The Pocket Guide to the Baldrige Award Criteria, Eleventh Edition

Category 5 asks about how you cultivate effective employees and provide them with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to enable them to perform consistently well. The three items in this category ask about your Work Systems (5.1), Employee Learning and Motivation (5.2), and Employee Well-Being and Satisfaction (5.3).
Describe how your organization s work and jobs enable employees and the organization to achieve high performance. Describe how compensation, career progression, and related workforce practices enable employees and the organization to achieve high performance.
This item asks about how you design jobs and allocate responsibilities to facilitate efficiency, quality, and accountability. It also asks how you select the most qualified employees and how your feedback and reward systems drive excellence. This item does not require implementation of any new management fads, only that approaches are logical and drive the right performance from employees. Typical HR systems are outdated, overly complicated, and do nothing to reward exceptional performers. Innovative and workable approaches tailored to the culture of the organization gain points here. This item also asks about how honestly and completely your organization communicates with its employees.
Design jobs and organizational structures to promote cooperation, initiative, and behavior consistent with the values or culture of the organization.
Make use of innovative and effective recognition and compensation programs to drive loyalty and high performance from employees.
Thoroughly screen potential new hires and candidates for promotions for appropriate knowledge/skills, as well...