SriLankan Airlines wins top honours again at Human Resource Management Awards

SriLankan Airlines was honoured with a Gold award at the Human Resource Management Awards 2007 “Super Ten” for its excellence in HR practices.

The National Carrier has continuously taken top honours at the country’s premier HR awards.

This year’s format saw 10 companies being presented Gold Awards, and nine others receiving Silver Awards. Pradeepa Dahanayake, Head of Human Resources at the National Carrier, received the award at a glittering ceremony at the Cinnamon Grand on 22nd February.

Pradeepa Dahanayake, Head of Human Resources, said: “We at SriLankan Airlines take great pride in playing a pioneering role in promoting HR Best Practices among the Corporate Sector in Sri Lanka. We are honoured to receive this accolade from the premier HR body in the country.”

“It is our firm belief that our more than 5,000 employees, whom we call the SriLankan Family, form our greatest asset and must be continuously nurtured and developed as we strive to maintain our reputation for excellence in the highly competitive global air travel industry. We have adopted a multi-faceted approach which incorporates all aspects of HR, which serves our employees from Recruitment to Retirement,” said Mrs. Dahanayake.

SriLankan Airlines prides itself on providing Caring, Warmth and Friendship in the air and on the ground to all its passengers. The airline has won numerous awards for its service and reliability.

“SriLankan Airlines is unique among corporate players in the country, as our workforce is stationed around dozens of countries around the world, since we serve 54 destinations in 28 nations. Our employees are of numerous nationalities, from Japanese to Germans and Indians, and they are involved in an extremely diverse range of professions – from pilots to sales staff and baggage handlers,” said Mrs. Dahanayake.

“We in HR strive to continuously improve our processes and strategies. The “people factor” is given top priority across our organization. We welcome feedback and inputs from our management, other divisions and diverse employee groups, and this has immensely contributed towards improving the standards and quality of output from our division,” said Mrs. Dahanayake.

“Winning this prestigious award gives us at SriLankan the confidence to move forward and embrace new challenges successfully in a business where competition is intense in terms of volume share and talent. The entire process of the HRM Awards was handled with professionalism and it proved to be an ideal learning opportunity for us,” added Mrs. Dahanayake.

Ali Kamil, Senior Manager Human Resources, said: “We at SriLankan have created an environment where people can perform at their best, and also an environment that they enjoy working in. Our employees can grow, and go as far as their talent and ability can take them. Today we are perceived as being a benchmark organization for HR best practices and systems which even other companies can emulate. We are most honoured to receive this prestigious National Award.”

This year’s awards were on the theme of “Celebrating the People Factor in Business.” The Association of HR Professionals teamed up this year with Hewitt Associates of India, a leading international HR consultant, to organise the event.

The Association of HR Professionals was formed in 2000 with the objective of promoting professional HR practices that would create a nation with an industrious, well-managed and driven human resource force. It is a Chapter of the International Public Management Association of Human Resources.

An international panel of judges, headed by Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara, the Patron of the Association, considered each company’s performance according to a comprehensive set of criteria. The panel evaluated detailed information on the HR practices and systems of participating companies.