In line with all of the above, I would underline also as a crucial challenge, now more than ever, the identification and then implementation of the right new and effective strategic change within an organization in order to enable on a long term a solid and sustainable high performant workplace, in an uncertain environment and in the same time with happy and engaged employees. The right people in the right positions will be the differentiator for the companies that succeed in such an environment.

First of all, we needed to measure the engagement index and drill down team by team to understand in depth and clarify the expectations of our colleagues across demographic categories and job types. For this, we implemented 4 years ago, as part of a group initiative, the Gallup Engagement Index, a complex methodology that also provides the framework for acting on those items that are identified as setbacks. Each team member can and is encouraged to contribute to the action plan created together with his/her team and manager. In this way everybody is involved and committed in the process.

Besides the formal processes and tools, the pandemic pushed us to find creative ways to keep the team united and engaged. We created our own engagement platform – The Good Lab – a prescription for team Engagement & Cohesion - focused on 3 main pillars: Personal Development, Lifestyle & Wellbeing and Health. The first 2 seasons of the program comprised of a complex set of initiatives and actions aiming to create long term engagement and bringing people closer together in a time of distancing.

How?

• by sharing their achievements, hobbies, passions with their colleagues in weekly casual talks (TedX like events), casual Interviews
• by participating in weekly workshops dedicated on many themes of interest
• by challenging them to contribute for acts of good (supporting social causes)

…. And by interacting with Pierre, our “virtual” employee, created by the look & feel of our colleagues who shares their hobbies, wants to engage in doing good and even has his own email address.

The results? More than 80% of colleagues participated in the activities, 87% of the colleagues felt engaged with the company and 93% find the organization a best employer!

Now we just launched the 3rd season of the Lab and we completely changed the format, letting each department to build and coordinate the program, to prepare content and surprises for their colleagues within the company.

Because engagement doesn’t lie only in the hands of HR – it’s the responsibility of each and any one of us, especially the leaders of our organization. How much clarity you give to people regarding their roles and missions, the company strategy, and results, the “why” behind, how is the future seen and how they can contribute to it. All these elements ensure transparency and trust, elements without engagement cannot exist.

This is what we also do – we find ways to empower people, let them decide, test & learn and we are here for them to support them in any way needed when the case. Also, we like to celebrate successes, big and small. We are lucky because we have a senior and capable leadership team, that understood fast and supported this new mindset.  

In one word: smooth. We benefited from the constant support of our Account Manager, we had a strong communication plan in place and the sponsorship of the General Director so once the survey was out for our colleagues to fill in, the completion rate was almost 100% both times. In what regards the HR assessment, we had the core members of the team involved and although a bit time consuming, it was also lots of teamwork and fun action to perform together.

Every organization is different, but I would say that it’s important for the people to understand the “why” behind such a process, what’s in it for them and to have the sponsorship of the leadership team.

As a CHRO, there are some challenges that keep me awake at night: To me, Insurance business is considered people business. Hence, what at the top of my head is always around how we can keep ourselves competitive, especially in the people front.  We have been the market leader for years and that is because we have quality and right people. My worries are therefore being recognized as the best place to work and that is the ability to attract and retain the top talents in the current competitive environment where talent war becomes stronger and stronger. The other challenge would be how we can develop the agility in the organization where people can be mobilized to respond to priorities of the business to keep up excellent customer experiences. We expect ways of working that are towards simpler, faster, and more connected organization that allows people to be empowered to test and learn.

Every year, we have different HR metrics that are aligned with the key priorities to support the business growth.

• We continue to monitor the level of our employees’ engagement in various aspects and segments such as new joiners, management, and staff.
• Towards our new ways of working strategy, our metrics will be on the percentage of employees in the technology, digital, and analytical roles and capabilities.
• To the extent of being simpler, faster, and more connected organization; our metrics will be on the percentage of employees working in agile teams

At AIA, we offer flexibility arrangements such as working from home (WFH), flexible working hours. Nevertheless, we develop the clear guideline to people to still connect and strengthen working relationships such as "One Meet day per week" when all the team members will meet in person. To engage employees, we have a unique proposition under ‘WorkWell at AIA’. It is a fundamental aspect of our integrated activities and comprises of four key dimensions:

• Live Well: We promote health screenings, physical activities, and virtual events that remote employees can join.
• Think Well: We foster awareness of employees' mental health and provide tailored solutions in the form of education, self-help tools, counseling, and coaching.
• Plan Well: We provide access to professional help for planning and managing finances across different life stages.
• Feel Well: We build an inclusive work environment and supportive network that fosters a sense of belonging to a wider community, as well as CSR and ESG activities.

It was our honor to participate in the Best Places to Work program. Honestly, it's a simple and straightforward program. The Best Places to Work team guides us through each step and provides materials that we can pick and choose to communicate to our employees. The questionnaire is also available in multiple languages, making it easy for our employees to select their preferred language. 

