This is the highest honor and most coveted award at the Canadian HR Awards. This award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the industry as a whole through visionary people management strategies and leadership.

We accept nominations in this category, however these are not reviewed by the judging panel, we will conduct extensive face to face and telephone research within the industry to determine the most deserving recipient of this award.

Criteria:

An established history of distinguished service (15 years of more) to the HR profession

Must have made a lasting contribution to organizations over the years

Exhibited leadership and provided inspiration to others in the sector

Award for women in any facet of the HR profession, whose astounding personal and professional achievements have earned them a place among the industry’s best.

Criteria:

A brief history of the nominee’s career in HR.

Examples or instances that best demonstrate how the nominee has championed HR best practices within their organization over the past 12 months.

Relevant accolades, achievements continuing education, leadership in associations, pro bono work, speaker engagements and press features over the past 3 years.

This award of excellence recognizes the outstanding young insurance broker in the insurance industry who has shown the highest potential for greater leadership and has exceled at pushing the envelope with innovation and growth, garnering industry’s attention and the respect of peers.

To be eligible, nominees must be 40 or younger as of December 31, 2020.

Finalists will be invited to provide supporting documentation for submission to the IBCA judging panel.

When judging this category, the following criteria will be considered:

Open to any insurance broker under 40

YoY growth in # of clients, policies written, new business

Overall approach to business development, client service, client education, and relationship management reflecting business success

Use of technology, marketing/branding and innovation in business strategy

Relevant achievements over the past 12 months (inc. accolades, courses/certifications completed, speaking engagements, active efforts to raise education, press features, etc.)

This category is open to the individual lawyer who has demonstrated a sense of excellence in the provision of employment law services.

The award may relate to litigation or other relevant legal service(s) provided by the individual.

Criteria:

Outline the specialization/service/solution/s that the nominee offers, their unique value proposition and what they consider to be their major strengths in comparison with their competitors.

Highlight up to 3 deal/case/instance/s over the past 12 months that best demonstrate the nominee’s success, expertise and commitment to HR professionals, as an individual employment lawyer.

Outline any relevant achievements over the past 12 months. For example: continuing education, accolades, affiliations, involvement in community/associations, speaking engagements, press features that highlight the nominee’s commitment to the HR sector

This award recognizes the HR leaders of the future, with at least 5 years of human resources experience but no more than 10 and a demonstrated commitment to the function.

Criteria:

A brief history of the nominee’s career in HR, demonstrating progression through different roles.

Describe at least one HR initiative or program implemented or improved within the past 12 months in which the nominee led or played an integral role and the nominee’s role in the success of the initiative.

Ways in which the nominee has further advanced their career as an HR professional over the past 12 months (e.g. awards and accolades, continuing education, involvement in associations, speaking engagements, other solid efforts to highlight the importance of HR).

This award recognizes the CEO who has driven successful HR strategies from the top by putting people first and championing innovative HR values.

Criteria:

Evidence of your organizations growth and achievements, reflective of the nominated CEO’s effective leadership over the past 12 months.

Clear examples that best demonstrate the nominated CEO’s commitment to the organization’s HR function (e.g. budget applied to HR initiatives, time spent by executive team on HR issues, HR reporting structure, etc.).

Examples that best demonstrate the nominated CEO’s clear contribution to workplace culture, values, and employee engagement within your organization.

This award recognizes the HR professional at the executive level, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership during the last 12 months.

Criteria:

A brief history of the nominee’s career in HR, including career highlights, relevant accolades, continuing education, leadership in associations, speaker engagements and press features over the past 12 months.

Ways in which the nominee has improved the organization’s overall HR strategy over the past 12 months.

Outline at least two major HR initiatives/programs within the past 12 months that best demonstrate the nominee’s leadership excellence and spirit of innovation.

At least one major challenge/issue that the organization faced within the past 12 months and the nominee’s role in resolving this.

This category is open to the individual lawyer who has demonstrated a sense of excellence in the provision of employment law services.

