The Association of Human Resource Professionals (HRP) will organize the HRM Awards, the recognized benchmark for industry best practices in Human Resources, for the 6^th time in 2014. The HRM Awards aim to provide a platform for public and private sector companies in Sri Lanka to evaluate the effectiveness of their HRM practices against internationally accepted guidelines. Widely considered a prestigious accolade that honours the passion and commitment of organizations whose innovative thinking and strategies have broken new ground in human resource management, being ranked as one of the HR ‘Super 10’ organizations is considered one of the top honours in the corporate world. The HRM Awards has a track record for recognizing and celebrating the very best in HR, every biennium since 2002. Initially launched by the Association of Human Resource Professionals to benchmark the ‘Best HRM Practices’ in Sri Lanka, the Awards have since then evolved into a competitive arena in which corporate giants and small companies alike compete for recognition and ranking as one of the ‘Super 10’ practitioners of HRM in the country. 
 
Ms L Chiranthi Cooray, Chairperson, HRM Awards 2014 stated, “The HRM Awards this year will feature 10 Gold Awards, 10 Silver Awards and 6 special category awards to the private sector. Reaffirming HRP’s commitment to develop public sector HR Best Practice, this year too there will be Awards participation of the public sector with three special Gold and Silver awards.  A key feature of the independent judging process is that strict confidentiality is maintained throughout the evaluation, with organizations being identified by a code number based on points/merit and the names of the participants being released, to judges, committee members and the public, only after the winners have been confirmed. “
 
  Asitha Jayatunga, President HRP Sri Lanka commented, “HRP has been conducting HRM Awards since 2002 and has strived to enhance the quality of the process to add value to the participating companies. We have always partnered internationally renowned technical partners in pursuit of this endeavor. This edition of HRM awards we are associating with SHRM the largest not for profit HR body in the world. We look forward to the keen participation of companies to experience a best in class awards programme not only that would recognize the success of the HR processes but would add value to further enhance the effectiveness of the processes.”
 
 The eminent panel of judges, comprising of prominent local and international HR professionals and industrialists, will pay special attention to processes that enhance productivity, promote employee growth and give organisations a competitive, long term advantage in their respective fields of business. The scientifically designed evaluation tool which is in the form of a comprehensive questionnaire will first evaluate the best practices of participants against established norms and benchmarks facilitated by Society for Human Resource Management, SHRM, India. Short listed organizations will then be ranked and assessed according to a set process by a panel of independent auditors from SHRM.  Points will be given accordingly and the ‘Super 10’ Gold & Silver winners will be announced at a formal ceremony, The HRM Awards Night, in March 2015.
 
The Awards Ceremony will also coincide with a Learning Conference that will focus on the best practices advocated in the HRM Awards, as well as other topics of relevance with regard to human talent management in the present local and global context. The Learning Conference 2014 will create a platform for business leaders, CEOs, CFOs and Human Resource professionals to deliberate and discuss how HR creates sustainable growth for organizations.
 
HRM Awards 2014 is conducted in partnership with SHRM India, a wholly owned subsidiary of the world’s largest professional, not-for-profit Human Resource association, SHRM.
 
Ms Achal Khanna, SHRM India CEO commented, “Partnering with HRP for the prestigious HRM Awards 2014 at Sri Lanka is an honour for us at SHRM. Our India office along with a team of more than 60 Subject Matter Experts continuously work to cater to the needs of the South Asian HR community spanning across India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. SHRM has been extensively working over the last 66 years in developing HR practices, knowledge and research and we would deploy our best practices as content partner for the HRM awards too.”

Commenting on SHRM’s association with HRP Sri Lanka as technical content partner for HRM Awards 2014, Jeff T. H. Pon, CHRO and Chief Strategy Officer SHRM, USA stated, “We are honoured to be invited to be a partner with HRP in Sri Lanka.  SHRM embraces our global partners and HR community across boarders and organizations.  Our mission continues move us towards action that advances and leads our profession and serve our professionals.  By recognizing excellence in our field, we do demonstrate as a greater community of HR professionals, that what we do matters to organizational performance.  I am delighted to celebrate the accomplishments of some of the many examples of how HR affects the way we work, live and play.  What we do matters to people, organizations, and society.  HR has become a pivotal function in shaping and delivering the work-life environment for organizations.  And this year again we get to recognize a few examples of this excellence with our partners HRP.”
 
SHRM India is a wholly owned subsidiary of the world’s largest professional, not-for-profit Human Resource association, SHRM – The Society for Human Resource Management. It has over 275,000 members in 160 countries. SHRM's mission is to support the HR professional and advance the HR profession through globally recognized certifications, collaborative communities, comprehensive resources, research, professional development opportunities, academic alliances and advisory services.
 
The Association of HR Professionals (HRP) is a forum where Sri Lankan HRM professionals meet, fraternize and exchange contemporary HR concepts and best practices. HRP works towards the betterment of the profession, corporate businesses and the nation at large. The members of HRP are senior human resource professionals from the country’s largest and prestigious organizations. Providing professional development, an arena for networking, a focus for legislative intervention in national HRM issues and the sharing of experiences to establish HRM as a dominant force and discipline in the business and state sector; and thereby to establish HRM as the catalyst to achieve efficiency, productivity and sound management form HRP’s founding fundamentals.