This category recognises companies that have demonstrated outstanding proficiency in driving cultural change. Entries should showcase how they effectively planned, executed, and sustained transformation initiatives, and fostered a culture of innovation, adaptability, and employee engagement that resulted in positive outcomes for both the workforce and the company.

Equal opportunity employment goes beyond numbers and quotas to unlocking inclusive policies that do not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training or promoting under any circumstances. This category recognises the organisation that has taken active steps in recognising and celebrating all forms of diversity, not limited to race, gender identity, age, sexuality, culture, and physical capabilities, and has put in place policies for inclusion across the workforce.

Leading organisations are able to deliver a gold-quality employee experience by capitalising on the wide array of internal and external communication channels. This category recognises HR teams that have transformed the business through effective, transparent, and engaging communication strategies.

Winners of this category should demonstrate how the leaders have taken a further step in leveraging communication tools, social media, and other innovative engagement practices to reliably communicate key messaging to various stakeholders, keeping them highly engaged in the progress of business decisions on a daily basis.

ESG is becoming increasingly important for a business where employees and investors have increased their focus on whether or not the company is socially responsible and sustainable. This category recognises an organisation with a comprehensive environmental, social, and governance strategy and its implementation into its HR planning. Judges will be looking at how the ESG strategy was used to enhance organisational culture, pride, and loyalty amongst employees.

Recognises the efforts of organisations in developing high-calibre graduates that are either recent school leavers or those with one-two years of work experience. Judges will determine the success of the organisation by its ability to groom young talent to become future leaders through an accelerated learning environment, formal training, purposeful business opportunities, and professional development.

HR and leadership functions are under extreme pressure to proactively prepare organisations for the long road to recovery. With that in mind, this category looks at leadership development strategies as a whole, the effectiveness of the various programmes, and the business benefits accrued as a result of developing high-quality leaders. Winners of this category have designed leadership strategies focused on communication skills, soft skills training, leadership development strategies, the effectiveness of various programmes, and the business benefits accrued from developing high quality leaders.

This category recognises effective and all-rounded management training programmes that have focused on grooming high-potential talent across various career stages from early, mid to top-level leadership positions. Judges will reward comprehensive management training programmes that have enabled talent to execute business strategies which have contributed to long-term success.

This category recognises the career development opportunities the organisation has provided for its employees such as coaching, mentoring, upskilling, lateral moves, reverse mentoring, and more. Winners of this category should showcase strong business alignment, a lifelong commitment to employees’ professional development, and a mastery in planning for future skill sets.

This category recognises the best transformation strategy in continuing to provide learning and development tools for employees amid the shift to a more variable working environment. Winners of the category should showcase a seamless conversion and adaption from traditional learning programmes to digital.

Leading the future of work transformation, L&D programmes form a key element of robust talent development and business progression. Workplace learning empowers employees to hone new skills and grow professionally, while on the business front, it helps to engage the workforce and increase productivity. Winners of the category should showcase how they integrated blended learning and unlocked talent capabilities through learning tech and tools to improve bottom-line business productivity.

A high-performing, agile organisation, is often identified by its future-ready organisational design, underpinned by a strategic approach to upskilling and reskilling. Winners of this category should showcase how effective they were in helping employees thrive in the current business climate, while providing a platform to hone skill sets for future employability through a company-wide skills programme.

Wellness and employee engagement go hand-in-hand. High-performing companies that measure employee health as a crucial part of their overall risk management strategy generate a healthier workforce, organisational culture, and financial bottom line. This category recognises the organisation that had an integrated plan of action that boosted the holistic wellness of the workforce through a mental, emotional, financial, and physical lenses.

This category recognises companies that prioritised the employees’ physical and mental needs, designed a comfortable workplace, and built a positive company culture for employees. Winners of this category should demonstrate how their employee-friendly working environment has enhanced a high level of employee satisfaction, boosted overall morale, lifted team spirits, and helped to attract and retain talent for the company.

This category recognises companies that have successfully created a strong brand story that resonated with employees and positioned the organisation at the top of candidates’ employer wish lists. HR teams that leveraged on innovative storytelling techniques, inspirational employer branding champions, and a partnership with internal stakeholders, among other things, to engage potential and current employees, will emerge on top.

