Inbox: Awards seeking winners

Entries are now open for the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards 2012. Now in their 15th year, the awards showcase employers who help employees make the most of their time and talents, leading to greater productivity and better bottom line.
Over the years, the awards have celebrated flexible work programmes, literacy and numeracy training, and projects to encourage greater workforce cohesion.
Sharing success stories attracts positive publicity, according to Wynn Schollum, manager of Programme Incubator, the Hawkes’ Bay District Health Board employment initiative that inspires teenagers into health careers and winner of last year’s Supreme Award.
“The resulting publicity from radio, publications and networking has increased awareness about Programme Incubator,” he says, “and we have subsequently received invitations to present at conferences and promote the concept to new audiences.”
EEO Trust chairman Michael Barnett says that the awards are good opportunity for employers to demonstrate what they are doing to help drive greater engagement and productivity. “We all want our companies to be successful,” he says, “and people are the key to that success.”
There are five categories in the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards, with Supreme Winner chosen from the winners of each category. The categories are:
• Tomorrow’s Workforce Award, which recognises innovative responses to tomorrow’s employment challenges;
• The Diversity Award, for organisations which make the most of employee diversity;
• The Work & Life Award, which celebrates initiatives that create opportunities for greater engagement and productivity;
• The Skills Highway Award, which recognises workplaces which can show how they have helped improve their employees’ reading, maths and communication skills;
• The Walk the Talk Award, which celebrates effective diversity leaders.
Entries for the EEO Trust Work & Life Awards 2012 close on Thursday May 17. The awards gala dinner will be held in Auckland on August 30. Organisations of any size or sector can enter, whether or not they are members of the EEO Trust.
Find out more at www.eeotrust.org.nz, and see the stories of past entrants at www.youtube.com/eeotrust.