Scottish Rugby’s in-house staff development programme wins prestigious national industry award

The Target Outstanding Performance programme (TOP) was developed by the company’s own human resource department and is designed to develop the talents and business skills of identified staff, in partnership with consultancy Open Arena, to help deepen their professional experience and encourage staff retention.The programme supports the key operational aims of Scottish Rugby’s business strategy, and is directly aligned to its values. Since its development TOP has secured ILM endorsement and comprises of three strands, TOP Manager, Business and Leader.This year was the first time Scottish Rugby’s HR team were nominated for the ‘Talent Management Programme of the Year’ category at the annual Scottish HR Network Awards and came away with the win.Julie Gemmell, Head of HR at Scottish Rugby said: “We are absolutely delighted and extremely proud to have received this award on behalf of the HR team and the business.  We designed and developed our TOP programme specifically for a sporting environment and our people and we have seen significant impact on the staff involved.We have had tremendous support from our Board who recognise the importance of investing and developing our people.”The Award win was decided by a panel of industry experts who interviewed each of the shortlisted entries on their respective programmes before the awards night.