International Public Management Association for Human Resources Announces 2022 Awards of Excellence Winners

ALEXANDRIA, VA, OCTOBER 06, 2022 – The International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR) today announced the recipients of its 2022 awards which recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our members and the work they do on behalf of their agencies and our chapters.

IPMA-HR held a ceremony during the IPMA-HR Annual Business Meeting on September 30 in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the achievements of these individuals and agencies who are exemplary leaders and advocates, and whose contributions have advanced public sector HR and demonstrated IPMA-HR’s impact on creating better places to work for those who serve the public good.

IPMA-HR Executive Director, Cara Woodson Welch, congratulated the winners, “The people and organizations that have received these awards have demonstrated how the public sector HR profession delivers creative solutions to help their communities, agencies and employees. The award winners have developed powerful and impactful programs that promote positive change for their workforce. We are so happy to recognize their achievements!”

President’s Award

The President’s Award recognizes the current association president for their dedicated leadership to IPMA-HR and public sector HR. The 2022 award was presented by Pamela Dollard, 2021 IPMA-HR President, to Jennifer Fairweather, MPA, PHR, IPMA-SCP, SHRM-SCP, the current 2022 IPMA-HR President. Fairweather is currently the Human Resources Director (CHRO) for Jefferson County, located in Golden, Colorado. She is also an affiliate professor with Regis University where she facilitates undergraduate and graduate courses for the College of Business and Economics.

Fairweather has public sector leadership experience in a variety of roles, including a civil service agency, a small court organization, a very large decentralized human resources city system in addition to her current role in a large county government organization. She has been an active volunteer and member of IPMA-HR for over 20 years and has served on the IPMA-HR Executive Council. She has also served on many IPMA-HR committees and served as president on the regional and chapter level.

Agency Award for Excellence

IPMA-HR established this award to recognize the overall quality, accomplishments and contributions of an agency human resource program that exceeds the normal operation of a “good government human resource program.” Awards may be given in each of the following categories, based on the number of employees covered by a human resources program:

1. Small Agency – Under 1,999 employees
2. Medium Agency – 2,000 to 9,999 employees
3. Large Agency – 10,000 employees and over

Small Agency Winner: City of Tamarac, Florida

The City of Tamarac, Florida was recognized for its mission, along with clear and comprehensive strategies in recruitment and onboarding, learning and development, compensation and recognition and fostering a collaborative environment with impressive results.

The City of Tamarac HR department was also recognized for an innovative program developed in response to the nationwide civil unrest that took place following the murder of Mr. Floyd. The City of Tamarac HR department took a bold first step towards healing its community through addressing racial discrimination in the workplace and the community, beginning with “Conversations to Heal the Divide”, established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board and adopted a Safer City Resolution supporting the LGBTQ+ community, as well as added signage supporting a racism free zone in its parks and recreation areas.

Medium Agency Award: Wake County Government

The Wake County Government was recognized for delivering high satisfaction ratings and low employee turnover. The driver of these results is an innovative talent management strategy which includes transformed processes to improve recruitment, retention, staff professional development, employee engagement and communications. The processes included streamlined application and onboarding, utilization of new technology and redesigning their website to better market vacant positions in the fast-growing county.

They made a commitment to professional leadership development and implemented a centralized call center for HR questions. Some of the many impressive results of their efforts included reducing the average days to fill a vacancy by 20 days, a 74% increase in positions filled the first time a job was posted, 95% engagement in wellness programs, 90% training completion rate for supervisors and managers, 50% of vacant positions filled with internal employees and high satisfaction ratings with training and development.

Chapter Award for Excellence

IPMA-HR established this award to recognize those chapters that significantly advance and enhance the public sector HR profession through innovative membership recruitment/retention strategies, excellent educational programs and quality member communication.

The 2022 award winner is the IPMA-HR Colorado Chapter who demonstrated it brings significant value to its members through educational programs in areas such as leadership development, emotional intelligence and mental health. They increased their membership by 138% through new recruitment and retention programs and by introducing new member benefits. The result was also an increase in their financial resources.