Organisation Awards
AHRI Awards 2024 Submission Guidelines
The following information will assist you in completing your submission for an Organisation Award category.
These awards for organisations recognise initiatives and strategies which can be demonstrated to have directly and successfully addressed a challenge or met a priority of the organisation. These strategies and initiatives should be fully implemented or completed to the point where impacts on and outcomes relating to the original challenge or priority can be demonstrated.
Categories
Category
Best Attraction, Recruitment & Retention Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which contribute to attraction, recruitment, and retention of people to meet current and future organisational objectives.
Category
Best Organisational Development and Change Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which identify the optimal structure, function, and culture of an organisation, and enact development or change to achieve organisational objectives.
Category
Best Use of Technology
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which incorporate technology solutions to connect and empower employees, achieve business outcomes, and address workplace challenges.
Category
Best Health & Wellbeing Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which prioritise the promotion and support of the health and wellbeing of the workforce, embedding health and wellbeing into organisational plans, policies and processes, and evidence the direct impact health and wellbeing has on organisational objectives.
Category
Best Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which successfully address a workforce challenge for the organisation relating to diverse or marginalised cohorts of employees, or the wider community. Note: applicants in this category will be asked to identify a specific area of DEI for this application.
Category
Best Learning & Development Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which Identify and prioritises current and future learning needs for the benefits of employee development and organisational outcomes.
Category
Best Leadership Development Strategy
Description
Recognises initiatives or strategies which identify and prioritise leadership development initiatives, benefiting both employees and the organisation.
There are two additional Organisation Awards which recognise an organisation’s overall approach and outcomes relating to how employees experience their workplace. Applicants for these categories will be asked to draw on the holistic approach of the organisation rather than specific initiatives or strategies.
Category
Most Inclusive Workplace
Description
Recognises exceptional organisations where diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded into the way they do business, demonstrated through a culture of safety and respect for all employees and the active intent to engage and empower marginalised and minority groups within the community.
Category
Best Employee Experience
Description
Recognises exceptional organisations where optimising employee experience is a priority, demonstrated through a considered and intentional approach to employee interactions with technology, organisational culture, and the workplace, and evidenced through positive outcomes for the organisation.
The next stage in the application process is to complete your online submission. This process will include:
- contact details and information relating to the entry,
- written statements regarding how the entry meets the criteria for the award, and
- uploading of evidence and referee contacts to support the submission.
Contact details and information
In completing the submission, you will be asked for the following information:
- Application name (organisation and/or team plus strategy/initiative)
- Contact name for the submission
- Contact details (phone and email) for the submission
- Position title of contact person
- Organisation applying for award (as you wish for it to appear on award communications)
- Demographic information regarding the organisation, sector, location etc which allow applicants to be assessed in context to the environment within which they operate
- Brief statement introducing the organisation applying for the award (50 words MAX).
Submission statements
You will then be asked to write a brief statement (100 words MAX) summarising:
Strategy awards
The challenge faced or the goal set by the organisation which led to the development of this strategy or initiative.
Most Inclusive Workplace
The organisation’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Best Employee Experience
The organisation’s approach to optimising the employee experience.
You will then be asked to write a statement (200-500 words) addressing how the applicant meets each of the criteria for the award.
Submission tips:
- Submission statements should be written in the third person (he/she/they/organisation name)
- Statements should be specific and linked to actions, achievements, and outcomes supported by attached evidence where appropriate (see Evidence and Referee section below)
- In the strategy categories, judging panels will be looking for applicants who have achieved the goal set by the initiative or strategy and can effectively demonstrate success through tangible impacts and outcomes (if the strategy or initiative is in pilot phase or has only recently been implemented, AHRI may recommend delaying application until evidence of success is available)
- In the Most Inclusive Workplace and Best Employee Experience categories, judging panels will be looking for applicants who have delivered an experience outside of the ordinary so include examples of where the organisation has gone above and beyond the expected
- Panels rate submission statements based on whether the applicant exceeds, meets, partially meets, or does not meet the criteria so ensure your statement clearly links the applicant’s performance to each criterion.
Evidence and Referees
Each criterion should be supported by evidence (data, reports, referee statement etc.) or a referee contact (internal or external) who is able to endorse and confirm the statement.
Evidence can be uploaded to the Evidence tab (specifications and limitations) and should be:
- Referred to in the criterion statement
- Named with the applicant name/criterion addressed
Referee contacts can be entered into the Referee tab. The following details will be required for each referee (max 5):
- First name
- Last name
- Position
- Organisation
- Phone
- Relationship to application
- Criterion to be addressed.
Please note, referees will be contacted only if required by the judging panel.
Please ensure that your referees are consulted in advance and willing to support the application.
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