Sri Lanka’s HRM Awards 2007’s Super 10 unveiled

Preceded by much publicity, the HRM Awards 2007 Super 10 took place at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo at a gala event that saw some of Sri Lanka’s leading corporates receiving honours for their master HRM strategies.

The event was organised by the Association of Human Resources Professionals (AHRP), together with Hewitt Associates, India the world’s foremost provider of Human Resources consulting and outsourcing services.

The Super 10 who received Gold Awards were Ceylon Tobacco Company, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd., DFCC, Hatton National Bank, HSBC, Keells Hotel Management Services, MAS Intimates Pvt. Ltd., Sampath Bank Ltd, Sri Lankan Airlines Ltd. and Virtusa (Pvt) Ltd.

As the technical content partners for the HRM Awards 2007 - Super 10, Hewitt used their expertise to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the HRM systems of competing organisations, designed the assessing guidelines, and also prepared a report that would help participating companies to asses their strengths and weaknesses against best practices. 93 companies contended, 9 companies received ‘Silver’ Awards and 10 received ‘Gold’ together with the prestigious Super 10 tag.

The companies to walk away with Silver Awards were Aitken Spence PLC, Fonterra Brands (Lanka) Pvt. Ltd., Hemas Manufacturing, Heritance Kandalama, John Keells Computer Services, Nations Trust Bank, Sri Lanka Insurance Corp. Ltd., TransAsia Hotel PLC and Union Assurance PLC.

Keynote speaker, Managing Director, PIM - International centre in Emirates, Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara commented that several conglomerates are now making efforts to give more importance to service than actual manufacturing.

He also urged local companies to collaborate and forge strong relationships with international organisations, pursuing small markets favorable to Sri Lanka as an approach to dealing with the brain drain.

“We can tolerate the brain drain if people go abroad, get experience, comeback and give back their expertise to the country,” he said.

President of the HRP, Niroshan Silva, stated, “The HRM Awards 2007 - Super 10 highlighted the value and potential of human resources, the importance of equipping them with skills, and having HR strategies through which talent may be managed to ensure a true celebration of the people factor in business growth.”

The panel of judges for the awards, chaired by Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara (Managing Director - PIM International Centre, Emirates), comprised Dr Santrupt B Misra (Director - Aditya Birla Group), John Lavelle (former HR Strategy Advisor - World Bank), Dr Norman Maharaj (Commissioner - Public Services Commission, South Africa), Aruna Fernando (President - CIMA Sri Lanka) and Ravi Peiris (Director General - Employers Federation of Ceylon).