Announcing the winners of the Expatica HR Top 5 Industry Survey Awards 2007/ 2008

The Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards recognise excellence in HR surveys which demonstrate continuing relevance to the HR profession, cutting edge findings, and rigorous survey methodologies.

The top five surveys are as follows:

2007 Expatriate Work-life Balance Survey – ORC Worldwide
Global Relocation Trends – 2008 Survey Report – GMAC Global
Relocation Services
Employment Outlook Survey – Manpower
2008 Global Tax Policy Survey Report – ORC Worldwide
2007 Survey of International Localization Policies and Practices – ORC Worldwide

The top ranking survey, 2007 Expatriate Work-life Balance Survey (ORC Worldwide), the first of its kind to look at the work-life balance of expats, was rated highly as a topic of interest to HR professionals as well as a ‘hot topic’. It also scored highly for readability and quality of data.

Global Relocation Trends 2008 Survey report (GMAC Global Relocation Services) scored well overall, the highest scores being given for methodology and quality of data.

Manpower’s Employment Outlook Survey was seen as a topic of interest for HR managers, scoring well for methodology and readability.

Both ORC Worldwide’s 2008 Global Tax Policy Survey Report and 2007 Survey of International Localization Policies and Practices scored well for methodology.

Types of survey included in the awards
The award recognises excellence across the entire HR spectrum including, but not limited to, international HRM, international management, compensation, policy and practices, technology, training, measurement, and talent management.

Selection process
Expatica applies a two-tier selection and judging process which requires entrants to meet a set of essential and desirable judging criteria in each award category. The criteria are as follows:

• Findings: Does the survey contribute new findings on a topic of interest to HR professionals? Is the survey based on a current ‘hot topic’ in HR? Are the survey findings novel or unique, cutting edge, and/or representative of findings that are under-researched or undeveloped?

• Methodology: Does the survey use a rigorous methodology? Is the sample large enough to be representative of the general population? Is the method of data collection appropriate for the topic being investigated? Is the sample appropriate for the topic being investigated? Is methodological information easy to find and clearly articulated?

• Readability: Is the survey easy to read and digest? Does the design and layout lend itself to a ‘quick read’ or for use as a reference guide? Are page numbers, table of contents, and indexes available and accurate?

• Quality of the data: Does the survey provide data that is of value to HR professionals? Can qualitative data be verified with quantitative evidence? Does it satisfy the ‘so-what?’ question in terms of investigating a topic of relevance to the profession?

• Willingness to have data scrutinised: Is the submitting organisation willing to answer questions from the judging panel regarding verification of the survey data?

Panel of judges
Barbara Parry, Human Resources Strategic Business Partner, Lonmin Exploration, South Africa Noeleen Doherty, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, United Kingdom. Stephan Mol, Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Yvonne McNulty, Department of Management, Monash University, Australia. Natasha Gunn, Editor Expatica HR and Editor-in-Chief Expatica.com.

The submitted surveys were published between June 2007 and 30 June 2008.
Any surveys published after this date up until June 2009, will be eligible for our 2008/2009 awards. We’ll be sending out a call for submissions early in the first quarter of 2009.

Expatica HR will shortly feature the highlights of each of the top five surveys.

Already published:

The main findings of top ranking survey 2007 Expatriate Work-life Balance Survey – ORC Worldwide

The main findings of Global Relocation Trends 2008, which ranked in second place.

If you would like to know more about this topic, please visit Expatica HR or contact Natasha Gunn.