NZ HR Awards Winners 2019

The Human Resources Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ), in association with Principal Sponsor Human Synergistics, are pleased to announce the winners and finalists for the NZ HR Awards, held at SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland last night.

The Awards recognise excellence in Human Resources and also highlight the importance of the profession in workplaces to help improve working conditions and also influence innovative, sustainable business strategy.

The deserved winners were;

Emerging HR Practitioner of the Year Award - Heidi Gillingham, AJ Hacket Bungy NZ

HR Specialist Award - Vicki Bazalo, Meridian Energy

HR Manager of the Year Award (sponsored by Talegent) - Katrina Van de Ven, Wintec

HR Generalist of the Year Award (sponsored by SHL) - Katie Williams, Vodafone

Diversity & Inclusion Award (sponsored by Skills) - Meridian Energy

Health, Safety & Wellbeing Award (sponsored by Southern Cross Health Society) - New Zealand Defence Force

Learning & Development Capability Award (sponsored by Open Polytechnic) - BNZ

Organisational Change & Development Award (sponsored by Human Synergistics) - Farmlands Co-Operative Group

Research Team of the Year - Massey University & AUT

Talent Acquisition, Development & Management Award (sponsored by Lee Hecht Harrison) - Fonterra

Workforce Experience Programme of the Year Award (sponsored by AskYourTeam) - Downer New Zealand

Christian Dahmen Memorial Award for HR Innovation & Technology (sponsored by ON-Brand Parters) - Fonterra

The HR Person of the Year Award was chosen from the winners of the HR Generalist (Katie Williams, Vodafone), HR Specialist (Vicki Bazalo, Meridian) and HR Manager (Katrina Van de Ven, Wintec) Awards. And the winner of the HR Person of the Year Award was Katie Williams - Vodafone.

Kristen Cooper was bestowed the prestigious title of Distinguished Fellow. This is an esteemed honour bestowed by the HRINZ Board on senior HR professionals across New Zealand, in recognition of their significant contribution.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is the greatest recognition and highest honour HRINZ can bestow. It acknowledges outstanding and ongoing contribution by an individual to the Human Resources profession in New Zealand.

This individual has made and continues to make this contribution through a career of exceptional service developed over 20+ years. Their contribution has clearly demonstrated a positive impact on the quality of the HR profession in NZ. And the deserved recipient was Richard Rudman.

HRINZ Chief Executive Nick McKissack says "The quality of this year's submissions has been outstanding and clearly demonstrates the talented HR professionals we have here in New Zealand. It's pleasing to see such a diverse range of individuals and organisations as winners. "

The following organisations are represented as finalists across the individual and organisational awards …, AJ Hackett Bungy, Armstrong Motor Group, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Aurecon, BNZ, Coca-Cola, Connetics, Downer, Employment Relations Specialist, Farmlands Co-operative, Fonterra, Higgins, IAG, IRD, Lifewise APT MMN, Massey University, Meridian, NZ Defence Force, OMD, Red Cross, Rocket Lab, Synlait, Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood NZ, University of Canterbury, Vodafone and Wintec.

The judging convener summarised … "The numerous high-quality applications are testament to the great work happening in the field of human resources here in New Zealand. It took much deliberation and consideration to pick finalists from such a quality field."

HRINZ would like to acknowledge the following sponsors… Principal Partner - Human Synergistics; award sponsors - AskYourTeam; Lee Hecht Harrison; ON-Brand Partners; Open Polytechnic; SHL; Skills, Southern Cross Health Society; Strategic Pay and Talegent.