The Argus Group is doing its best not to be one of those companies with staff who feel under-appreciated. Yesterday, the company announced the winners of a series of performance awards, designed to recognise employees who go beyond the call of duty.

Individuals are nominated by their colleagues for the Excellence Award of which the top four or five candidates are then chosen by a committee of vice-presidents.

Excellence Awards were presented to Pearl Blankendal, overseas claims examiner; Cindy Trott, system technical specialist; and Kay-Annie Reid-Young, team leader, administration services.

The winners were selected for demonstrating distinction in terms of their leadership, problem-solving, team player skills, their ability to demonstrate cost savings, innovation, their positive attitude and their commitment to the company.

An ultimate President's Excellence Award winner is then selected from all the nominees by Argus CEO Gerald Simons. This year, the top accolade went to Tory Richards, team leader, infrastructure support, who best met the set criteria.

The Gus Award identifies and recognises employees that are outstanding role models in the Argus Wellness Programme and individuals are also nominated by colleagues with the final selections being conducted by the Wellness Committee.

This year, Gus Awards were presented to Onika Mendes, assistant vice-president, finance and Janet Todd, system support analyst. Karen Simmons, medical underwriter, was selected as the ultimate champion of this year's Gus Award by the Wellness Committee.

The qualifying success factors for the Gus Award are twofold: first, the nominee's personal success in achieving a healthy mindset, maintaining a good diet and living an active lifestyle and second, their ability to inspire others to live by the same standards through advocacy and communication activities.

"As a business we want to improve the way we do things and work as a high-performance organisation," Mr Simons said.

"The Excellence Awards deals with the performance of employees in doing their jobs. We need more and more of our staff to perform beyond what is normally expected in order for us to be a high-performance company."

A reception is held to present the winners with trophies and cash awards. A week beforehand, the winners are informed of their success with balloons and congratulatory cards left at their desks.

The Excellence Awards (formerly the Vice Presidents' Awards) have been presented to exceptional Argus employees since 2000. The Gus Award was launched in 2007.