HRP launches Sri Lanka Human Capital Management Awards 2016

By Charumini de Silva

The Association of Human Resources Professionals (HRP) in association with National Human Recourses Development Council of Sri Lanka (NHRDC) will organise the biennial ‘Sri Lanka Human Capital Management Awards 2016’ (SLHCM), the benchmark for industry best practices in Human Resources, titled ‘Shift 2020’.

The awards strive to provide a platform for public and private sector companies in Sri Lanka to evaluate the effectiveness of their human resource management (HRM) practices against internationally accepted guidelines with the technical partnership with the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), India.  

Speaking at the launch event HRP President Pradeepa Kekulawala held said SLHCM awards has transformed into a national level award scheme, where it had contributed to a great extent in upholding best HR practices in the country.

Giving an ear to the suggestion made by the NHRDC, this year the HRM will include the public sector attracting those officials also to the mainstream.  

“This year we are looking at a paradigm shift in competency and capability over traditional boundaries to create future ready talent for Sri Lanka,” he stressed. 

Noting that there is a divide in public and private sectors as private sector is focused on bottom-line, where as public sector is service driven; he pointed out that they would capture these realities in their evaluations. 

He said practical, topical and relevance of the public sector would be evaluated accordingly via a special tool developed by a special committee with the assistance of SHRM, thereby the public sector could participate without any difficulty.

“The size, nature, type and sector of the organisation do not matter. It is all about how organisations have demonstrated innovative and inspiring HR practices that has geared the organisations to embrace the future,” he added. 

Kekulawala said HRP, is the only exclusive network of practicing HR professionals that has turned into catalysts in the art of HR networking, bringing in best practices, professional management in HR that has taken membership into the national agenda. 

“We hope that both public and private sector will vigorously compete in the art of management of HR,” he added.

Guest speaker University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Prof.Mohan de Silva asserted quality human capital is vital for the development of any organisation or a country pointing out this award scheme is a great step taken by Sri Lanka in the right direction by involving both private and public sector. 

He emphasised that it was highly imperative to guide these organisations to adopt and practice the best practices in the industry to be competitive and become a globally competitive player. 

Highlighting that the actual relationship of organisations and human capital are getting complex Prof.de Silva suggested the adoption of innovative as well as practical practices are crucial to retain and develop the organisations and the country at large. 

“At the end of the day what matters is not the sector, but the progress of the country,” Prof.de Silva said. 

SHRM India CEO Achal Khanna stated it was great to be a part of the Sri Lanka Human Capital Management Awards which has now turned a national event.

“We are delighted to be a part of turning Sri Lanka’s 2020 big dream into reality,” she added.

Khanna commented the Government’s focus on developing its human capital ready to take on bigger challenges by 2020 adding that human resource would be the key differentiator in a world which is becoming flatter and flatter.

“We were in an era of scarcity of finance, we then moved to an era of technology and from these two key transformations the world is now differentiated only through its human capital. People are the key differentiator and hiring, developing and retaining that human capital in an organisation or a country has become a great challenge globally,” she explained. 

Ten Gold Awards, 10 Silver Awards and 10 Special Category Awards will be handed out this year. All applicants should submit their applications before 13 January 2017. The winners will be announced and felicitated at the SLHCM Awards Night scheduled to be held on 31 March 2017.

The panel of judges will comprise prominent local and international HR professionals and industrialists while the scientifically designed evaluation tool will first evaluate the best practices of participants against the established benchmarks facilitated by SHRM, India. Strict confidentiality is maintained throughout the evaluation. Shortlisted organisations will be ranked and assessed by a panel of independent auditors from SHRM.

Pix by Upul Abayasekara