Celebrating the triumphs of HR professionals amid constant business challenges
Over the last 12 months, the Australian HR sector has had to deal with a swathe of challenges; from adjusting to remote and hybrid working, addressing labour shortages and navigating a series of new workplace laws. All while the nation battles through a cost-of-living crisis.
And throughout these challenges, HR teams have worked to support the needs of employees while helping their organisation meet its broader goals.
“The pace of change within the people and culture, the HR world, is immense,” William Prest, business director, HR recruitment at Hays said. “Every year, there’s different components of complexity which come into the world of work… it’s shifting so quickly. So we as HR professionals need to keep up the pace for that.”
Honouring HR achievements
The 2023 Australian HR Awards recognised the hard work and achievements of individuals and teams across the nation’s human resources industry over the past year.
“It’s a very important industry, a very underappreciated industry,” Australian Business Lawyers and Advisors director Julian Arndt said. “[HR] are on the front line of all the stuff we do as employment lawyers so they deserve some credit and they got it tonight.”
Held in Sydney in its 10th year, the awards covered 20 categories including HR Director of the Year, HR Rising Star of the Year, HR Champion of the Year (CEO) as well as several team and program awards.
“It’s been so heartwarming to see how excited all these teams are to come together and just celebrate,” LinkedIn sales manager Nicole Butler said. “This is the night they get to recognise all their efforts.”
Individuals and teams who triumphed
Bernadette Cavanagh from the City of Parramatta won the prestigious HR Director of the Year Award.
“It’s very surreal,” she said about winning the award.
Capgemini’s Kaylene O’Brien was given the award for Australian HR Champion of the Year.
“I’m so excited and so elated,” she said. “And it’s so nice to be here with my team, they’ve just been such big supporters.”
O’Brien went on to describe the most rewarding part of her role.
“The most rewarding part is knowing that I get to help all of our team members be their best at work and to get the future they want,” she said.
Securing the HR Team of the Year award (>1000 employees) was Publicis Groupe, who were honoured to win the award, the company’s Jessica Farrell told HRD Australia.
“The entire HR team at Publicis Groupe have been working really hard collectively over the last few years and I think this is a testament to all of their dedication and passion for the industry that we’re in,” she said.
Best program awards
The HR awards recognised organisations leading the charge with their remote and flexible working options.
Yarra Valley Water won the award for Best Remote Work Strategy, with head of enterprise change, Daniel Smith, highlighting why it’s important for organisations to offer remote work options where possible.
“In the modern world, the boundaries are blurred,” he said. “We all know this from COVID. So without it we’re tied down to old traditional ways of working that just don’t work anymore.”
Receiving the Best Workplace Flexibility Program was Our Watch, a non-profit organisation that works in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children.
“As the war for talent rises, flexible working is just a ticket to the game these days, particularly post-COVID as well, and the expectations of staff have changed,” head of people and culture Chantal McCrae said. “I’m really proud that Our Watch is doing this.”
The rise of organisations embracing workplace flexibility comes amid the Australian Parliament passing reforms to provide employees with additional and more flexible unpaid parental leave (UPL).
Under the Protecting Worker Entitlements Bill, employees will be able to take up to 100 flexible UPL, up from the previous 30. The reforms also allow them to commence UPL at any time in the 24 months following the birth or placement of their child.
As the future brings with it more changes and challenges for HR – from the potential of artificial intelligence to the possibility of new workplace reforms – what will always remain are the people who constantly seek creative ways to handle them. And the Australian HR Awards will be there to honour them.
Stage One – Nominations
A nationwide call for nominations was conducted on 3 April to 5 May 2023 using HRD Australia’s online channels.
Last year we changed the methodology to a 1 step nomination process. Within the online portal, you’ll be asked to answer specific questions relevant to the category criteria listed under ‘Award categories’. In addition to this, you’ll have the opportunity to attach supporting documentation.
Stage Two – Research and selection of excellence awardees
The Australian HR Awards team conducted research and drew on industry knowledge and information gained through HRD Australia’s connections to the HR profession to identify the outstanding teams and individuals in each category that will receive an “Excellence Award”.
Stage Three – Confirmation of excellence awardees
Once the research was complete, excellence awardees were selected in each category and notified via e-mail. Excellence awardees would also be announced on HRD Australia’s website.
Stage Four – Judging
The Australian HR Awards team provided full details of each Excellence Awardee to an independent panel of judges, comprising HR industry leaders and senior representatives. Judges reviewed the excellence awardee submissions and allocated a score for each excellence awardee. The excellence awardee with the highest score in each category once the judging process had been completed would be named the winner.
Stage Five – Awards Ceremony
The winners in each category were announced at the Australian HR Awards official gala event and awards ceremony on Friday, 1 September 2023 at The Fullerton Hotel Sydney. The winners list was also published on HRD Australia’s website.
