Ireland’s HR community gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Santry, on 15 October 2026 to celebrate the winners of the HR Leadership & Management Awards 2026. Recognition spanned more than twenty categories, from talent acquisition to culture transformation, and reflected the breadth of work being done across Irish organisations to strengthen their people functions.

Bidvest Noonan secured three titles, while Cullenbridge Services, trading as Hollyfort, and CluneTech each claimed two. These results set a clear benchmark for the 2027 awards cycle, where organisations will be expected to show people strategies that deliver measurable business, inclusion, and wellbeing outcomes. Organisations preparing their 2027 entries can use this year’s winners as a reference point for the standard judges are looking for.

Gas Networks Ireland won Best Workplace & Employee Engagement Award, Longford County Council took Best Health & Wellbeing Impact Award, and Intersport Elverys claimed Best Workplace DEI Impact Award. Flexeir Facilities Services won Excellence in Workplace Training & Development, while Viatris Ireland took Graduate Training Programme of the Year. Together, these winners show how engagement, wellbeing, inclusion, and capability building can work as connected parts of a single people strategy.

CPM Ireland claimed HR Business Leadership Award, and Citco was named HR Team of the Year. Bidvest Noonan also won HR Business Growth Strategy and Excellence in Talent Acquisition and Recruitment, while HRLocker took Best HR Performance in ICT and Financial Services. These wins show HR teams and leaders contributing directly to business growth, talent pipelines, and performance in high-demand sectors.

Sector honours went to Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in healthcare, BWG Foods in retail and hospitality, and Bidvest Noonan in construction. CluneTech won Excellence in Workplace Culture and Employer of the Year, while Cullenbridge Services took Best Culture Transformation Project. Sector-specific recognition matters because talent challenges in healthcare, construction, and hospitality differ considerably, and this year’s winners show how people strategy adapts to its operating context.

Shane Cox of Center Parcs was named HR Leader of the Year, and Klaudia Nowakowska of Hollyfort received HR Rising Star of the Year. Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail won Best Workplace Social Impact Award, and Lisa O’Callaghan of The Fitzwilliam Hospitality Group received the Legacy Award. Individual honours like these remind the sector that progress depends on leaders and emerging professionals as much as on programmes.

These achievements show how talent development, employee wellbeing, and inclusive culture now sit at the centre of HR leadership, alongside commercial performance and operational delivery. For organisations preparing their entries for the 2027 awards cycle, this year’s winners offer a clear picture of the standard expected across every HR category. 

Congratulations to every winner and finalist. Visit the official HR Leadership & Management Awards website to explore winners and finalists by category, and subscribe to the newsletter for coverage of Ireland’s leading HR initiatives.