A great engagement programme helps an organisation build an efficient team with a greater sense of belonging and collaboration within the company, and thus, achieve a higher business performance and team bonding. This category lauds organisations that have conceived and executed remarkable programmes in consistently delivering a positive, respectful, and professional engaging experience at all touch-points with all staff, including newcomers and candidates, to cultivate deep-seated employee engagement.

 Winners of this category should illustrate how effective the employee engagement programme was in enhancing employee engagement, encouraging internal communication, and boosting team bonding.

This category recognises organisations that have excelled in creating a family-friendly work environment, and who prioritise and support their employees’ responsibilities outside of work. Balancing professional obligations with family roles can be challenging, but entrants should showcase their deep commitment in fostering a pro-family culture and environment, ensuring work-life balance, parental support programmes, flexible work arrangements, and an inclusive atmosphere for families. Winners should demonstrate their outstanding efforts and the positive impact of their family-friendly initiatives on employee wellbeing and productivity.

With the shift in generational demographics, on top of rapid technological advancements, HR is often left trying to balance legacy organisational processes with the demands of a new generation of employees. Entries that showcase how their HR department has taken the lead to transform the business through digitisation and digitalisation, while improving the overall employee experience, will take home this award.

This award recognises initiatives that have gone beyond a simple mix of on-site and remote hours. Judges will be looking for examples of hybrid work model roll-outs that gave employees more flexibility to get work done when, how, and where they wanted, while improving productivity and favourability scores simultaneously.

Effective employee recognition programmes help to attract and retain top talent, and ensure that employees feel valued, appreciated, and motivated to achieve company goals. This category recognises the organisation that has integrated relevant and innovative rewards to drive recognition, and incentivised the behaviours required to enhance the organisational culture.

Helping employees develop new skills while improving their existing skill sets through upskilling and training/learning is key to a company’s success, allowing it to be ahead of its competition by nurturing an organic growth plan of its employees’ abilities. Winners of this category should demonstrate how their talent development strategy improved work efficiency, boosted talent morale, and helped in attracting and retaining talent.

In today’s rapidly evolving landscape, successful organisations are those that continuously innovate not only their products and services, but also their approach to workforce management. This category recognises and applauds organisations that have demonstrated outstanding innovation in how they attract, develop, and retain their talent.

 Winners of this category should showcase how they have broken new ground in HR practices to create a more engaged, adaptable, and resilient workforce. These innovations may span areas such as AI-driven recruitment processes, revolutionary talent retention strategies, creative workplace flexibility arrangements or pioneering approaches to upskilling and reskilling.

This category rewards the best initiative to improve campus recruiting. Judges will be looking for examples of touch-points used and a solid strategy, including – but not limited to – sourcing, engaging, selecting, and hiring young talent. Both entry-level positions and internships qualify in this category.

Does your organisation consistently deliver a positive, respectful, and professional experience at all touch-points with candidates – be it from application to interviewing and from hiring to onboarding? Enter this category to be recognised for the exceptional recruitment experience that your organisation provides.

This category recognises pioneering innovation by recruitment teams that have developed creative and practical initiatives, solutions or campaigns to engage target candidates while approaching business goals. Judges will not only be weighing up the merits of the innovative solutions and the creativity involved, but also how they positively impacted the organisation’s recruitment, conversion rates, and overall candidate experience.

Organisations mobilising their employees nowadays have both intra-country and overseas mobility options to consider based on their talent and careers strategy. This award recognises companies that offer exciting international and/or regional exposure through their talent mobility strategies that equip organisations to overcome new-normal barriers, while ensuring mobility remains a strong contributor to not just an assignee’s career development, but to the overall talent ecosystem.

The most coveted of all achievements at the Employee Experience Award, this prestigious title goes to the best performing entrant across all 4 pillars: Leadership, Learning, Engagement, and Talent Acquisition.

Points System:

• Gold: 4 points
• Silver: 2 points
• Bronze: 1 point

Tie-Breakers:

Most Gold: If total points are tied, the company with the highest number of Gold awards wins.

Most Silver: If Gold awards are also tied, the company with the highest number of Silver awards wins.

Highest Average Score: If a tie still persists, the company with the highest average score percentage (as assigned by the judges across all their winning entries) will win.