When HR is done well, nobody sees it.
In organisations across the UK, HR professionals resolve the hardest workplace issues, make pay fairer, build better leaders and look after wellbeing, usually behind closed doors.
The HR Excellence Awards exist to recognise the HR professionals, teams, consultancies and providers whose people work improves organisations and working lives.
Difficult conversations.
Careful decisions.
Finally, recognised.
HR shapes every working life. HR is rarely thanked.
An HR adviser who resolved a dispute before it reached a tribunal.
An HR director who steered a restructure without losing the people who mattered.
An L&D lead whose programme turned managers into leaders.
A one person HR team that rewrote every policy in a single year.
A wellbeing strategy that kept people at work who might have left.
HR spends every day recognising other people.
This time the recognition is for HR.
“We saw what you did.”
“Thank you.”
From the HR adviser to the boardroom.
HR directors, business partners, managers, advisers, specialists, HR teams, consultancies and HR technology providers.
The HR Director
A people leader at the top table.
The Business Partner
The adviser leaders trust.
The Rising Star
Early in an HR career and already outstanding.
The Specialist
Learning, reward and employee relations expertise.
The HR Team
A people function that made everything better.
Know an HR professional who deserves to be seen?
Four ways to be recognised.
HR Professionals
HR directors, business partners, managers, rising stars, advisers and specialists in learning, reward and employee relations.
HR Teams and Providers
HR teams of every size, public sector HR, shared services and HR consultancies.
People Strategies and Programmes
Wellbeing, inclusion, learning, leadership, reward, change, onboarding and flexible working.
HR Technology and Insight
HR technology implementations, people analytics and HR technology providers.
Recognition that raises HR's profile.
Pride for the team
Something the whole HR function can be proud of.
Credibility with leaders
Independent proof of HR's value to the business.
HR talent attraction
Great HR people want to join recognised teams.
Connections
Meet HR leaders from across the UK.
You do not need a big HR department.
Judges consider the size of the organisation and the HR team, so a one person HR function can win against a large people directorate.
No employee is ever named or identifiable in an entry.
Figures can be given as percentages or ranges.
The difference your HR work makes matters more than the size of the team.
The question isn't:
“Is our HR team big enough?”
A better question might be:
“Is our HR work making a difference?”
Recognition only counts when it is earned fairly.
The value of an award depends on the integrity behind it, so the way entries are judged should be clear before anyone enters.
Free to enter
Nominating and entering cost nothing. No category depends on buying a ticket, a table or a package.
Independent judging
Entries are scored by an independent panel, not by the organisers, working under a confidentiality agreement.
Read moreClear criteria
Every category publishes what the judges look for, so you can read it before you enter.
Read moreConflicts managed
Judges declare any conflict of interest and stand aside from the entries it touches.
Read moreSponsors support the awards. They never decide the results.
The best HR people never put themselves forward.
They say:
“It is just part of the job.”
“The managers did the hard work.”
“The whole team did it.”
And sometimes that is exactly why somebody else needs to say:
“They made the difference.”
“They deserve to be recognised.”
If you work with an HR professional or team like that, put their name forward. It takes a minute.
From a name to the night itself.
Discover
Find the award category that fits the achievement best.
Nominate
Put forward an HR colleague, an HR team, a consultancy or your own people programme.
Tell the story
Share what was achieved, and the difference it made.
Judging
Eligible entries are judged against the published criteria.
Recognition
Finalists and winners are celebrated at the awards.
Good HR is how good workplaces begin.
Every HR team has a story.
Every people plan has a moment.