2019 Optimas Award Winners for Business Impact

The Business Impact award recognizes organizations that have developed a program to deliver significant financial impact or forge or maintain a winning edge over the organization’s competition. Here are the winners for 2019:

Gold: Mercer Consulting (India) Pvt Ltd

After doubling its customer base following an acquisition, Mercer Consulting needed to adjust its workforce to accommodate the brisk expansion. Rather than consider customer-service bots or hire new staff by the dozens, Mercer saw the solution in its existing talent pool.

The Make in India program was designed to create a cross-location operating model between Mercer and its partner of 13 years, Global Operations Shared Services ANZ. The partnership emboldened Mercer in creating the strategy for Make in India. The program was an answer to challenges faced by Mercer such as inadequate workforce, depleting support structure and process inefficiencies in its business. By creating a multiskilled and engaged team, Mercer was able to save over $3 million in one year.

Mercer and Global Operations Shared Services ANZ have worked together on more than 50 projects, and according to the Optimas Award application, Make in India has been their most ambitious and transformational.

By cross-skilling, upskilling and reskilling its current employees, Mercer was able to transition 120 positions to the India office. Boundaries between roles evaporated as Mercer shifted focus to create a task force equipped to find solutions for whatever problems they may face.

Digital fluency, rather than literacy, was also one of the key strengths Mercer wanted to instill in its staff in India. Creating actual consultants instead of administrators was key for ensuring dexterous personnel.

“Make in India totally aligns itself with where we want to see ourselves globally. The philosophy and strategy behind the program breaks the silos that we have been working in,” said Transformation Manager Shane Kelly. “It outlines setting up seamless streams of work to ensure minimum handoffs, oriented toward innovation to achieve best possible outcomes.”

For its efforts to use its Make in India initiative to invest in their employees through multiple channels of culture and skill, Mercer Consulting is the 2019 Optimas Award Gold winner for Business Impact.

“Make in India totally aligns itself with where we want to be globally. The philosophy and strategy behind the program breaks the silos that we have been working in.”

Shane Kelly, transformation manager

Silver: Turner

Through online seminars, hiring managers and leaders at Turner are able to not only build a pool of talent from varied backgrounds but also create an inclusive culture so that talent is motivated to stay.

The Bold Hiring initiative began in 2017 and is expected to expand to parent company WarnerMedia during company restructuring.

“If Turner is to compete with both traditional and nontraditional competitors, it’s important that everyone involved in talent selection understand key moments of choice where we have the opportunity to challenge assumptions and think about candidates in different ways,” Turner stated in its application.

For its efforts to use its Bold Hiring initiative to optimize a workforce based on celebrating diversity rather than the status quo, Turner is the 2019 Optimas Award Silver winner for Business Impact.

Go here to read about the rest of the Optimas winners for 2019.