PAHRA receives 2010 Silver SHAPE Excel Award

Local HR organization receives national award for another year

PRESCOTT - The Prescott Area Human Resources Association meets every other month, and the guest speakers for this past Thursday's meeting talked about "The ABCs of Using Incentives to Influence Employee Engagement and Behavior."  The association, which has about 50 members and serves as a resource for human resources professionals in western Yavapai County, is apparently on its best behavior. It is affiliated with the Society for Human Resource Management, which recently presented the 2010 Silver SHAPE Excel Award designation to the association. SHAPE stands for the SHRM Affiliate Program for Excellence. The Prescott association has earned the Excel Award every year since 2002, said Wendy Ross, a board member who chairs the committee on history and diversity.

Ross and other association officers provided a simple explanation on why their organization has garnered the award: They have an "outstanding chapter."

"We engage our membership," said Ross, assistant human resources director for Yavapai County. "We are always looking at ways to be more accessible as a resource to the community, and the board works hard to meet the goals." All chapters must meet goals that include college relations, work-force readiness, legislative, diversity, membership and governance, said Shellie Erwin, board secretary and past president. "We have to provide documentation (to the society)," said Erwin, recruitment and retention coordinator at Yavapai Regional Medical Center. "We have to write narratives" to explain how the chapter achieved initiatives that the society set.

The association received the award for 2010 for turning in statements a year ago, President Iveth Castro said. The association will submit documentation in January to vie for the 2011 award. Castro, whose term as president expires Dec. 31, has worked in human resources for five years and is a human resources assistant for the Central Yavapai Fire District in Prescott Valley. She said she entered the field after earning a management certificate from the Fast-Track Management Program at Yavapai College in Prescott. She was one of the first graduates of Fast-Track, said Program Coordinator Joy D'Angelo, also an association board member.

D'Angelo said the association promotes job opportunities, and urged interested individuals to attend the next meeting set for 11:15 a.m. Nov. 17 at the Hassayampa Inn in downtown Prescott. Association members represent the private and public sectors and nonprofits, and range in size from small businesses to major employers.

For more information, visit www.prescotthra.org.