COMPANIES and organisations across the north are currently putting the final touches to their applications for the 2022 Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards, which take place in Titanic Belfast on June 30.
Closing date for receipt of entries has been extended until Friday April 29, with the judging panel due to meet on Tuesday May10 to chose their winners.
There are 10 key categories this year (full details and criteria at www.irishnews.com/wea) each of which will be split into small/medium or medium/large sub-sectors. The main categories are:
• Best Place To Work
• Team of the Year
• Next Generation Initiative
• Employer for the Future
• Innovation and Leadership
• Best Employee Development Programme
• Best Wellbeing in the Workplace Strategy
• Best Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
• Best Company Connection
• Corporate Social Responsibility Programme of the Year
This year's key business partners for the awards - which culminate in a gala awards dinner on June 30 hosted by top Irish comedian Neil Delamere - are Options Technology, First Derivative, Carson McDowell, Queen's University, Ulster University Business School, and Titanic Belfast.
So, how much does your business want to win a Workplace & Employment Award? And what would that mean to the company and its staff?
In past years, our winners have spoken in glowing terms of the impact a success in the Irish News awards initiative has had on their organisation.
Previously Claire Colvin, talent & organisational development director with CDE Global in Cookstown, a significant player in the wet processing industry, making equipment which helps quarrying, recycling and mining businesses extract material out of the ground, has spoken of what it meant for them.
The company won the managing talent category of our awards three years in a row and in 2016 clinched both entrepreneurial spirit and innovative employer gongs.
Claire said: "CDE operates in a highly competitive environment, and if we can't deliver talent into our business, it can't grow. So winning multiple Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards has been fantastic for us.
"We attach tremendous importance to these awards, and the publicity which goes with it has been noticed by our customers in 15 countries. We're extremely proud and thrilled to be on the winners' alumni."
While technology may have infiltrated every aspect of business, and is front-and-centre in today's corporate world, the human element remains by far our most important and valuable business resource.
Irish News editor Noel Doran says: "Every part of our business boils down to people. We need to value and reskill our people and think strategically about how to deploy all that talent. It’s exactly what these unique awards have been all about since 2007, where entries have increased year on year.
"And in the current climate the Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards have never been more relevant. There really is a compelling argument to enter."
Another multiple past winner has been PKF-FPM in Newry, whose managing Feargal McCormack has previously spoken in glowing terms of the importance of the Irish News initiative.
He said: "From our inception in 1991, we have sought to attract, develop and reward the very best talent to en-sure our business and our clients' future success, because business - and indeed life - is about people and relationships.
He said the Irish News Workplace & employment Awards are now firmly established as the premier business awards in Northern Ireland, contributing enormously to raising the profile of best workplace practices and providing a showcase for organisations and individuals to celebrate hard work and style.
"Leadership in the corporate setting is centred on the ability to deliver change. Only adaptive organisations endure in today's rapidly-changing business environment, so we must always endeavour to apply best practice strategies to recruit and optimise our workforce and improve the flexibility and agility of our people," Mr McCormack said.
"Without a vision, organisations die. Without implementation visions fail to materialise. Our present circumstances don't determine where we can go, they merely determine where we start.
"The challenge for business is to unleash the energy in their team members to be creative and innovate collectively because a united team, on an agreed journey and a common vision and purpose, is required to deliver sustainable growth. Things don't just happen - it's people who make things happen.
"These awards help to create the correct attitude among employers and employees, to change the mind-set to one of continuous improvement, and I urge all organisations to acknowledge the achievements of their workforce and by putting themselves forward in at least one of this year's Irish News Workplace & employment Awards categories."
