Award categories

Leadership

1. Best Culture Transformation & Change Management (NEW)

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, fostered a culture of innovation, adaptability, and employee engagement, resulting in positive outcomes for both the workforce and the company.

2. Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy

Equal opportunity employment goes beyond numbers and quotas to unlock 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.

3. Best Employee Engagement Communication Strategy

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

4. Best ESG Strategy

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.

5. Best Graduate Training Programme

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.

6. Best Holistic Leadership Development Strategy

HR and leadership functions are under extreme pressure to proactively prepare organisations for the long road to recovery. Winners of this category have designed leadership strategies focusing on communication skills, soft skills training, leadership development strategies, the effectiveness of various programmes, and the business benefits accrued from developing high-quality leaders.

7. Best Management Training Programme
This category recognises effective and all-rounded management training programmes focused on grooming high-potential talent across various career stages from early, mid, to top-level leadership positions. Winners of this category showcase how relevant and consistent management training has enabled the talent to execute business strategies and contribute to long-term success.
8. Best Mentorship & Coaching Programme (NEW)

This category recognises HR teams that have designed mentorship/coaching programmes tailored to help their employees become adaptive, innovative, and more agile business leaders. Focused on rewarding HR teams that have either organised in-house transformational mentorships or coaching or collaborated with external vendors, the programmes that have shifted behaviours and mindsets while fuelling business growth will take home the spoils.

9. Best Multigenerational Workforce Management Strategy (NEW)

In today’s dynamic business landscape, organisations face the challenge of managing and leveraging the potential of a diverse, multigenerational workforce. This category recognises companies that have implemented exceptional strategies to navigate the unique characteristics, preferences, and strengths of employees from different generations, including Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

Learning

10. Best Career Development Programme

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.

11. Best Digital Learning Transformation

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.

12. Best Learning & Development Programme

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.

13. Best Organisational Upskilling & Reskilling Strategy

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.

14. Best Virtual Learning Programme

This category recognises the best learning programmes that provided innovative, interactive, and educational content utilising virtual elements to enhance the learning experience for new and tenured talent. Winners of this category should showcase how they effectively and creatively used the new technology applications and communication to facilitate the learning experience for the workforce to achieve tangible results.

Engagement

15. Best Employee Wellness Strategy

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.

16. Best Employee-Friendly Workplace

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.

17. Best Employer Branding

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.

18. Best Employee Engagement Programme

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.

19. Best Family-Friendly Initiatives (NEW)

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.

20. Best Flexible Working Strategy

Flexible work arrangements can help redefine productivity, inclusiveness, and connectedness. This category recognises the organisation that has successfully managed their workforce by going above and beyond with flexible working arrangements, staying connected, and engaged with their staff to ensure positive outcomes/benefits to both the employee and company.

Winners of this category should showcase how organisational leaders have successfully leveraged digital technologies and promoted a friendly working culture, collaboration, and leadership, to keep a pulse on employees without causing disruptions to workflow processes and business productivity.

21. Best HR Digital Transformation Strategy

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.

22. Best Hybrid Work Model (NEW)

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.

23. Best Rewards & Recognition Programme

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.

24. Best Use of EX Technology Tools (NEW)

Are you harnessing the power of technology to enhance and streamline your employee experience? If you’ve embraced innovative technological tools that have revolutionised various stages of the employee journey, from recruitment to onboarding, and beyond, this category is designed for you.

Entrants should showcase how your exceptional use of HR/EX technology tools have made a significant impact on employee productivity, engagement, and the overall experience. Judges will be looking at how these tools have transformed the way the organisation operates, and made the employee journey smoother and more efficient.

25. Best Talent Development Strategy

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 talent’s 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.

26. Best Work-Life Harmony Strategy

It’s vital that employees can strike a balance between work and personal life, significantly when technology and remote working have blurred the line between work and home. This category recognises organisations that have provided workplace flexibility and other holistic benefits/programmes to help employees cope with the demands of home and career while increasing productivity and reducing turnover.

27. Best Workforce Innovation (NEW)

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.

Talent Acquisition

28. Best Campus Recruitment Strategy (NEW)

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.

29. Best Recruitment Experience Strategy (NEW)

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.

30. Best Recruitment Innovation (NEW)

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 innovative solutions and the creativity involved, but also how it positively impacted the organisation’s recruitment, conversion rates, and overall candidate experience.

31. Best Talent Mobility Strategy (NEW)

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.