Employer of the Year Awards for improved harmonious labour relations

Employers in Tanzania are encouraged to participate in Employer of the Year Awards (EYA) as one way of showing commitment to bettering lives and hence improving labour productivity and competitiveness.

According to the organizer of the event - the Association of Tanzania Employers (ATE), Employer of the Year Awards is a benchmark to showcase firms with the best human resources practices.

“Our objective is to improve human resources management and best business practice as well as to compile information on the status of human resources management and practices among ATE members, “said ATE Executive director, Dr. Aggrey K. Mlimuka today April 21, 2010.

He said employers have been given the option to choose to compete under one category where they feel they are more likely to do better for having invested more resources and efforts in a particular category.

Dr Mlimuka strongly encourages employers to take part in the survey and get a chance to be recognised and valued nationwide as an outstanding employer.

“The EYA is an annual event geared towards promoting best human resources management practices in a bid to enhance organisational productivity,” said Dr Mlimuka

This is the fourth award carried out successfully by ATE and consists of six categories and an Overall Employer of the Year.

At the beginning of this month, ATE sent questionnaires to employers, which participating organisations' must fill up in order to be considered for an award. The questionnaires are also available at ATE's website(www.ate.or.tz).

The questionnaire contains a number of statements related to different aspects of work environment.

The awards category for this year's awards are: Overall EYA (Gold Awards), 1st runners up (Silver Award), 2nd runners up (Bronze award), Best Small Enterprises Award, Medium Enterprises Award and Best Large Enterprises Award

Others are on special awards on , Fighting Against HIV/Aids Award, Occupational Health and Safety Award, Promotion of Gender Equality Award, Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics Award, Employees relations and welfare and Staff Training and Development Award.

The theme for this year's awards is: “Best Human Resources is the Key to Labour Productivity and Competitiveness”.

Last year, Standard Chartered Bank emerged the overall winner of the Employer of the Year Award 2008 while Tanzania Cigarette Company was the first runners up and Swissport second runners up This was the second time for the bank to win the Overall Award.

ATE says it intends to use the annual Employer of the Year Award competition to promote the “best human resources practices for productivity and labour market governance”.