Nation Media Group signs employer awards deal

Nation Media Group #ticker:NMG and umbrella employers’ organisation, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE), have signed a sponsorship deal for the annual employer awards scheme.

The Employer of the Year Awards (EYA) identify and fete companies with best practices in corporate performance, governance and industrial relations.

The scheme, launched last year by FKE and Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), aims at raising and sustaining productivity, enterprise performance and responsibility at workplaces.

FKE executive director Jacqueline Mugo said: “The firms we recognise are those which see people as their core business and have implemented policies, systems and processes that create and sustain enterprise competitiveness, productivity, industrial peace and harmony.”

“Through such exposure, employers will have an extra channel of enhancing their brand profiles as leading and responsible employers, contributing both to economic prosperity and industrial relations peace in Kenya.”

Nation Media Group (NMG) has come on board as a publicity partner for the reward scheme.

“We are not just looking to be a partner, but also an employer of choice because it is one of the values we look at as an organisation,” said NMG chief executive Stephen Gitagama.

“We would like to set the pace on issues such as corporate governance, which is very important. If we don’t focus on issues of HR (human resources) holistically and work towards bettering the workplace, then productivity will go down.”

Audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) kicked off the survey to select the best firms on June 21, Ms Mugo said, a process that will take a month ahead of the awards gala night in September.

Cigarette maker British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya #ticker:BAT was named the overall winner in the inaugural awards last year that attracted entries from 128 organisations.

Centum Investments #ticker:ICDC was first runners-up followed by the University of Nairobi.