By Business & Finance 
Michelle Carter, Astute Consulting, Simone Macleod-Nairn, Irish Life. Irish Life Employee Experience awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Irish Life Employee Experience Awards showcase companies excelling in Diversity and Inclusion, the War for Talent, Agile Working and Employee Experience
Last night, Business & Finance hosted the Employee Experience Awards, sponsored by Irish Life, where top companies from across Ireland convened to find out who won the coveted Employee Experience Award.
With entries from 30 companies, the judges, Neil Butler, Commercial Director at Business and Finance, IBEC’s Senior Labour Market Policy Executive Kara McGann and Simone Macleod-Nairn Chief People Officer & Group Head of Corporate Resources at Irish Life followed a rigorous judging process to arrive at the selection of winners below.
Selina McCarthy, Reflektor Consulting. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Hosting the evening was MC Selina McCarthy, an Employer Branding Consultant, welcoming attendees from the nominated companies. She introduced Business & Finance’s Managing Editor, Edel Corrigan, who outlined the collaboration between Business & Finance and Irish Life, which was launched with an Employee Experience breakfast panel in May featuring Sarah Manning, HR Director EMEA, Zendesk; Simone Macleod-Nairn, Chief People Officer & Group Head of Corporate Resources; Lisa Finnegan, HR Director, LinkedIn and Professor Niall Moyna, School of Health & Human Performance, Dublin City University (DCU). This was then followed with a content series profiling the best companies in Ireland and their Employee Experience initiatives featuring well-known companies such as PayPal, Magnet Networks and Mason Hayes Curran.
Edel Corrigan, Business & Finance. Irish Life Employee Experience awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Speaking at the Awards, Edel said,
“Throughout the series, reaching out to and finding out about the biggest and best companies in Ireland and the initiatives they have in place for Employee Experience was eye-opening. Ireland’s companies, whether indigenous or those who now call Ireland home, are well-established and dare I say, undoubtedly leading the field, in this area. “
She continued:
“We were delighted to partner with Irish Life on such an important topic and to create even more awareness of same through our in-depth profiling of some of the best companies in Ireland.”
Damian Fadden of Irish Life Health. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Irish Life’s Damian Fadden spoke about the importance of Employee Experience and how it impacts not only the employee themselves but the employers. “The growing influence of Millennials in the workplace means employees across the board expect more from their employer – more opportunity – more engagement – and a more enjoyable working experience.”
He continued:
“Where companies had focussed on employee engagement and culture; they are now focussing on the entire “Employee Experience” – bringing together all of the HR, Comms & Engagement, Rewards & Benefits practices that impact people on the job. From the war on talent through on-boarding; from career development to workspace, diversity, inclusion and more – people are demanding more from their employer.”
Employee Experience Awards winners
The Awards ceremony then got underway with the Award categories being announced as follows:
RCSI – Diversity and Inclusion
Alma Brennan of RCSI with her award, presented to her by Simone MacLeod-Nairn, Irish Life. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Speaking about RCSI’s achievement, judge Kara McGann said, “In a short space of time RCSI have made great strides in diversity and inclusion embedding it in their strategy and covering both staff and students.”
PayPal – War for Talent
Simone Macleod-Nairn, Irish Life (centre) presents the award to Annette Hickey and Tony O’Brien of Paypal. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Judge Simone about this win, “The philosophy and strategy appeals to a wide demographic of employees internally and externally.”
Agile Working – Ibec
Judge Neil Butler said, of the award: “Ibec have demonstrated a clear culturally driven focus and approach to work and flexibility, responding to the changing needs of both members and workforce”.
Simone Macleod-Nairn, Irish Life, presents the award to Maureen Brogan and Fiona Higgins, Senior Manager of Ibec’s Knowledge Centre. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Overall Employee Experience Award – EY
Simone Macleod-Nairn, Irish Life, presents the award to Eilis Keaney and Aoife Fenelon of EY. Irish Life Employee Experience Awards, WeWork offices, Iveagh Court, Dublin, Thursday 4th October 2018. Photo: Karl Burke.
Irish Life’s Simone Macleod-Nairn said of EY’s winning, “HR plays a key role to ensure organisations maximise the potential of their employees through development and learning, motivation and respect for the individual, they need to enable all employees to maximise their performance and aspirations – this is the ‘Employee Experience’.
EY demonstrates their dedication to these objectives with the strategies they have in place.”
Congratulations to all winners.
Watch below for a video recap of the event:
