JURY REPORT ON THE WINNER OF THE 1ST EAPM EUROPEAN HR AWARD 2009
With the world’s economy in turmoil, the challenges for the field of Human Resource Management are many.
HR can use the economic disruption we face to improve its relevance and added value, so it can emerge stronger during the economic recovery. HR’s role in the economic storm of 2009 and beyond is to be the architect of the flexible organisation and help manage to set, define and execute the people’s agenda for the years to come. For that, trends, challenges and characteristics of today’s situation must be studied in depth in terms of People, Planet and Profit.
It’s with this context in mind that the EAPM decided to embrace the Dutch initiative for the 1st EAPM European HR Award, to be granted in June 2009.
The EAPM embodies 28 participating national HR organisations from the continent which represents and unifies several hundred thousand European HR-professionals.
These organisations give voice to millions of colleagues facing the challenges of the crisis and beyond. By initiating this Award, we voice and brand our professional association and its vision on the future.
In the year 2007, during the EAPM conference in >Vienna, we presented our initiative for this Award to the EAPM Board and its delegates and received many enthusiastic reactions. Over 20 countries signed up to participate and in many national conferences in 2008, national winners were selected to compete for the 1st EAPM European Award.
From all the essays submitted, we decided to select six nominees for this contest: Cyprus, Finland, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Russia. Today, all of the nominees are present, all of them already national winners in their own countries. Quite a few of the other national winners who were not nominated are present as well.
The European Jury consists of the members of EAPM’s Executive Board, with myself as Chairman. Before reading the verdict, let’s introduce our nominees.
First Cyprus. A very relevant essay written by Eline Vassiliou on the Lisbon Agenda for Growth and Employment, the Threats to the European Social Model and the current financial crisis. Eline states that our social model is under threat and that HR should play its role in preserving the basic elements of the model. By finding ways to minimise costs, other than laying people off or cutting down investment on training, employers will help towards achieving the targets of the Lisbon agenda and at the same time help to preserve the model.
A well written essay from Cyprus from a true European perspective.
Henna Tomperi from Finland, writes about the Brave New HR. She’s posing essential questions such as: are organisations built to help people and to work together as effectively as possible or are people there just to fit into the slots assigned to them in the organisational charts and process descriptions. What’s the most important role for HR in building an organisation for the future? She pictures three main cornerstones in motivating staff: meaningful targets, an ethical environment and trust in our own competences. With this in mind, the brave new HR will fight for its future. No guts, no glory!!!.
Magali Chalumeau of France has a story on HR generalists in the making: what are focal issues for sustainable development for 2020. He takes this as an imaginary theme for a conference in January 2009 and states that the strategy of any organisation in 2020 will need to focus on the C for Culture, the C for Human Capital and the C for Control. On these three themes, the combination of resources should allow readiness and progress, finding the appropriate rhythm as HR generalist. A very novel and inviting format from France.
Italy sent Erminia Grippo, who wrote on the increased participation of HR in the Strategy of Poste Italy . The spread of this company gives it a particular potential to add its high value added services and impact on Corporate Social Responsibility, even in the most isolated areas of Italy. Erminia describes various successful projects in this field, one of them being Poste Bimbi- a poste nursery which started in Rome and expanded all over the country. HR played a huge role in the strategies behind this and other projects. Italy has shown how strategy, execution and helping communities can go hand in hand.
Lia Hol from the Netherlands puts HR on the map in pushing the agenda for sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. HR should raise new types of questions on what is and should be behind the concepts of People, Planet and Profit. She advocates many combinations to be made in aligning the answers to this fundamental question by bringing people together through dialogue, reflection and feedback. This will lead to chemistry and a more sustainable organisation and society. Quite a passionate piece from the Netherlands.
Finally, Galina Pogodina from Russia. She writes about the future of HRM in the 21 century. In Russia, the professional community wonders: is there any future for an HR-manager and if so, what’s it like. This question is not idle. Many executives in Russia seem to consider HR as the Messiah who can salvage the company from the upcoming understaffing and work miracles by solving current administrative and personnel problems. According to Russian employers’ estimates, HR Director is sixth in the ranking of the 100 most sought-after professions. Galina advocates that HR should live up to that expectation. For her, the future of HR lies in its strategic function and importance, by helping top managers of companies to choose the best possible people strategy. A thorough essay from Russia.
So now, we have the reached the moment to name and award the European winner.
First, some words about the awards.
We will award all national winners with a recently published European book “HRM in Europe”, describing theoretical and practical perspectives in 13 European countries.
These books are sponsored by EAPM.
The European winner though will receive a beautiful statue which symbolises the exchange of information and inspiration in a dynamic network. This is for them to keep.
Further, we will grant a rotating Award which can be held until the moment that EAPM will give out the 2nd EAPM European HR Award. Finally the winner will be invited to attend the EAPM conference in Turkey in 2011, sponsored by our Turkish colleagues.
Finally, the moment of truth: the 1st EAPM European HR Award will go to the person who has proven capable of a thorough analysis of the problem and establishing a clear link to current and future HR challenges. In comparison to other essays, this essay is best in taking a broad and integral view of the future of our profession by means of a creative and daring approach to applications of current and/new HR instruments and new ways of thinking. Therefore, for 2009, the European HR Award will go to… Henna Tomperi. Congratulations.
Lucas van Wees
Chairman 1st EAPM
European HR Award
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