Hayleys Plantations HRM strategy wins Global HR Excellence Awards 2017

Setting new international benchmarks in sustainable human resource management (HRM), Hayleys Plantations emerged as winners in two categories – at both the individual and organisational level – ahead of over 700 leading corporates from 133 countries at the recently concluded Global HR Excellence Awards 2017.
Taking place at the culmination of this year’s World HRD Congress – the profession’s most prestigious calendar event – the award ceremony took place at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai, India.
After several rounds of strict evaluation by a panel comprised of luminaries in the field of human resources, Hayleys was selected as winners of the Award for Leading HR Practices in Quality Work-Life, in recognition of its breakthrough efforts to successfully extend comprehensive human resource management programmes to its workforce – spanning healthcare, education, upgrading of living standards and environment, community capacity building and youth empowerment. 
In addition to its organisational accolade, Kelani Valley Plantations Senior Manager HR and Corporate Sustainability Anuruddha Thiththagalla Gamage won the ‘100 Most Influential Global HR Professional Award’.
“Innovation and excellence are the driving force behind the continued success of Hayleys Plantations. In that regard, the unprecedented achievements of our team at the Global HRM Excellence Awards is emblematic of the Hayleys Plantations’ holistic commitment to nurturing a dynamic, yet sustainable performance-driven culture. Despite the extreme challenges faced by our tea and rubber sectors, Hayleys Plantations has consistently worked towards the achievement of its strategic objectives, through focused upgrades to infrastructure and continuous upskilling of our most valuable resource, our people. 
“In addition to our 19,000 employees, we also work to extend benefits to the 110,000-strong plantation community. This has been a winning strategy for Hayleys Plantations, as evidenced by the continuing recognition for our HRD initiatives and moving forward we will continue to champion empowerment-based strategies on local, regional and international platforms,” Hayleys Plantation Sector Head and Kelani Valley Plantations PLC and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC Managing Director Roshan Rajadurai said. 
Hayleys Plantation’s accolades at Global HRM Excellence Awards 2017 represent the latest in a long series of awards for both Kelani Valley Plantations PLC and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC sharing Gold and Silver awards at the National Business Excellence Awards, National HR Excellence Award, Asia-Pacific HR Award, JASTECA CSR Award, Green Awards, Occupational Health & Safety, National Social Dialogue & Workplace Corporation Awards. 
Additionally, Talawakelle Tea Estates was declared winner and Kelani Valley Plantations runner-up, for both the Best Presented Annual Report Award conducted by CA Sri Lanka and at the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) Best Presented Annual Report Awards. Since its entry into the plantation sector following the privatization of state-owned estates in 1992 up to the present day, Hayleys Plantations sector’s extensive human development programmes have resulted in the development and continues improvement in human care, living standards, health and nutrition, employee engagement and empowerment. These programmes have been designed with a central focus on empowerment of both employees and the communities they live in. 
Talawakelle Tea Estates was able to maintain the number one tea ranking among all regional plantations companies and Kelani Valley Plantations also maintained its position been number one in rubber ranking with the highest recorded yield of 1008 Kg/ha.
Hayleys Plantations Sector is comprised of Kelani Valley Plantations and Talawakelle Tea Estates. 
Both companies have consistently been ranked number one among Sri Lanka’s regional plantation companies in rubber and tea, respectively. 
The sector manages 44 tea and rubber estates, with Kelani Valley Plantations holding the record for the country’s highest ever yield of 1008 kg per hectare. In total, Hayleys Plantations manages over 19,500 hectares of land and accounts for 4.5 percent and 2.5 percent of Sri Lanka’s tea and rubber production, respectively.