The award may relate to litigation or other relevant legal service(s) provided by the individual.

Criteria:

Outline the specialization/service/solution/s that the nominee offers, their unique value proposition and what they consider to be their major strengths in comparison with their competitors.

Highlight up to 3 deal/case/instance/s over the past 12 months that best demonstrate the nominee’s success, expertise and commitment to HR professionals, as an individual employment lawyer.

Outline any relevant achievements over the past 12 months. For example: continuing education, accolades, affiliations, involvement in community/associations, speaking engagements, press features that highlight the nominee’s commitment to the HR sector

The retail and hospitality industries have unique needs when it comes to HR services. This award recognizes the most outstanding HR team of the year within retail or hospitality that has excelled within combatting these unique challenges, using innovative means. This team has excelled within the HR function and across their business as a whole, by partnering with different business functions. This award focuses on the team’s collaborative approach to the HR function as a whole.

Criteria:

Describe your HR teams overall HR strategy and objectives over the past 12 months, and how these align with the organization’s broader business objectives and challenges, explaining how each area/component of your HR team contributed to your strategy.

Outline at least two major HR initiatives or programs implemented and/or improved within the past 12 months that best demonstrate your team’s efficiency and spirit of innovation.

Provide at least two examples that best demonstrate your team’s impact on other functions within your organization over the past 12 months.

This award recognizes an organization that has diversity and inclusion at the heart of its business, providing programs for employees from five groups including women, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples and the LGBTI community.

Criteria:

Outline your organization’s overall approach to workplace diversity and inclusion and how this aligns with broader business objectives and values.

Outline at least one major initiative for diversity groups (women, minorities, PWD, Aboriginal peoples, LGBTQ+ community, etc.) implemented within the past 12 months and to highlight how the initiative is innovative, successful, and above standard practice.

This award recognizes the character and personality of your organization, what makes your organization unique and its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors and attitudes.

Criteria:

Provide a brief overview of your organization’s employer brand and workplace culture and describe how these align with broader business objectives.

Describe how key internal practices, policies, communication tools and/or structures reinforce culture on all levels of the organization including how your leaders and senior management facilitate building your culture.

Outline any major traditions, programs and initiatives that best reflect and contribute to your workplace culture.

Describe how your organization’s culture positively impacts recruitment, employee engagement and employee retention over.

This category is open to firms from across Canada where the focus is primarily on the practice area of Labour & Employment law.

Criteria:

Outline your business model, including the specialization/service/solution/s offered, your unique value proposition and major strengths in comparison with your competitors.

Highlight at least one deal/case/instance in the past 12 months that best demonstrates your firm’s success, expertise and commitment to HR professionals (details remain confidential).

Describe your firm’s commitment and efforts towards its own talent and workplace development, and how this aligns with your firm's broader business objectives and vision.

This award recognizes the organization that has embedded corporate social responsibility into its culture, in particular through its people and entrants should demonstrate the role HR has played in the strategy and execution of CSR initiatives.

Criteria:

Describe at least 1 major CSR program/initiative, which was implemented or improved within the past 12 months.

Outline the ways in which your CSR strategy aligns with your organization’s broader HR goals/strategies and how they enhance your overall business.

Outline the ways in which your CSR program/initiative has made a meaningful impact on local, national or international causes or communities over the past 12 months.

Outline the ways that the HR function encourages your people to be a part of CSR programs/initiatives.

How prospective employees feel about your Employer Brand ultimately determines whether your company is a great place to work at or not. This award recognizes the organization that has developed, implemented or participated in the most compelling Employer Branding initiative or campaign.

Criteria:

Provide a brief overview of your organization’s employer brand and describe how this aligns with your employee value proposition and broader business objectives.

Outline any employer branding campaigns/efforts/initiatives that were implemented/improved over the past 12 months.

Describe the success of your employer brand and its positive impact to your recruitment strategy, employee engagement and employee retention over the past 12 months.

