HR Administration

Introducing 2019’s Optimas Awards Winners

By Andie Burjek

Oct. 28, 2019

Let’s leave the 2010s with a bang.

Now in its 29th year, the Workforce Optimas Awards celebrate HR’s success at solving some of the biggest business challenges of our time. Each year, the Optimas Awards are given by Workforce to recognize human resources and workforce management initiatives that achieve business results for the organization.

Clemson University’s talent acquisition team blended high-tech and recruiting by using virtual reality alongside its campaign to build a national pool of candidates. The Panda Restaurant Group Inc. sought to strengthen its leadership pipeline through a new training program that caters to the different ways in which employees learn.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, our Gold winner for Partnership, worked with the Ohio Board of Education in a recruiting and mentoring program with a noble goal: making high school students workplace-ready. Not only does this aid young people looking for real-world experience, but it also aids the state in shaping young professionals who are well prepared when they enter the workforce.

After winning two awards in Managing Change and Vision in 2018 and one award for Recruiting in 2016, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has finally brought home the General Excellence award for its Student Poster Symposium. The fierce competition for STEM talent meant that the national security laboratory is constantly looking for new ways to provide opportunities for and create relationships with high-level tech talent. This past year the organization took its annual student symposium to the next level.