Afterall, it’s not about the certificate but it’s about what is in it for your employees. Be authentic and always put employees as your top priority. You will know it yourself when you are ready to be certified.  Cultivate a culture of inclusivity that resonates with people's hearts and empowers them to achieve beyond their limits. Communication is key to ensure that employees understand the reasons why you want to participate in the certification program – mainly to benchmark yourself against the best practices.  The learning will be valuable if, somehow, you are not certified. You will definitely know how you can make your company better.

UTEC is one of the leading electrical manufacturers in the Middle East & Africa with 4 factories based in Riyadh and products sold in more than 20 countries reaching from the USA up to Australia. They are well known for our quality products with large market share in Saudi and several of the markets that they sell to. At UTEC, they have more than 1000 competent family members with a strong leadership team who are well known and respected as industry experts. At UTEC, they Power Cities through innovative quality products and services and they Empower Life through sustainable smart solutions, and people are at the center of all this. They develop and empower our people, embrace creativity, and promote collaboration so they could deliver on our values and brand promise every single day. It’s also worth mentioning, UTEC is a part of a large publicly listed conglomerate, “Bawan Group”, this also makes us have high levels governance and integrity backed up with solid financial capabilities.

At UTEC, the corporate culture is inclusive that embrace diversity, creativity, and teamwork. they have 6 values that shapes and governs the culture which are, “Customer First, Quality Always”, “Greater Together”, “Continuous Improvement”, “Compassion for People”, “Passion for Results” & “Frugality”. Living by the core values every day shapes the culture and helps all the employees always deliver on the brand promises.

The company has several activities that they offer to the UTEC family members, including different sports competitions : Football, Basketball & Cricket, they have innovation competitions such as Quarterly Kaizens and they also have several celebrations and fun events, such as “The Ice-cream Day” , “ The National Day” celebration and “Predict and Win” competitions.

They do give back to the community and their focus is always around people and empowerment. Accordingly, they have constant programs with universities and technical institutions where they provide sponsored trainings inside their facilities both soft skills and technical and manufacturing skills. They believe that knowledge is power, they also believe that providing the right skills and job opportunities is vital to growing the community and empowering young graduates.

They have different training programs for all the employees. Those include in-class soft training and on factory technical trainings. They also sponsor technical certifications for the workers and have periodic on premise and off premise workshops for the people with their partners.

At JPMorgan Chase, we adhere to a set of principles which we consider fundamental to our long-term business success—from providing exceptional client service, operating at the highest standards of excellence, to upholding the values of integrity, fairness and responsibility in everything we do. We invest in our own people and provide them with the necessary tools, resources, and work environment to grow personally and professionally. 

Furthermore, we believe in a culture of respect, equity and inclusion. Across our global operations, we remain focused on cultivating a diverse and inclusive work environment for our employees and our business. From constantly reassessing our recruiting and training practices, to engaging our employees to get involved in initiatives that would support and create awareness for underserved and under-represented communities.

We believe that continuous learning contributes immensely to long-term career growth. As a firm, we provide our employees learning opportunities designed to build their skills, accelerate their development and increase their career mobility opportunities. From allowing them to enroll in on-demand learning programs based on their goals, to making it easy to find professional certification or degree programs that’s right for them and supporting the development of leadership skills, we will continue to invest in our most important resource, our people.

The organization invites potential candidates to choose a career with choice. Given the scale and breadth of services, candidates have several opportunities to explore unchartered territory in financial services – working with exciting brands and clients and becoming a more well-rounded professional. Candidates enjoin to build a career with the organization where they grow as the company do.

At JPMorgan Chase, candidates will join collaborative teams that care about their work and care about helping each other. candidates will be encouraged to come to work and have opportunities to innovate in any role they choose. The work will have a positive impact on the customers, clients and communities, working at one of the most admired companies in the world. Candidates will never stop learning here, and they will learn with, invest in and support you along the way.

Zoetis is the world’s leading animal health company that is driven by a singular purpose – to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals. As proud colleagues of Zoetis, we try to embody this purpose in the work that we do everyday as we engage our customers in the Companion Animal business as well as the Livestock industry in various people and animal welfare initiatives. Zoetis is the global market leader because of its outstanding portfolio of products and services that allows our customers  to predict, prevent, detect, and treat animal diseases in a continuum of care that other companies are not able to provide as comprehensively as Zoetis does.

It starts with the belief that the company can only be as good as its people. It is therefore imperative to foster a workplace climate where people actually look forward to going to work every day, where they are motivated to always give their best for their customers and colleagues, and where they know that their management team is working for their success, growth, and well-being.