This award recognizes and celebrates the HR team that has delivered the most outstanding organizational benefits by directly linking the training needs of their people, at all levels, to the business needs of their organization.

Criteria:

Outline your organization's overall approach to learning and development and how this aligns with broader business objectives including investment of finances/time/other resources in the development of employees.

Describe at least one major learning and development program/initiative that was implemented or improved over the past 12 months, highlighting how it is unique, innovative, and above the industry standard.

Outline the methods of delivery of the learning and development services (e.g. through virtual mentoring, e-learning, software, gamification, etc.) and the ways in which the programs are communicated internally.

This award celebrates excellence and innovation in ways of identifying and managing internal talent, as well as the ways in which development opportunities are delivered.

Criteria:

Describe your organization’s overall approach to talent identification and development over the past 12 months, and how this aligns with broader business objectives and your organization’s onboarding or integration processes.

Outline the ways in which your organization uses succession planning, training and development and performance management to align organizational needs with employee ambitions.

Outline the success of your talent management strategy in your target areas and the impact it has made to your overall organization over the past 12 months.

This award recognizes the most outstanding HR team of the year, in an organization with fewer than 500 employees in Canada, where the team has excelled within the HR function and across their business as a whole, by partnering with different business functions. This award focuses on the team’s collaborative approach to the HR function as a whole.

Criteria:

Describe your HR teams overall HR strategy and objectives over the past 12 months, and how these align with the organization’s broader business objectives and challenges, explaining how each area/component of your HR team contributed to your strategy.

Outline at least two major HR initiatives or programs implemented and/or improved within the past 12 months that best demonstrate your team’s efficiency and spirit of innovation.

Provide at least two examples that best demonstrate your team’s impact on other functions within your organization over the past 12 months.

The financial services industry has unique needs when it comes to HR services. This award recognizes the most outstanding HR team of the year within financial services that has excelled within combatting these unique challenges, using innovative means. This team has excelled within the HR function and across their business as a whole, by partnering with different business functions. This award focuses on the team’s collaborative approach to the HR function as a whole.

Criteria:

Describe your HR teams overall HR strategy and objectives over the past 12 months, and how these align with the organization’s broader business objectives and challenges, explaining how each area/component of your HR team contributed to your strategy.

Outline at least two major HR initiatives or programs implemented and/or improved within the past 12 months that best demonstrate your team’s efficiency and spirit of innovation.

Provide at least two examples that best demonstrate your team’s impact on other functions within your organization over the past 12 months.

This award recognizes excellence and innovation in recruiting and staffing initiatives. Entries could range from specific one-off projects in key areas through to the implementation of new policies covering all resourcing activities.

Criteria:

Outline your overall approach to recruitment over the past 12 – 18 months, as well as the business challenges it addresses (e.g. aging workforce, special projects, skills attraction, graduate recruitment, etc.).

Outline one relevant recruitment program/initiative/campaign/s implemented and/or improved over the past 12 months, including the resources and tools used.

Describe how you have integrated your employer brand and workplace culture into your recruitment process and to describe the typical candidate experience.

This award recognizes the HR team that is using the latest HR-specific technology to greatest effect, making it a responsive and effective HR department.

Criteria:

Describe the relevant HR technology or solution implemented and/or enhanced within your organization over the past 12 months, and how the technology or solution supports your overall HR strategy.

Outline the needs identification process for the implementation of the technology and the describe the ROI and positive outcomes gained from the use of the HR technology (e.g. improved efficiencies, impact on staff engagement, increase in performance). Provide success metrics where possible.

This award recognizes the team that has delivered the most unique, compelling and relevant internal or external HR communication strategy.

Criteria:

Describe your organization’s overall HR communication strategy over the past 12 months and how this aligns with broader business objectives.

Outline the various channels used for your strategy and related campaigns within the past 12 months (e.g. email communications, company intranet, internal social media platform, daily/weekly/monthly newsletter, company mobile app, etc.)