HR Magazine's First Award Honors Three Pioneering Departments - Brief Article

Over the years, HR Magazine has won its share of awards, but hasn't given any.

This year, for the first time, the magazine has an award of its own, honoring HR departments that have developed novel programs.

We can't take credit for initiating the award, however. Until this year, the Innovative Practice Awards were administered by the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) Research Committee. The award was created to honor the memory of Dale Yoder and Herbert Heneman Jr., University of Minnesota professors who led efforts to promote the importance of human resource management.

Now HR Magazine, the new steward of the award, continues its tradition.

For 2000, the HR Magazine Innovative Practice Awards--cosponsored by Automatic Data Processing Inc. and the SHRM Foundation--honor three HR departments for their ground-breaking programs.

SunTrust Bank Mid-Atlantic of Richmond, Va., partnered with the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Service to create a recruitment and affirmative action program.

Trostel Ltd. of Lake Geneva, Wis., created a "road map" that graphically shows employees the company mission statement, goals and behavioral expectations--and lists company accomplishments since 1996.

First-Knox National Bank of Mount Vernon, Ohio, joined four other local employers to launch a certification program that recruits and trains candidates for customer service jobs.

As I write this column, I'm preparing to present the awards to leaders of the winning HR departments at the SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition in June in Las Vegas.

To learn more about this year's winners, please turn to Stephenie Overman's article on page 86. And to enter your innovative practices for the 2001 award to be given in San Francisco next June, fill out an entry form available online at www.shrm.org/hrmagazine, or e-mail hrmag@shrm.org. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31, 2000.

A Fond Farewell

Caroline Foster, our director of art and production for nearly 12 years, is leaving SHRM to pursue a freelance career.

Caroline was the first person I hired into the Publications Department when I became its director in 1988.

Since then, her sparkling creativity, can-do attitude, team spirit and calm demeanor have set a standard for others in the organization. She has led HR Magazine through several design changes, each time raising the bar for excellence in graphics.

Now her long commute from Annapolis, Md., to our offices in Alexandria, Va.--coupled with her wishes to spend more time with her family--have led her to start the next phase of her life.

We'll all miss her, but she won't be far away. And we're sure we'll be among the clients in her new business.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Society for Human Resource Management
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