Beyond work, the company also organizes activities that appeal to colleagues’ social responsibility interests. We have adopted the Binayoyo community in Rizal province, where colleagues contributed to setting up a clean water system and have engaged those families in livelihood programs. As a company, we also believe in having fun together. Thus our regular activities such as TGIF virtual sessions, friendly competitions (e.g. Virtual Race, Biggest Lozer), and simply finding time to bond whenever possible are some examples of our colleague well-being priorities.

I must acknowledge that maintaining a positive work climate often becomes challenging amidst serious business challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the African Swine Fever outbreak. In these situations, the leadership team takes the active role of directly engaging colleagues in the company’s unwavering commitment to supporting them through these difficult periods.

In times of extreme challenges, people and their values will be tested. One specific example for us was our ability to balance colleague safety and well-being versus the need to remain productive and deliver on our business obligations. But given Zoetis’ commitment to people, there was never a question on our primary responsibility of keeping safe our colleagues, their families, and ultimately our customers. We ensured everyone was safe, felt safe, and felt supported throughout the pandemic.Upon learning of the huge cost of hospitalization due to COVID-19, we immediately doubled the hospitalization benefit of all colleagues for their peace-of-mind. During the lockdowns, we kept everyone engaged through regular learning and fun programs. And when allowed, we provided colleagues with all the tools and guidance necessary to keep them safe when meeting customers outside. Everyone responded by doing their best to deliver on the company’s objectives.

Alcon is an employer of choice that attracts the best-in-class talents with comprehensive career development and growth, competitive compensation & benefit packages, conducive, clean and safe working environments, friendly and approachable leadership, and wide-ranging wellness programs which include diversity and inclusion considerations.

The company is building a structured Engagement Programs with a robust communication strategy & plan, put into place, which are carried out both by face-to-face and virtually, to connect with the employees who are on site and those who are working remotely :

• Engagement Programs like Project Ceria (virtual and face-to-face programs) which consists of festivities celebrations, talent shows, sport & recreation, charity works, companywide bonding and cross-sites regional games to boost the engagement among the associates.
• Celebrate the successes at work through eRecognization platforms such as, eTQ Cards, eBadges, Star and Gold Awards, Star Maker Award and project completion recognitions. Food or shopping vouchers as tokens of a job well done. We have our employees’ pictures on our Wall of Fame and digital platforms as a recognition of their invaluable efforts.
• Long Service Award to recognize the loyalty of the employees.
• Bi-annual cross department bonding sessions to enhance the teamwork and collaboration between the various divisions/departments.
• Digital and physical platforms available for continuous improvement ideas to be deposited while the Health, Safety & Environmental (HSE) council meetings shares important information that caters for the associates’ safety, wellbeing and compliance needs.
• Communication platforms created for employees’ feedback such as, HSE Feedback Net, Ethics Helpline as part of the Employee Assistance Programs, Global Townhalls with global leaders, Management Walkabouts, Quarterly Town Hall meetings, Division Townhalls, Department meetings, Management meetings, Daily Toolbox meetings, individual 1:1 session, leadership forums and skip level meetings, new hire round table and casual cross management level sharing (called “Teh Tarik” Sessions).
• Quarterly Employee Engagement Survey for engagement measurements and identifying area of opportunities.
• Publicizing the teams achievements through via internal communication portals like Yammer, emails, Townhall meetings, TV panels and participating in external recognition celebration events.

The company believe in developing the associates to enable them to excel in their career to drive the business forward. As the saying goes, “when we’re always learning, we’re always growing”. The company emphasizes on the 70/20/10 Model for learning and development ensuring a positive return on training investment, for both our employees and the company. The programs include technical competency development, supervisory and management skills, as well as business know-how enhancement sessions. An annual structured training needs analysis (TNA) exercise is carried out, which in turn will derive a site annual training plan (SATP) to cater for the personal development plan for all level of employees at the site. Additionally, the company offer an education assistance program (EAP) for those who want to further their studies, a cross-site or inter-department employee exchange program (EEP), professional certification programs, mentoring and coaching sessions, overseas on-job training and external training sponsorship are also included in the plan. Thus, these ensure all the different development needs are being addressed.

The company is able to achieve an average of 88% completion rate of its SATP annually even though the site operates at a utilization rate of above 90%, this shows the importance the company places in its associates development!. Lastly, the company shows its appreciation for the continuous support from the participants, trainers, facilitators, organizers, supervisors and management team in the BUILD SKILLS efforts for the associates’ growth, whenever there is a chance!

Novo Nordisk is one of the world’s leading biotechnology organisations built on passion and a patient centric commitment over the last 100 years. Our purpose is to drive change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases, such as obesity, rare blood and endocrine disorders. We do so by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to our medicines and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease.

This year, the company celebrates its 30th anniversary since its inception. GBM is regarded as the leading end to end digital solutions provider in the region. They operate across seven offices and have over 1500 employees across the GCC and Pakistan. They have nurtured partnerships with the world's leading technology companies and invested in a talented, skilled workforce to implement solutions that cater to customer's specific and diverse business needs. With on-the-ground, readily available expertise, GBM provides round-the-clock support to customers across the region.

