The Employee Engagement Awards were set to recognise the great work that companies across the UK are doing when it comes to putting engagement at the heart of their strategy – we’re very pleased to announce the winners for our first year!

Hundreds of companies entered the awards, ranging from start-ups to multinationals including Lidl, EDF, DHL, Transport for London and Pentland Brands. 

They all came together and were recognised at an awards ceremony hosted by George Lamb in London on January 28th. The full list of winners and highly commended entries can be found below.

Matt Manners, founder of the Employee Engagement Awards said: “I’ve been blown away by the response in our first year. The calibre of work we’ve seen has been world-class and this is just the beginning.”

“The Dorchester Collection was a clear winner this year. The fact they have co-created their own engagement metric with Cornell University shows the lengths Eugenio Pirri and his team have gone to ensure their employees are engaged. They live and breathe engagement and ensure it runs throughout the business.  The Dorchester Collection has set the bar high in our first year and we look forward to them and everyone else trying to raise it again at the 2015 awards that open again this June.”

Jamie Lawrence, editor of HRZone.com, who were the event’s exclusive media partner, said: “It was a great event with amazing energy – people really wanted to get recognised for the hard work they’ve done.

“Employee engagement is on the mainstream business agenda and these awards just show that the quality of work in this area is breathtaking. We’re committed to pushing engagement even further onto the business agenda and will come back bigger and stronger next year to recognise even more success stories.”

Next year’s EE Awards will open again in June and it would be great to see more entries this year. Also, we’ll be running a one-day conference – The Employee Engagement Conference, powered by HRZone – on September 10, 2015 where winners, finalists and industry leaders will provide practical advice to HR professionals looking to get better employee engagement results. Register interest and receive further information via matt@eeawards.co.uk.

The winners and highly commneded in each category

1. The Investors in People Company of the Year Award

• Winner – The Dorchester Collection
• Highly Commended – Bright Horizons & Pentland Brands

2. Professional of the Year Award

• Winner – Malcolm Cotterell – Cross Country
• Highly Commended – Frances Williams – First Great Western & James Conaghan – DeVere & Village Hotels

3. Unsung Hero Award

• Joint Winners – NHS BSA Prescription Services & First Group
• Highly Commended – Nampak Plastics

4. Project of the Year Award  (Private sector – 250+ staff)

• Winner – DHL Express
• Highly Commended – Pentland Brands

5. Project of the Year Award (Private sector – 50-250 staff)

• Winner – Life Search
• Highly Commended – Charlton Associates

6. Project of the Year Award  (Private sector – 0-50 staff)

• Winner – Oasis HR
• Highly Commended – IncrediBull

7. Project of the Year Award  (Public sector)

• Winner – Transport For London
• Highly Commended – NHS BSA Prescription Services

8. Project of the Year Award  (Not for profit/Charity)

• Winner – VSO
• Highly Commended – Orbit Group

9. Overseas Project of the Year Award

• Winner – DHL Express Africa
• Highly Commended – Champions Group

10. The Employer Brand Award

• Winner – Cross Country
• Highly Commended – Cancer Research UK

11. Wellness Award

• Winner – The University of Sheffield
• Highly Commended – Label Apeel

12. Reward and Recognition Award

• Winner – Las Iguanas
• Highly Commended – Home and Dixons

13. Innovative Technology Award

• Winner – The App Builder
• Highly Commended – Bio Tech Design

14. HR Technology Award

• Winner – Bright Horizons
• Highly Commended – PPL