Blog | July 1st, 2014
H3 in attendance at the Irish News Workplace and Employment awards
H3 were honoured to be in attendance at the Irish News Workplace and Employment awards presenting as one of seven sponsors of the event.
A selection of Northern Ireland’s most visionary and people-focused companies were honoured at the eighth annual Irish News Workplace & Employment Awards, held in the spectacular surroundings of Titanic Belfast.
Representatives from a cross section of businesses/organisations, both in the public and private sector, were among the 500-strong audience. A record 20 awards were handed over to household business names like Eircom, Allstate NI, Lloyds Banking Group, Musgrave and O’Neill’s Sportwear. Belfast City Council and the NI Civil Service were also among the public sector recipients, as were two Derry schools in St Mary’s College and St Cecilia’s.
New companies had their names engraved on the iconic and much sought-after WEA trophies. These included Ballyrashane Creamery, TotalMobile and double winner, Belfast software company Automated Intelligence.
The newly-introduced Career Inspiration Award that was sub-divided into four categories for small, medium, large and education, saw winners, Young Enterprise NI, Automated Intelligence, Allstate NI and St Cecilia’s take away awards.
This year a record number of companies entered including entries from public sector, education, IT and manufacturing sectors; showcasing an unquestionably higher standard than any previous year.
John Brolly, Irish News marketing manager said, “We’ve been overwhelmed yet again by the runaway success of the Workplace & Employment Awards,”
“This high-calibre winners’ list proves that, as our economy begins to pick up again, Northern Ireland possesses the visionary leadership and flexible working environment to thrive and prosper.”
Stormont Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry, who was a top-table guest at the function (and whose department has been a staunch supporter of the Workplace & Employment Awards) since their inception in 2007, told the audience that the initiative reinforces the message that the north has people in its workforce capable of making “a real difference” to the economy.
“If we are to compete in a global economic arena, we must continue to do all we can to drive up skills on all fronts, and facilitating the creation of a workforce equipped with the skills needed by companies within Northern Ireland is the strategic focus,” he said. “Skills are widely accepted as the key raw material required in any modern knowledge-based economy and are one of the main drivers in how we will achieve our long term economic goals,” he added.
Mark Regan, CEO of Kingsbridge Private Hospital, presented the awards on behalf of H3 Health Insurance, and sat on this year’s judging panel said, “We were delighted to be in attendance at the Workplace & Employment awards. Northern Ireland has a fantastic network of companies with employees who are helping drive Northern Ireland’s commerce forward. The recognition from the Irish News Awards is a great achievement for the winners.”
The awards were supported by seven key business partners in Tughans, Liberty IT, Investors in People, Tesco, H3 Health Insurance, PowerNI and Titanic Belfast, and were endorsed by industry bodies the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).
Click here to find out about this year’s winners.