The culture of the organization is inclusive and fosters diversity as evidenced having over 50 nationalities who can effectively contribute and collaborate towards the business's continued success and that of our customers. They continuously develop the employees by instilling a life-long learning mantra to enable them to support the customers as they prepare their businesses for tomorrow. They always care about the employees' wellbeing, and the current pandemic has showcased their ability to leverage the technology investment and understanding to ensure the business continuity and service to the clients was uninterrupted while providing the employees with a safe and secure environment to operate.

The company has a comprehensive offering for the employees, allowing them to have the ideal work-life balance and active employee engagement. In 2020, they have moved many activities to a virtual setting, such as wellbeing webinars on mental resilience, stress management, and healthy habits. Besides, they have an active Social Committee who has recently conducted well received virtual initiatives such as, Netflix movie parties, Happy Weekend initiatives, and a virtual FIFA 2020 PS4 tournament, to name a few. 

They continuously invest in this area, as they genuinely believe an engaged and happy workforce leads to successful business outcomes.

Learning and Development are the key pillars and central areas of investment, as they believe the most valuable asset and the key differentiator is their employees. They offer Linkedin E-learning access to all our employees, where they can access over 10,000 courses at their convenience to develop their core competencies and personal areas of interest. Besides, they have a successful engagement with some blended learning providers such as Simplilearn. Their technical and sales teams have access to the latest offering from leading practitioners to build their understanding of the latest technological offerings. Notwithstanding, they also run many sales enablement sessions for all employees by leveraging their talent who are well recognized within their field to deliver webinars on various topics. All the above is on a virtual learning calendar, which allows the employees' flexibility to learn at their convenience and fit their work and life commitments around these learning interventions.

• Performance driven
• Enriching
• Inspiring
• Motivating
• Engaging

Ooredoo is operated by the collaboration and dedication of talented individuals, all of whom are driving Ooredoo to be the number one choice for world-class communications services in Maldives. In the face of intensifying competition, rapidly advancing technology and rising customer expectations, nothing is more important to our success than our team - and it's a team that you can be part of. At Ooredoo, we welcome the ‘new’ – new approaches, new knowledge, new expertise and new experiences. Some of our learning initiatives include :

• Continuous leadership development interventions
• Skill development on new technology
• Adopted the digital way of working
• Academic upscaling through Education Assistance Scheme (EAS) for our employees

Ooredoo Maldives’ employees visited the Children’s Orphanage – an annual event, where the employees spend a day with children engaging in different games and activities. The company launched a first of its kind Accelerator program - NIRU, 360-degree learning based business program for new entrepreneurs passionately working towards social change, with access to the right resources, seed funding and connecting to great mentors with valuable connections to powerful networks.

Ooredoo Maldives partnered with UNDP since 2016 to host Miyaheli - the first Social Innovation Camp in Maldives to improve our community through innovative solutions, which is followed by an itch workshop where they are trained to turn the ideas into reality.

Ooredoo Maldives donated a Smart Campus, a Digital Classroom to Maafushi Prison. The Digital Classroom can hold different courses and educational programs of different levels to build skills and prepare the detainees to reincorporate themselves in the society and for employment.

The company also launched a Digital Literacy Program for the elderly, aimed to contribute to bridge the age and gender based digital divide. Building a strong and long-lasting bond with our communities is of great importance to our team, and we continued our engagement with the public with fun and memorable annual events such as the Ooredoo Mas Race and the Ooredoo Color Run – the biggest the most colorful run in the Maldives.

Caring, Connecting, Challenging, Family, Innovative

The company is offering lots of activities; here are some:

• Yearly football tournament
• Treasure hunt
• Celebration out National day
• Looking for best discounted offers for the employees in (restaurants, gyms, banks , insurance and many more)
• Echo survey – engagement survey
• HR application

In the current situation, the company is providing vital medical equipment and supplies to Hospitals. They also made an internal donation campaign where employees donated more than 20000 OMR to the ministry of Health. This donation was from the employees’ salaries and it was on voluntary basis. Every year, we have Good will Journey. Where the journey goes into the villages and make donation to the poor families. Employees get involved in a  journey for a week to renovate some houses, fixing some home appliances and many more

The company is offering learning and development opportunities provided to all OO family members based on the needs. The needs are gathered every mid of the year when they run development cycle (Tatweer Cycle). The approach we use is 70% 20% 10% and the needs are categorized as follows:

• Soft Skills, which is mainly OO behavioral competencies
• Technical programs
• Professional qualification and certification
• OO learning activities are a blend of online, classroom and experiential learning how ever due the current situation of Coved 19 virus, all programs are done virtually