Best human resource practices rewarded |18 March 2013

Representatives of these organisations received the awards during the first Seychelles Human Resources Development award held at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort and Casino last Friday.
The initial concept of the award, to be held every two years, was to have three categories - small, medium and large enterprises.

For this first award, 14 organisations from the public and private sectors took part in the medium and large enterprises categories only.
In the large organisations category, the winner was Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority for the public sector while Cable and Wireless was judged the best in the private sector category.
The runner-up in the public sector was Seychelles Public Transport Corporation and Mason’s Travel for the private sector.

In the medium organisations category, the award went to Seychelles Ports Authority for the public sector and Seychelles Breweries for the private sector.
The runners-up were Seychelles International Business Authority for the public sector and Le Meridien Fisherman’s Cove for the private sector.

Present for the event were Designated Minister Vincent Meriton, Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development Idith Alexander and several other ministers, leader of government business and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Marie-Antoinette Rose and David Pierre respectively.

Others included members of the diplomatic corps, members of the National Assembly and other high government officials.
During the ceremony, the chief executive of the National Human Resources Development Council (NHRDC) Margaret Pillay gave a presentation on the process of the award, its aims and list of criteria used by the jury, among other aspects.

Mrs Pillay said the award is a way to give the human resource practitioners the recognition they deserve and was initially conceived by the first chief executive of the NHRDC Marina Confait.
The award was then set about to be actualised by the second chief executive of the council Christian Cafrine and his team.
In 2011, a national committee was set up to spearhead the award and the competition was launched.

The main aims of the award are to bring more awareness to stakeholders on the importance of human resources development, encourage good practices in this area, and to recognise and reward those good practices.

The six main criteria for the award were business planning, training, learning and development, recruitment and selection, practice of performance management, employee relations and health, safety and welfare.

In 2012, members of the jury panel visited the 14 organisations where presentations were given on the human resource practices. Informal talks were held with employees to assess their take vis-a-vis the management’s perspective of the practices.

In her address, Ms Alexander said her ministry is speeding up efforts to review and put in place strategies, most particularly in the human resource plan, to give priority to human resources development that are more relevant to the current needs of the country.

“Human resources development holds the key to people’s full involvement in economic growth and improvement of conditions for their survival and development,” she said.
Ms Alexander added that the continuous development of human resources in the country will depend on the collaborative efforts of employers, workers and government alike.

“Let us take this award as a platform to renew our pledge for total commitment in human resources development for the benefit of our country,” she said.
During the ceremony, certificates were also presented to all the 14 organisations which took part in the competition.