Finalists announced in JRA Best Workplaces Awards 2011

October 27, 2011

Finalists announced in JRA Best Workplaces Awards 2011

The finalists in this year’s JRA Best Workplaces Awards have been announced, as the search heats up to find New Zealand’s best place to work.

This year a record number of employees gave feedback on their workplaces, with more than 31,700 Kiwis responding to the JRA Best Workplaces Survey from 237 different organisations across the country.

Now in its 12th year, the survey uses confidential feedback from organisations’ employees to rate their employers. As the largest survey of workplace climate and employee opinion in the country it has become the benchmark for best workplace practices nationwide.

The 35 finalists include organisations of all sizes, ranging from the two smallest- the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission and Optimal Usability, both with 21 employees, to Vero Insurance which has 912 employees.

A wide range of sectors is represented in this year’s finalists who come from all over the country, from small software firm ADInstruments in Dunedin, Dricon concrete products in Tuakau to New World in Te Rapa.

The winners of four categories; Small Workplace, Small-Medium Workplace, Medium-Large Workplace and Large Workplace, as well as Overall Winner will be announced at a black tie awards ceremony in Auckland on November 17.

Last year’s Overall Winner, MARS New Zealand, has returned once again as a finalist in the Medium-Large Workplace category, proving its consistency as a top-grade employer.

Although many are appearing as a finalist for the second or third years in a row, almost 35 per cent are first-time finalists, including GrabOne, Soltius, Cardinal Logistics and Draft FCB New Zealand.

Of this year’s participating organisations, 29 per cent entered the survey for the first time. “We’re thrilled to see a strong uptake of the survey by first-time participants this year,” says Sanchia Yonge, Managing Director, Kenexa|JRA. “This is demonstrative that listening to employees, creating great workplaces and measuring against other successful companies in New Zealand has become a business imperative and is essential to compete effectively in today’s market.”

As well as taking the prestige of being the country’s best workplace back to the office, the winning organisations will be featured in a special New Zealand Herald supplement and throughout other media and they’ll enjoy a boost to their employment brands.

The survey, which invites employees to give valuable feedback on what their organisation is like as a place to work, takes employees just ten minutes to complete and covers aspects of workplace climate including culture and values, common purpose, communication, learning and development, and reward and recognition.

For more information on the JRA Best Workplaces Survey and Awards please visit www.bestworkplaces.co.nz

Finalists in the Small Workplace category are:

ADInstruments, Auckland Radiation Oncology, Dricon, Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission, Entertainment Publications, Inspire Group, Mansons TCLM, Maven International, Optimal Usability and Porter Novelli.

Finalists in the Small-Medium Workplace category are:

Aviation Tourism and Travel Training Organisation, Brother International (NZ), Cardinal Logistics, footsteps education, Giltrap City Toyota, GrabOne, Hyundai Motors NZ, Mercy Hospice Auckland, Obex Medical and Soltius New Zealand.

Finalists in the Medium-Large Workplace category are:

Arrow International, DraftFCB New Zealand, Duncan Cotterill Lawyers, FMG, Mars New Zealand, New World Te Rapa, Overland Footwear, South Taranaki District Council, The Laminex Group and Trade Me.

Finalists in the Large Workplace category are:

AA Insurance, Flight Centre (NZ), Southern Cross Medical Care Society, Warehouse Stationery and Vero Insurance New Zealand.

ENDS

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