THREE COMPANIES outshone their competitors last Thursday when they emerged winners of the inaugural Barbados’ Best Employers Awards.
Globe Finance, FedEx Express and Scotiabank were recognised as victors in the small, medium and large categories, respectively, during an awards luncheon at the Hilton Barbados.
Scotiabank’s managing director Kevin Teslyk attributed his company’s performance to a special familial culture in which employees worked hard and played hard.
Meanwhile, FedEx country manager Adrian Beckles said that this business had embraced good human resource practices from the very start.
He drew reference to its core philosophy – people-service-profit – which indicated that if the company took care of its people, they in turn would deliver impeccable service and customers would reward them with the profitability to secure their future.
He told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY FedEx’s open-door policy placed emphasis on training and offered tuition refunds to employees who upgraded their skills.
Ronald Davis, managing director of Globe Finance Inc., said his company included everyone in strategic planning and decision making and allowed employees adequate time to handle personal and family matters.
The Barbados’ Best Employers programme, produced by Caribbean Catalyst Inc. in partnership with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY and the Nation Publishing Company, was launched in May.
It was open to public and private sector companies of all sizes and sought to highlight practices which improve productivity and innovation.
It was also intended to identify organisations with the best practices and ascertain why they are the best.
A team from Caribbean Catalyst assessed the human resource practices of applicants through interviews with management and feedback from staff via surveys.
Following this, a panel of independent reviewers – Ann Hewitt, Dr Hensley Sobers and Harold Hoyte – determined the finalists and winners in each category.
Globe Finance came up against Caribbean Money Market Brokers (Barbados) Ltd and Summit International Bank in the small category.
Among the medium-sized businesses, FedEx Express fought off challenges from Cidel Bank and Trust as well as Little Switzerland.
Scotiabank withstood the competition from Banks Holdings Limited, Purity Bakeries and RBC Royal Bank of Canada. (NB)
