Dubai, UAE, 18 November, 2015: Global fashion and lifestyle brand conglomerate, Apparel Group has been recognised as the region’s Employer of the Year at the Middle East HR Excellence Awards 2015 in a gala dinner ceremony at The Address Hotel, Downtown Dubai.
The UAE-based company, which represents international brands such as Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole, Aldo and Tim Hortons, employs more than 10,500 staff from across the world and was rewarded for its people development strategies which create a productive, engaged and motivated workforce.
Apparel believes in turning dreams into reality and the company prides itself on giving everyone – customers, stakeholders and employees – an equal opportunity to do so. Nilesh Ved, Chairman of the Apparel Group, said, “Our values, commitment and service come first and so do the people who work with us.”
A host of winners were celebrating with colleagues and associates at the gala dinner award ceremony, held on Tuesday 17 November as part of the 12th edition of the HR Summit & Expo, which concludes at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Wednesday 18 November.
Senior representatives from Abu Dhabi Police proudly accepted their win in the Innovation in Executive and Leadership Development category, which rewarded the implementation and planning of a coaching, training and executive development strategy to promote and develop leaders.
The HR Team of the Year award went to WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff which demonstrated their impact on the HR function across the overall business. Emirates NBD took home the Innovation in Employee Engagement accolade, while FGB was recognised for their Learning and Development programmes, winning the Innovation in Learning and Development award.
The Nationalisation Initiative of the Year award went to Etihad Airways, which demonstrated their results in increasing and retaining the number of Nationals in the organisation. Ray Gammell, Chief People and Performance Officer at Etihad Airways, said, “UAE national development is our number one priority. Etihad Airways invests in developing UAE nationals into future aviation leaders through its highly successful developmental programmes, training, business exchange and educational opportunities.”
Within the individual categories, Amna Abdulaziz Almahari, Senior Team Leader at the Abu Dhabi Accountability Authority won HR’s Rising Star award, acknowledging her as an emerging talent in the HR field who shows high potential for future achievement, and Shatha Al Maskiry, Managing Director at Protiviti Oman, took home the HR Professional of the Year.
Shatha Al Maskiry said, “Winning this prestigious award and being recognised is an absolute honour for me. I owe this award to my fantastic team who collectively stood by my side. Their agile mind-set to design innovative solutions so we can empower our clients in transforming and excelling their performance has been a key success. Witnessing our client’s confidence in tackling the complexity and challenges of today’s business climate is our best reward.”
Tanfeeth, the GCC’s first large-scale business service partner and a fully-owned subsidiary of Emirates NBD won the new Innovation in HR Analytics Utilisation category, an award which was created to recognise organisations that have most successfully designed and implemented HR analytics interventions to help solve broader business challenges and create business value through workforce insight.
Suhail Bin Tarraf, Chief Executive Officer at Tanfeeth, said, “We have invested a lot of time and effort into building an HR analytics capability that delivers actionable insight at a leadership level. The HR Excellence Awards are the highest honour for HR initiatives in this region and this is a great testament to the different teams involved.”
The Innovation in Recruitment and Employer Branding award was presented to Al-Futtaim due to their practices in candidate selection and recruitment. John Harker, Group Director Human Resources at Al-Futtaim, said, “It is a great honour to win this award. Al-Futtaim works continuously to innovate its HR practices to best support the business. Attracting quality talent to Al-Futtaim remains critical to our business success.”
Sponsored by the CIPD, Frazer Jones, Halogen Software and Parisma, the Middle East HR Excellence Awards 2015 are judged by an independent panel of HR professionals and was created to showcase the best HR talent in the region across public and private sectors.
Middle East HR Excellence Awards 2015 Winners
Category | Winner |
Employer of the Year | Apparel Group |
HR Team of the Year | WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff |
HR Professional of the Year | Shatha Al Maskiry |
HR’s Rising Star | Amna Abdulaziz Almahari |
Innovation in Employee Engagement | Emirates NBD |
Innovation in Executive and Leadership Development | Abu Dhabi Police |
Innovation in HR Analytics Utilisation | Tanfeeth |
Innovation in Learning & Development | FGB (First Gulf Bank) |
Innovation in Recruitment & Employer Branding | Al-Futtaim |
Nationalisation Initiative of the Year | Etihad Airways |
For further press information please contact:
Katie Johnston / Ahmad Huzayen
Total Communications
Tel: +971 4 428 1502
Email: katie@totalcompr.ae / ahmad@totalcompr.ae
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