Gallery and bank top bosses

(CNS): Cayman’s top employers were named on Friday at an Oscars-type ceremony held at the Marriott Beach Resort, with Scotiabank taking the Top Employer of the Year award for a large organisation and the National Gallery winning the accolade for best small to medium-sized employer. According to the organizers the winners gained staff support because of the work-life balance the employers offered to their people. In a close run competition, in which employees were able to give feedback on their employers via a special survey, KPMG were just pipped at the post by Scotiabank, and took the second place spot.

Meanwhile, CUC came in third, RBC Wealth Management fourth and AON fifth, all in the large organisation category. Rawlinson & Hunter and FirstCaribbean International Bank also made the final seven shortlist in this category.

In the SME Category the National Gallery beat accountancy firm BDO, who came in second place and CML recruitment consultants, who came in third.

Organised by the Cayman Islands Society for HR Professionals, the Top Employer of the Year event is now in its second year and aims to highlight the best employers in Cayman, looking at specific criteria such as the physical environment in which employees work, the work atmosphere, company benefits and management practices, to determine which company should take the accolade.

Employers must make an application to participate and a large portion of the final marks comes from the employee survey.

CISHRP Past President Phil Jackson, one of the chief organisers of the event, said that Scotiabank scored particularly well with the judges (overseas HR experts from Canada) because of the excellent work/life balance that it generates for its employees as well as training and development opportunities for its staff. The National Gallery took the top spot because of similar reasons, as well as its community-minded activities and dynamic approach.

“Judges found that a general theme that ran through the employee surveys when it came to the winning companies was that employees all possessed a high level of trust in their organisation and all had a high level of commitment to community involvement,” Jackson said.