Best HR initiative

For an HR initiative involving innovative people strategies that has created a committed, happy and effective workforce and improved financial results.

2005 WINNER

David Sproul of Deloitte with Chris Nelson of Pure

This high-quality entry attracted the Judges’ attention with its thoroughness and its direct link to the business performance of the firm. In addition, the entrants demonstrated the effectiveness of the Graduate Recruitment Programme with impressive statistics: a 33% increase in graduate applications and a near-doubling of recruitment events contributed to a ranking of 6th place in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers – a greater improvement than any other firm in the Top Ten.

The programme demonstrated its innovation and fresh thinking through its "Feed Your Mind’ feature which linked the firm’s offering to demands for a career offering clear ways to develop personally and professionally in their early career.

For those who covet the deep pockets of major graduate recruiters such as Deloitte, it is interesting to note that these results were achieved with a marketing spend per graduate vacancy significantly lower than the national median spend.

RUNNER UP

PwC’s programme marked a shift in thinking from an essentially reactive approach to employee wellbeing to a more proactive involvement in encouraging healthy work and life practices. The Judges were impressed with the depth and quality of the solutions and advice offered by the programme to help employees adopt a healthier lifestyle, and were encouraged by the careful balance struck between providing meaningful support and intruding on essentially personal matters.

Whilst recognising the intangible nature of many of the business benefits of the programme, the Judges would have been pleased to see a demonstrable impact on measurable absenteeism and sickness costs – although the measurable drop in sales of Banoffee Pie in a restaurant used by staff was an impressive result!

3RD PLACE

KPMG’s programme links employee recognition to the needs and expectations of clients, reinforcing the client-led nature of the firm. The Awards Programme offers a way of recognising and rewarding exceptional performance in a primarily non-financial way that celebrates success with style in a way that matches the aspirations of its people.

The Judges were impressed with the commitment to personal recognition offered by the Awards and by the global nature of the Programme, again a reflection of the priorities of the firm. The Judges would have been interested to understand how the benefits of the programme were measured and how its commercial return was quantified.

2005 FINALISTS

Runner up

Third place

2005 SPONSOR

Launched in 1999, Pure Recruitment Group is the pre-eminent name in senior level recruitment for the Professional service sector. Pure is building a growing reputation for excellence in Its specialist divisions of Legal, Tax , Finance, Treasury and Banking. They work with the Top 50 accountancy firms, the majority of the leading Law firms and 90% of the FTSE 150 and all of the major Financial Services and Retail Banking organisations in the City.