On Tuesday, 8th February we held our annual Celebrating Excellence 2011 event. ifs ProShare would like to extend a big thank you to the winning companies of our Annual Awards 2010, for their time in preparing and presenting at this Event. Celebrating Excellence was a huge success this year attended by an audience of nearly 100 people; including ifs ProShare members, advisers, corporate share plan professionals and the media.
The Event kicked off with an update from Stuart Bailey, Chair of the Judges for the Annual Awards 2010, who spent some time going through the judging process, and how the judges measure excellence in the various categories. This was followed by the winner of the Best New Share Plan award, Global Payments UK, who gave a practical example of the process of developing and delivering an award winning scheme, and, in their case, one that realised a massive increase in employee participation.
Telefónica, the winner of the Best International Share Plan award, communicated well the key challenges they had identified and the strong commitment to their plan that won them this category.
SSL International (part of the RB Group) took a fun approach to their communication with a light hearted touch in drawing out the features of the plan. It was clear to see how this engaging approach and collaboration with their employees had helped them enliven their communication materials to win Most Effective Communication of an employee share plan (up to 1,000 employees).
In the Most Effective Communication of an employee share plan (1,001 – 15,000 employees) category, CPP Group gave a presentation which clearly demonstrated how their strategy of consulting and engaging with employees at all levels on the communication of their plan had helped them win.
FirstGroup, the winner of Most Effective Communication of an employee share plan (15,001 + employees), showed us how they successfully used their interactive modellers and targeted communications to achieve a significant increase in participation in their plan.
Real estate company Hammerson, illustrated how they had developed and managed their plan to win Best Commitment to Employee Share Ownership for Small Companies (fewer than 250 employees).
We introduced a new category in 2010 to recognise those organisations who excel in providing the best employee share plans outcome following a corporate transaction. The inaugural winner of the award was Lloyds Banking Group who provided a highly informative session.
Marks & Spencer, winner of the Most Effective use of Technology award, showcased the innovative technology they developed to win this category and demonstrated the positive impact that the right technology can have in simplifying the share plan and taxation process.
Celebrating Excellence was rounded off with a very interesting panel discussion covering the three awards for Best Overall Performance in Fostering Employee Share Ownership chaired by Stuart Bailey. We heard from a long-time supporter of employee share ownership, National Grid, who has been offering employee share ownership for over 25 years. Tesco outlined how they had taken into account their varied work force when considering their share schemes. Henderson Global Investors, no strangers to the Annual Awards, illustrated their continued commitment to employee share ownership.
We are very grateful to all the winners for taking the time to share their valuable insights with our members, and also to everyone who attended this Event. We believe that providing a forum to showcase best practice whilst also giving due attention to the real issues that occur, and how they can be tackled, is a valuable exercise that gives the employee share plan industry a stronger voice.
ifs ProShare would like to thank Baker & McKenzie for hosting Celebrating Excellence. We also extend a big thank you to all our members for their ongoing support and we look forward to another high-level of competition for our Annual Awards 2011.
