IWorkforce Optimas Awards-i Selection Process

What makes a Workforce Optimas Award winner?

Winners Achieve Tangible Business Results
All of the winning organizations share some characteristics.In each company,

• The HR department is an active participant in helping the organizationachieve its business goals.

  
  

• The HR department understands the business issues surrounding the organizationand respond accordingly.

  
  

The mission of Workforce is to provide the HRtrends and tools that produce business results. The Optimas winners representthose organizations where HR professionals have looked at the trends and issues,developed the HR programs, implemented the HR tools and produced the desiredbusiness results.

How Workforce Optimas Awards Candidates Are Identified
First, HR professionals nominate their own HR departmentprograms and initiatives. The nomination form must be submitted by September19, 2003 to be considered for a 2004 Workforce Optimas Award.

In addition, Workforce editors spend monthscollecting information to identify other organizations that have the potentialto be winners. The data come from numerous sources: newspapers, business magazines,books, conferences and events, broadcast media, academics, previous winners,consultants and other HR professionals.

How Workforce Optimas Award Winners Are Chosen
 In the fall, the Workforce editorial staffmeets to determine the finalists. The editors use the following criteria todetermine the winners:

• Is there a clearly identified business issue?

  
  

• Are there quantifiable data that help clarify this business issue?

  
  

• Is there a strong HR component to the solution of the business issue?

  
  

• What is the HR program and how does it address the business issue?

  
  

• What are the quantifiable business results of the HR program?

  
  

• What are the non-measurable results that have a pay-off to the organization?

  
  

• Are there “tools” developed to support the HR initiative thatcould be adapted by other HR professionals?

  
  

• Does this HR initiative serve as a model for other HR departments?

  
  

• Does this HR program demonstrate the power of HR to have an impact on thebusiness results of the organization?

  
  

• Has the program been in operation a minimum of two years?

  
  

Once the candidates have been reviewed, the editorsnarrow the field to finalists in each category. Then the review startsanew. Through telephone interviews with key participants in the organization,a review of additional materials and other processes, the editors learn as muchas they can about the finalists. In the end, they reconvene to select the 10winners.

These winners are notified in December and announcedin Workforce the following March. They are also invited to participatein the Workforce Optimas Awards ceremony in March.

If you have questions about the Workforce OptimasAwards, contact Carroll Lachnit, Editor, at carroll@workforce.com.