Censeo Corporation and SunTrust Bank Partner to Win Workforce Optimas Award

Using cutting edge employee assessment methodologies and tools, Censeo Corporation and SunTrust have been nationally recognized for their innovative HR practices.

Atlanta, GA – Workforce Magazine announced that Atlanta based SunTrust Banks, Inc. was the 2003 winner of the Optimas award in the Service category. The competitive award is given annually to recognize HR departments who provide innovative HR processes, tools, and leadership to help their organizations achieve business goals.

Ken Troyan, Senior Vice President and head of Employment for SunTrust, summarized the business need and HR initiatives: Prior to 2002, we were a decentralized organization, operating under 28 bank charters in six States, with 28,000 employees. We were moving to a OneBank" model in all facets of our business, including HR, to improve efficiencies and better serve our customers. The Employment function became a strategic partner with our lines of business by leveraging HR processes to further OneBank goals. Working with our consultant, Censeo Corporation, we implemented best practice recruiting and selection processes across the footprint."

We were thrilled that SunTrusts Employment function was recognized for their leadership and service," said Dr. Ronald Gross, Censeos CEO and lead consultant on the selection projects. Over the past 30 years weve helped many HR departments implement sound selection systems, but this is the best example Ive seen of HR providing real strategic leadership to their internal customers. They understood the vision and corporate priorities, identified best practices, and then communicated and implemented them so that the processes themselves became a way of articulating the vision in very concrete ways."

We realized significant benefits in two respects," said Troyan. First, all our measures were in the right direction – higher performance for people selected under the new processes, reduced turnover, lower selection costs, and valid systems which have withstood scrutiny by compliance agencies. Second, and equally important, the consistent implementation of best practices, and the competency framework Censeo helped us develop, became important tools for making the OneBank concept a reality."

SunTrust Banks, Inc., www.suntrust.com is one of the nation's largest commercial banking organizations. As of December 31, 2002, SunTrust had total assets of $117.3 billion and total deposits of $79.7 billion. The company operates through an extensive distribution network primarily in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and the District of Columbia and also serves customers in selected markets nationally.

Censeo Corporation www.censeocorp.com is a human resource consulting firm offering consulting services and Internet based assessment products. Censeos mission is to help clients maximize their investment in human capital by collecting, and then strategically using, accurate and valid information about competencies and work preferences. That information is used to select the best people, increase retention, and strengthen the talent pool in the organization.