Finalists and winners of BPTW 2008 announced

Congratulations to the finalists and winners of the unlimited/JRA Best Places to Work Awards 2008, announced at a sold-out black tie event at Auckland’s Langham Hotel on Wednesday night.

The evening was a huge success, with more than 430 people in attendance. More FM radio personality Jeremy Corbett was MC for the night, and his lively performance aided by some outstanding acceptance speeches by award recipients made for a memorable night out. Our thanks also to Auckland band, Union, who’s performance was outstanding also, as the hundreds of people who crowded the dance floor at the conclusion of the evening’s formalities will attest.

The full press release can be read on our website, but if you’d like a more visual tour of the finalists and winners and their track record, visit our Hall of Fame.

JRA releases third Employee Engagement publication - ‘Stories of Success’

Also released at the Awards Evening on Wednesday was the third in a series of publications written by JRA on the topic of ‘employee engagement’. Most of our clients will be familiar with our 2006 publication – ‘the Green Book’ – which established the case for an engagement strategy by focusing on the link between engagement and bottom-line performance, and our 2007 ‘Blue Book’ , which looked at post-survey processes and explored how organisations went about converting the insight gained from their survey and engagement analyses into action.

Our 2008 ‘Silver Book’ publication – ‘Stories of Success’ – takes the next step and features a series of case studies illustrating how a range of very different organisations have gone about strengthening the ‘four pillars’ of their great workplaces via innovative yet practical initiatives. As these case studies all illustrate, the payback to enhanced engagement levels is substantial.

Recession or not, sustainable workplaces – the ones that will survive – will be those where people turn up for work because they want to, that go the extra mile to help you succeed, and are constantly looking for better ways of doing things. And as these case studies show, it can be done!

Stories of Success is available for download now, and if you’re a current JRA client you’ll be receiving a beautiful hard copy version in the post in December.

Correction to unlimited magazine article

This month’s issue of unlimited magazine, containing the ‘Best Places to Work’ article, contains an error that we feel it is important to correct. On the first page of the BPTW article, a breakout box lists 10 things that ‘drive happy workers.’ This is incorrect – the 10 items listed are actually the questions rated highest by NZ employees. The correct list of top 10 key drivers of employee engagement for BPTW 2008 are:

1. I feel a sense of belonging to this organisation
2. My job gives me a sense of personal achievement
3. I feel my contribution is valued in this organisation
4. I have confidence in the leadership of this organisation
5. I believe in what this organisation is trying to accomplish
6. There is a sense of “common purpose” in this organisation
7. My job meets my current needs and expectations
8. I know how my work contributes to the success of this organisation
9. There are career and personal development opportunities for me in this organisation
10. I am sufficiently involved in decisions that affect the way I do my job
    

Best Places to Work Seminar Series

Some of you may have noticed an advertisement in the latest unlimited magazine for the Seminar Series. The advertisement was placed in error, and the Seminars will not be held on 24 & 26 March 2009. A final decision on whether the Seminars in their current format will take place in 2009 has yet to be made, and certainly there no decision has been made on the timing of this or any replacement event as yet. We apologies for any confusion this may have caused - please watch this space for further information!

Regards
The Team at JRA