The winners of the ninth annual CIPD Northern Ireland HR Awards have been announced at an awards lunch in Belfast, hosted by television personality Pamela Ballantine.
The CIPD NI HR Awards are the most prestigious and highly regarded awards for the HR profession in Northern Ireland.
This year’s awards comprised of 11 categories, covering all aspects of HR and L&D, with awards for highly impactful initiatives and for individuals and teams who have demonstrated outstanding practice during what has been an unprecedented time of change.
CIPD Chief Executive, Peter Cheese said: “Today is a great celebration of everything you’ve done for the profession – particularly over the past year where we’ve stepped up to support our organisations and people across every sector in Northern Ireland during these very challenging times.”
Lee Ann Panglea, Head of the CIPD in Scotland and Northern Ireland said: “HR, OD and L&D professionals have worked tirelessly over the past 20 months to put their people first.”
“The quality of entries for this year’s awards was truly outstanding, and it has been fantastic to have had the opportunity to celebrate in person with people professionals from across Northern Ireland, as well as with those who joined us live online. Many congratulations to everyone who was shortlisted, and especially to our winners.”
“Many thanks to our headline sponsor MCS Group, to our media partner nijobfinder and to all our sponsors and our judges for making sure that this year’s awards were so special.”
Ryan Calvert, Head of HR Recruitment, UK and Ireland, from headline sponsors MCS Group said: “Northern Ireland is rich with HR talent, and MCS is delighted to continue our support for the CIPD NI HR Awards, recognising the very best individuals and teams for their outstanding work, celebrating the impact they are having on their organisations and importantly, the people that work in them, especially during an incredibly challenging period.”
“Many congratulations to all of this year’s finalists and winners, you should all be really proud of what you have achieved.”
Colin Maxwell, nijobfinder Business Manager said: “nijobfinder are delighted to be the media sponsor for the 2021 CIPD HR Awards. As NI’s premier job portal in print and online we fully support the work the CIPD are doing to drive improvements in training and expertise for HR professionals. Congratulations from nijobfinder to all the finalists and winners.”
The winners are as follows:
Outstanding HR student of the year
Sponsored by Kennedys
Winner: Naomi Smyth – Ulster University
Highly Commended: Rebecca Shields
Best change management initiative
Sponsored by Queen’s University Management School
Winner: Bank of Ireland
Highly Commended: Education Authority
Best remote and flexible working initiative
Sponsored by Hunter Savage
Winner: Food Standards Agency
Embedding a culture of workplace wellbeing
Sponsored by Inspire
Winner: PwC
Highly commended: Allstate Northern Ireland
Best L&D initiative
Sponsored by Grant Thornton
Winner: Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Best inclusion and diversity initiative
Sponsored by Tughans
Winner: Education Authority
External consultancy
Winner: HealthSector Talent
Highly commended: Think People Consulting
Excellence in people management practices in SMEs
Sponsored by TLT
Winner: Cleaver Fulton Rankin
Excellence in HR leadership
Sponsored by Worthingtons
Winner: Gillian McAuley
HR/L&D team of the year
Sponsored by Danske Bank
Winner: Allstate Northern Ireland
Highly Commended: Tobermore
Outstanding contribution in the field of people development in Northern Ireland
Sponsored by the CIPD
Presented to David Johnston
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