Comacc Awards For Top People
Entries poured in from around the country for this year’s Comacc awards. Previously Comacc recognised the country’s top
payroll officers but this year the awards were expanded to encompass a wider group of human resources professionals.
“While payroll is a critical element in the workplace, human resources has grown into many specialist areas and there
are good people working very hard to make a difference in their organisations,” says managing director Steve Nathan. “We
wanted to recognise as many of these professionals as possible.”
The 2004 Comacc Award Recipients are:
Sandra Burge - winner of the Comacc Award for Excellence in People Management.
Sandra was nominated by the Finance team at the Health Research Council of New Zealand, where she has worked for almost
20 years. Sandra’s role includes paying and administering a mix of permanent staff, committee members and grant
recipients numbering several hundred and changing often. Disabled by severe arthritis, Sandra is applauded by her
colleagues for her extreme efficiency and great attitude on the job.
Sandra wins a Mystery Weekend from Air New Zealand .
David Eagleton – winner of the Comacc Award for Professional Excellence in Payroll Administration
David joined Linfox Logistics NZ Ltd in June this year and according to his manager he has improved the payroll system
beyond belief. Internal customer survey comments included “I have no suggested improvements as David is doing an
excellent job. He has improved the service from payroll 100%.”
David wins an open travel voucher to the value of $500 and a copy of the ‘Comacc Payroll | A Practical Guide to New
Zealand Payroll Administration’.
Taree Smith – winner of the Comacc Award for Excellence in HR Information Management
Taree has worked as the Human Resources Manager for Avalon Engineering Ltd in Hamilton for the past three years and she
loves her role. Initially working in an administration position at Avalon, she was promoted after studying for and
gaining a human resources management qualification. Under Taree a significant number of HR practices have been
initiated, including performance review systems, health and safety, strategic planning and rigorous selection and hiring
of staff. Her biggest achievement has been gaining staff support for these initiatives, thus ensuring their success.
Taree wins (in association with Drake International), a $400 open travel voucher and an opportunity to use the Drake
International Predictive Personality Profile (P3) system for up to three profiles. (Value: up to $450.)
Graham Parcell – winner of the Comacc Award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to Workplace Health and Safety
Graham is the lead occupational health and safety representative at the Amcor Packaging PET and Closures site at Albany
, north of Auckland . As site engineer he has been driving health and safety at the plant for more than a decade. The
company’s accident rate has improved steadily each year and recently celebrated 18 months with no injuries recorded.
Graham has focused on changing people’s attitudes to safety and hazard identification and he has relentlessly raised
awareness through ongoing training and accessible safety messages and practices.
Graham wins two fabulous Health and Safety software tools thanks to CCH New Zealand Ltd : the CCH Health and Safety
Planner (value: $227) and the CCH HR Forms & Letters (value: $249).
Comacc is delighted to recognise these individuals for their supreme efforts and the results they have achieved. The
quality of all the nominees was outstanding and the most difficult task was to isolate winners from such a high calibre
group of professionals. We thank everyone who entered these awards.