Winner of the 2025 Relocate Award for Excellence in talent management

Winner: Icon

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The Excellence in Technology or Analytics award recognises excellent global leadership initiatives or a leader across the wide spectrum of people management functions that result in outstanding people management outcomes.

The judges explained that Icon won the Award due to its “strong commitment to employee connection and inclusion across remote and office-based teams”. Icon had brought together both office-based and remote workers and it was clear that senior leadership within the business listened to their people and are prepared to support employee-led initiatives. The judges said this should be recognised and “held up as an exemplar for other businesses”.

Paul Williamson, Group Head of Talent Development, ATG Entertainment and a member of the judging panel presented the award.

“So many businesses say that ‘people are our biggest asset’ and this is an award for an organisation that is walking the walk in terms of that,” Paul Williamson said. “Because, you know, to come back to Vlatka’s point earlier on in her keynote speech, it is all about culture and how you create positive cultures in the workplace that encourage retention. Talent development is really at the heart of this, and it is a passion of mine, so it is a real privilege to be able to judge this and to give out this award.”

The award was collected by Vanessa Szmagara, Quality & Supply Chain Director of Icon.

“Icon stood out for its strong commitment to employee connection and inclusion across remote and office based teams with high retention and outstanding client feedback,” Jayne Constantinis said. “It is clear that people feel valued and their supportive ‘people first’ culture sets a powerful example for the industry.”

Jayne said Icon was “living and breathing” everything that Professor Vlatka Hlupic had talked about in her keynote speech about fostering an inclusive and supportive workplace culture.

Vanessa Szmagara of Icon said: “Firstly, I just want to say thank you to the judges for those lovely comments. It is an honour to be able to represent Icon and collect this award. It is a reflection really on the hard work that the team have done. And ultimately, that Icon really values the people, and we put people first in everything that we do, and it is part of our culture, so thank you.”

From helping to support families and create a vibrant school community that benefits students, staff and families, to language tuition and research into mobility and relocation policy, the award entrants demonstrated excellence and attention to family and community. Once again, it was hard for the judges to choose winners out of such a strong field of companies, and the judging panel commended all the shortlisted organisations for their outstanding contribution to their role in relocation, education, global mobility services and research.

The judges explained why Icon won the Award,"Icon stood out for its strong commitment to employee connection and inclusion across remote and office-based teams. With high retention and outstanding client feedback, it’s clear their people feel valued—and their supportive, people-first culture sets a powerful example for the industry."

“This organisation has placed considerable emphasis on bringing together both office-based and remote workers and on fostering initiatives that help to share experiences and ideas. Icon’s quality of service is clear from the client/assignee feedback and retention levels are high, which indicate people at this firm feel valued.

Icon is committed to investing in its people. It is also clear that senior leadership within this business listen to their people and are prepared to support employee-led initiatives. This should be recognised and held up as an exemplar for other businesses.”

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See full page article in our Awards Supplement

Plus Awards highlight video and voxpop interviews
with the winners

Enjoy the fabulous photo gallery on Thinkglobalpeople.com

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Visit the Icon website

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