Winning a Client Choice Award in any year is a high mountain to summit. The consistency shown by taking out the same category for two years in a row is doubly impressive.
In 2023, with a record competitive field of 276 firms entering the Client Choice Awards, human resources (HR) firm Workplace Wizards was named Best HR Consulting Firm (<$30m revenue) for the second year running.
Director Susanna Ritchie and Managing Director Mark Ritchie put their winning habit down to their firm’s strong focus on the “human” side of HR.
“The cornerstone of the Workplace Wizards approach is the focus on ‘people first’,” the Ritchies said.
“Oftentimes the biggest barrier that people can come across when seeking HR support is when they’re treated as another job to do, or numbers on an invoice sheet, rather than as people seeking help for what are effectively ‘people problems’.”
The directors said building close relationships was the key to standing out in the competitive market of HR consulting.
“We like to really get to know our clients, to understand them, their workplaces and build that strong sense of rapport and trust, so that we can offer the exact kind of support that they need,” they said.
“Our consultants always put in a conscious effort to ensure that the support we offer always remains focused on the people and is accessible, affordable, and achieves results.”
The Client Choice Awards are the only client-judged and independently benchmarked professional services awards in the world. Winning requires achieving the highest client feedback scores in a size bracket and profession, across hundreds of entrant firms from Australia and New Zealand.
The awards are unique in that winners are not determined by expert panels but by judges who arguably matter most – clients. Feedback on firms from tens of thousands of clients is submitted to an independent research organisation, Beaton, and analysed. The anonymised feedback data is collated to build the more comprehensive Beaton Benchmarks reports, which are can direct firms on how to improve and differentiate their client service from competitors.
Workplace Wizards say the comprehensive nature of such feedback is an additional prize that can be just as valuable as the title gong.
“We encourage our clients to give us feedback at every level of interaction, as it ensures we continue to evolve, innovate, and grow, and sustains us through the deep technical thinking, hard yards, and twists and turns involved in our work,” the Ritchies said.
Workplace Wizards was named Best HR Consulting Firm (<$30m revenue) in the 2023 Client Choice Awards. This award is presented in partnership with FeeSynergy, and association partner Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
Enter your firm for the 2024 awards here.