Entries are officially open for the third Wales HR Awards, to be held on 22 March 2019 at the Exchange Hotel in Cardiff and hosted by the BBC’s Sian Lloyd.
Created by leading specialist recruiter Acorn and commercial law firm Darwin Gray, the Wales HR Awards is the annual flagship event of the Wales HR Network; the country’s leading networking platform for human resources professionals to meet and share best practice about topical industry issues.
The awards have become a diary marker for Welsh businesses over recent years, recognising and celebrating the hard work and commitment carried out by in-house teams, consultants and the HR industry as a whole.
Previous winners include Bluestone Resorts Limited, Bangor University, Tai Tarian, Circle IT, Panasonic, Tata Steel, Menter a Busnes, Principality Building Society, Hafod Housing, Gower College and the Welsh National Opera, amongst others.
Fourteen winners will be announced at the black-tie event – including an overall winner of the coveted HR Star Award, won by social housing provider Tai Tarian’s Kelly Mordecai in 2018. Several new categories have been announced for 2019. Awards include:
- Best HR Initiative (Sponsored by Human Resourcing Ltd)
- HR Team of the Year (Sponsored by Bowen Eldridge)
- Independent HR Consultant of the year (Sponsored by Orchard)
- HR Director of the year (Sponsored by Quantum Advisory)
- Best HR professional – Financial / Professional Services (Sponsored by Sweetmans and Partners)
- Employer of the year (Sponsored by Capital Law)
- HR Apprentice / Assistant / Trainee of the year (Sponsored by ACT Training)
- Best use of the Welsh Language
- Best HR Professional – Public/Third Sector
- Best HR Professional – Digital/IT
- Best HR Professional – Manufacturing/Engineering
- Best HR Professional – Built Environment
- Best HR Professional – Hospitality/Sports
- HR Star Award
Managing director at Acorn Matt Southall said:
“The Wales HR Awards has been a phenomenal success since the first awards in March 2017, and the reaction from employers, nominees, guests and sponsors has been clear – an event to recognise and celebrate the contribution of HR professionals across Wales has been very much welcomed.
“The HR profession includes unsung heroes working behind the scenes to support businesses and organisations of all sizes. As a recruitment partner of choice for HR teams across Wales and throughout the UK, we’re proud and delighted to see the awards return for a third year with our involvement bringing them to life.”
“We’re already looking forward to what has become a greatly anticipated annual event,” added Fflur Jones, head of Darwin Gray’s employment law and HR team. Our Employment and HR team works very closely with HR professionals across Wales, and so we’re pleased to see the profession gaining more and more recognition every year.”
The deadline for submitting nominations is Friday 7 December. More information on the category criteria and nomination process can be found at the Wales HR Network website.