacation and sick leave to the direct input into the HR Management information system. Another example of this trust in employees is the concession given by Enemalta to a number of employees through Teleworking. In the case of such employees, not only has their trust and commitment increased but also their output. This openness of communication has built a high level of trust among employees as well as between employees and managers. This cultural change has been made possible by the technological applications applied within the organisation as a whole.”
Performance and Reward Award
People development within the organisation is the aim Enemalta wants to achieve through its performance and reward system that has been introduced so far to Enemalta’s management and graduate employees. The system allows for a financial reward set against targets that go beyond the employees’ normal duties. “We strongly believe that our people can achieve more if we give them the opportunity. It is not only about getting their job done but also about developing themselves on a regular basis. Through the performance appraisal system developed specifically by Enemalta, SMART objectives set at the beginning of each year are reviewed every quarter, encouraging the development of these employees’ management skills. The introduction of this performance appraisal system has increased employees’ motivation and commitment, and this same system will be introduced to all other employees within a reasonable time period. This system would however not have been successfully implemented without the cooperation of all concerned,” explains Mr Delia.
This award acknowledges performance and reward systems that add value to the company while being equitable, market-based and cost effective. The participating organisations in this category are Playmobil Malta Ltd, GlobalCapital plc, MaltaPost plc and Enemalta.
With regard to performance and reward, Playmobil Malta Ltd has implemented a performance management system which promotes the collective achievement and team effort. Employees are paid a quarterly bonus based not only on their section’s results but also on the overall result of the whole company. “Most important is that everyone participates in the success of the organisation. What each employee does, affects the work of the whole team and consequently the end result,” states Ivan Refalo, Performance Development Manager of Playmobil Malta Ltd, who heads the HR Department. The company has participated several times in the Malta People Awards: “This event gives a higher profile to the organisation, our employees and also our clients. It helps to promote good practice that others can seek to follow.”
The Foundation for Human Resources Development will reward the achieving organisations at a ceremony to be held on 10 December at 8pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s. The Malta People Awards consists of seven different categories in Human Resource Management and Development. 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 realms of excellence. This award is sponsored by Castille Resources. The Excellence through Technology Award is sponsored by Malta Information Technology Agency and the Performance and Reward Award is sponsored by Simonds Farsons Cisk plc. Those wishing to attend the ceremony should contact Nancy Vella on 2137 8895 or send an email to [email protected]
Ms Gransard is a Belgian journalist
with the Foundation for
Human Resources Development