Unilever Ghana was on Saturday adjudged the overall best Organization in HR Practice by the Institute of Human Resources, Management Practitioners, Ghana (IHRMP).

in addition, Unilever received the Best Organization in Learning & Development Practice award, Best Talent Management Strategy award and Best use of CSR in HR award.

Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (GGBL) received 3 awards as the Best Workplace Diversity Strategy award, Most Innovative Use of Technology award and Best Organization in Employee Relations Practice.

Graphic Communications Group Limited was adjudged the Best Organization in Recruitment and Selection award, while HFC Bank was awarded as the Most Successful Change Management Programme.

Other winners of the event that was held on March 25, 2017, at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel include Barclays Bank, which won two awards: Best Organization in Rewards Management Practice and the Best Organization in Performance Management.

The Head of HR of Tullow Oil Ghana, Mrs. Irene Asare won the Best HR Practitioner of the year, while, Ghana Prisons Service received an award as the most promising Public Sector Organization in the use of ICT.

In his statement at the function, the President of the IHRMP, Mr. John Wilson said the maiden CDH-Phoenix Ghana HR Star awards has been instituted to motivate HR Practitioners and Organizations in both Public and Private Sectors.

“The relevance of this event is coincidentally ventilated by the Government’s strategic direction as indicated by our President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in the State of the Nation Address delivered on 27th February 2017. He said, 'in the immediate term, targeted legislative policy and institutional reforms will have to be undertaken to unleash the suppressed potential of the economy and allow Ghanaians entrepreneurship to rise and thrive domestically and internationally’. In recognition of these efforts to get the best out of our talent, the HR Star Awards and other similar Awards for Excellence are expected to drive the right behaviours to contribute to the growth of human capital”, Mr. Wilson explained.

Photo: The Overall Best HR Organization of the year, Unilever Ghana displaying their awards

The Guest Speaker, Mr. Edward Briku-Boadu, the Chairman of National Labour Commission, speaking under the theme: “Human Capital and National Development”, urged HR Practitioners to take Training and Retraining of their workers seriously because it is a strategic component of human capital formation and it is firmly recognized in the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651).

“Under section 9 of the Act which prescribes the duties of an employer, it placed an obligation on the employer (section 9 (d) to develop the human resources by way of training and retraining of the workers. Similarly, under section 10 (c) of the Labour Act, it is the right of the worker to be trained and retrained for the development of skills. It is my hope that those of you who find yourselves directly involved in the day to day management of workers will strictly comply with these provisions in the Act”, he added

The Chairman of the Planning Committee, Dr. Edward Kwapong, who is also the Vice-President of IHRMP, expressed delight and appreciation to various sponsors for making sure that the 1st Ghana HR Star Awards has been successfully done.

Mr. Adadevoh (right) receiving the HR Star Award on behalf of GGBL

The event, which was attended by HR Practitioners, Governing Council members, Corporate bodies and the general public, was sponsored by CDH-Phoenix as headline sponsor. Other sponsors include GCB Bank, Tullow Oil Ghana, Ghana Water Company Ltd, Fidelity Bank, Unilever Ghana, South Akim Rural Bank, Raincoat Roofing Systems, Tema Lube Oil Company Ltd, Valco, Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, Everpure Ghana Ltd and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. Other media sponsors include Graphic Communications Group Limited, New Times Corporation, Multimedia, Daily Guide, Parliamentary News, Today’s Newspaper and KPMG.