Hall of Fame - Volunteer/s of the Year Award

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2025

The Auckland Branch Committee has won the Volunteer(s) of the Year Award for their outstanding contributions to the HR community. Through initiatives like the West Auckland Café Connect, partnerships with AUT and Massey University, and collaborations with Gallup and Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML), they have expanded their reach, supported students, and strengthened professional networks. Delivering over 80 impactful events, their efforts have fostered community, enhanced learning, and inspired HR professionals, leaving a lasting legacy in Auckland’s HR landscape.  

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2023 

In recognition to all HRNZ branches New Zealand wide, what an effort we all have made over what has been yet another challenging year. Our membership body have certainly been well supported through this time.

For the Auckland Committee to be recognised as the branch that has contributed the most would be a great honour. Success in building capability in the HR profession and wider business community, demonstrated on many levels through innovation, network and learning, we hope our members have gained a great deal from our collective efforts. 

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2022

The HRNZ Branch of the Year was awarded to the Otago Branch. This Award recognises the HRNZ Branch that has contributed the most to championing the HR profession in their region, through networking and learning and development opportunities. Judging criteria was based on several factors including Membership Growth, Event growth and number of average events per month. Weighing all these factors, Otago Branch has deservedly won the HRNZ Branch of the Year Award. 

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2021 

Auckland Branch were awarded the HRNZ Branch of the Year for 2021. The Auckland Committee worked tirelessly to continue delivering a variety of quality events online during the COVID-19 lockdown. With a focus on putting faces to names, the Auckland Branch Committee Members created profiles, sharing them to the Auckland LinkedIn group page, to increase the profile of the Committee and provide greater connection with its Members.   

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2020 

Our commitee's mission is to build an inclusive, thriving people-focused community in order to connect, collaborate and communicate. If visiting our beautiful region and would like to connect, please do not hesitate to get in touch. There will always be a warm welcome, usually a warm sunny day and maybe a glass of something Hawke's Bay! 

HRNZ Branch of the Year 2019 

Branch of the Year

The Auckland branch has the largest portion of HRINZ membership (approx. 35%) consisting of 1151 members, made up of 119 professional members (3 life fellows, 8 FRINZ, 9 AFHRINZ, 99 MHRINZ) and 1032 general members. This membership includes 10 grad members and 43 student members. Our committee consists of 13 volunteers and our mission is to assist HOT in executing their strategic plan and elevating the capability and reputation of the HR profession. We're passionate about building better workplaces and better people. We aim to educate, inform, equip and inspire our members to conduct their roles competently, and with confidence. 

Our branch is hugely committed to building the HRM capabilities of our members and has delivered 40+ events this year, with 1290+ registrations. These events have covered a variety of topics (2 Diversity SIGs, 3 Employment Relations SIGs, 2 Executive GM Forums, 2 Health and Safety SIGs, 1 Hot Topic UnSIG, 3 HR Connects, 8 I/O Psychology SIGs, 2 In-house coaching SIGs, 3 Not for Profit SIGs, 2 Recruitment SIGs, Volunteer Engagement Event, 4 Strategic HR SIGs, a Student Event, and #NZLEAD Tweetchat). In October the branch celebrated its 30 year anniversary and we saw this as an opportunity to elevate our profile with our members, supporters, sponsors, volunteers as well as local /business community. To celebrate we ran 11events during the month, along side a social media campaign branded as #HRINZAKL30 The events included; an Open Committee Meeting, a Webinar for new members, a Karate Board Breaking event, a NZHR Awards event, our 30 year Anniversary Celebration: Past, Present Future, a #NZLead tweetchat and a Rugby World Cup coaching event. A strategic goal has been to create compelling events which remain relevant and meet the needs of our members and to continue to review and innovate in this area. Members of our committee attended the ELMO breakfast launch in Auckland and are actively promoting e-learning opportunities for members. We are also excited about the plans we have for the New Year which include an OD Masterclass series, as well as practical employment relations workshops and relaunching the HR Technology SIG. 

HRINZ Branch of the Year 2017

The Wild South branch is in its 22nd year and we continue to provide a number of varied events each year. As a committee, we work hard to try to keep up with the demands of our membership, providing a mix of popular annual events alongside new and different events. Our aim is to listen to our members, hearing their wants and needs, then doing our best to provide what we can to meet these needs whilst still returning a profit to national office. Students are a vital part of our Branch and we strive to also do the best we can by them. 

The Wild South branch has held eight networking events, and four HR cafes this year covering a variety of topics. We have had a percentage of non-HR practitioners attend which has promoted the HRINZ brand outside of HR. We get reasonable student numbers to events which indicate this approach is working. Our student ambassador has worked hard with two of our committee members to promote the HRINZ brand within the University of Otago and the Otago Polytechnic. We intend to continue to build on all of the above as we move into 2017. 

Branch of the Year Award 2016

Our Queenstown based branch was established three years ago and attracts members from all across the Southern Lakes Community. We genuinely support our members by regularly organising events, introducing guest speakers that enable professionals to deal with the unique opportunities that come from working in a tourism and hospitality-based resort town. Our branch has a diverse group of members with a wide range of skills and experience that calibrate in our forums and contribute towards our collective learning and growth. 

HRINZ for several years tried to establish a branch in Queenstown but was not successful. With inspiration and drive from some members at the time, HRINZ Queenstown Southern Lakes was born in November 2012. As we became part of the professional body, a small committee has managed to engage all levels of the community. Providing cost-effective events has enabled us to reach out to smaller businesses that do not have a dedicated HR resource, whilst continuing to strengthen the HR Profession in our non-metro region. We monitor local activity and address key issues at our events. Our commitment to taking on board feedback and proactively responding helps improve our engagement and in the past twelve months we have presented topics such as performance management, employment relations and, psychometric testing, and emotional intelligence. We are about to host our first ‘Special Interest Group’ event with a mediator facilitating a mock mediation from the Employment Relations Authority, in conjunction with Lane Neave. The increase in engagement has directly led to an increase in participants. When the QSL Branch was established in November 2012 there were 25 members. Today the number of members stands at 35. During that time we have also hosted over 500 guests at our events.