The HR Leadership & Management Awards celebrated its fifth year with a gala awards night on May 9th, as HR leaders came together to honour the stand-out teams and performers of the last 12 months.
An audience of more than 350 senior leaders were in attendance, with teams from across the public and private sectors contesting 21 different categories.
On an individual level, Liz Joyce, human resources manager at the Central Bank of Ireland received the coveted HR Leader 2019 award. The judging panel were full of praise for the “worthy recipient,” who has played a key role in leading the Central Bank of Ireland throughout a period of enormous change over the past eight years. In a decorated career to date, Liz has worked as a change agent, leader and human resources professional in several organisations across the private and voluntary sectors.
Tallaght University Hospital took home both the Overall Excellence in HR and Best Public Sector HR Initiative awards, with their HR director, Sharon Larkin, describing it as “A wonderful experience on the night. Our business is people, caring for people and we wanted to showcase how our HR initiatives support our 3,000 staff who are incredibly committed to the care they provide for patients.”
Another team to collect multiple awards on the night was Three Ireland. Mark Redmond, their people & property director, reacted to their HR Team of the Year and Best Health & Wellbeing Strategy - Large Organisation wins by saying: “Entering the HR Leadership & Management Awards was a great opportunity to reflect on the work undertaken in the past 12 months. We were delighted to win two awards on the night, including HR Team of the Year, which is fantastic recognition for the entire HR team at Three.”
Shane Ryan, general manager Takeda Ireland, explained how valuable recognition from others in the industry is to their team, when reflecting on their Most Effective Rewards & Benefits Strategy win: “Winning the award is a great recognition by industry experts of Takeda’s employee value proposition. People are at the heart of our company and employee benefits play a key role in supporting employees succeed in their career.”
As winners of the Best Employer Branding Programme and Best Workplace Diversity Strategy awards, Vodafone Ireland was another multiple award winner. Their human resources director, James Magill, said: “We’re honoured to be recognised for our work in creating an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone can belong. Winning the award is recognition of the work across our company to create a culture where everyone can belong. The awards were a great showcase of the fantastic work happening across industries”.
As a long time sponsor of the awards, Aon continued their support this year, and their commercial lead, Andrew Krawczyk was proud to do so: “The awards provide an unrivalled platform for recognition amongst the HR community in going above and beyond for their people. As a leading professional services firm advising the community in the areas of health, retirement and talent, Aon takes great pride to have been a key partner over the years and watch it grow from strength to strength.”
As one of the platinum sponsors of this year Simon Garvey, Sales Director & Country Manager from Zellis said "It was a pleasure to present so many deserving winners with their awards and we’d like to say a special congratulations to Liz Joyce from Central Bank of Ireland. With many deserving organisations up for awards, it made for a brilliant evening. It really is an exciting time to be in HR."
This year’s judging panel was once again chaired by Brenda Dooley of Shannon Consulting. Brenda, and indeed the entire judging team, were hugely impressed by the standard of entries: “A great celebration of another outstanding year for the HR community. Regardless of their sector or size, similar challenges face every organisation in the management and development their people asset and HR are driving the change and engagement agenda. The judges continue to be impressed by the quality and innovation of the work.”
Full judging panel:
- Brenda Dooley, Shannon Consulting
- Paul Aherne, principal consultant, ASCEND
- Shirley Comerford, chief executive officer, Public Appointments Service
- Professor Edel Conway, Prof in HRM and organisational psychology, DCU Business School
- Kenneth D. Glynn, senior director for Europe, Beacon HRM Group
- Dr. Caitriona Hughes, lecturer in HRM and Programme Director Masters in HRM, National College of Ireland
- Alan Jordan, partner, The Business Troubleshooters
- Rosarii Mannion , national director for human resources, Health Service Executive
- Hugh O'Brien, head of human resources, Applegreen Ireland
- Breda O'Toole, head of product development and transformation, IDA Ireland
- Claire O'Reilly, head of the HR Strategy Unit, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
- Mary Patterson, operations director, Momentum Support
- Brenton Ward, pensions consultant, Mount Street Group, COO & Co-Founder, WIZE Mentoring
To read about other BusinessRiver events visit their news hub.
The full list of winners is available below.
1. Overall Excellence in HR
Winner: Tallaght University Hospital
Winner: Liz Joyce - Central Bank of Ireland
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Winner: Three Ireland
4. HR Manager of the Year
Winner: Sinead O'Toole - Dalata Hotel Group
5. HR Rising Star of the Year
Winner: Marcie Green - The Taxback Group
6. Best Recruitment Agency & HR Team Partnership
Winner: Sigmar Recruitment & FS Managed Services
7. Best Employer Branding Programme
Winner: Vodafone Ireland
8. Best SME HR Initiative
Winner: VOYA Organic Beauty
9. Best Public Sector HR Initiative
Winner: WALKways - Tallaght University Hospital
Winner: MSD Ireland
Winner: Vodafone Ireland
12. Best Change Management Programme
Winner: People’s Needs Defining Change, Health Services Change Guide - HSE HR
Winner: Our Way to Wellbeing - Three Ireland
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Winner: Goodbody
15. Best Use of CSR in HR
Winner: Taxback Give Back - The Taxback Group
16. Best Learning & Development Strategy
Winner: Health Service Leadership Academy – HSE
17. Most Effective Rewards & Benefits Strategy
Winner: Takeda Ireland
18. Most Effective Employee Engagement Strategy
Winner: DPD Ireland
19. Most Effective Use of Internal Communications
Winner: Creating Employee Advocacy in a Crisis - Irish Water & Ervia
20. Most Innovative Use of Technology
Winner: MyLearning – Abtran
21. HR Supplier of the Year
Winner: Sigmar Recruitment
