People Management Middle East issue five by People Management International

TH E C I P D M AG A Z I N E FO R TH E M I D D LE E AST

www.cipd.ae/pm ISSUE FIVE

The future Six business trends you need to understand (before your strategy is out of date) PLUS

Relative values HR p professionals lift the lid on family businesses

Losing ng focus Is an ‘always y on’ culture bad for the workplace?

Are Your Talent Investments Paying Off?

Identifying the talent you need may be taking up considerable time and resources without improving ROI. Ensure your talent investments pay off by building a world-class assessment strategy. Learn more about the 10 Best Practices from CEB. To learn more you can contact us at info.me@cebglobal.com and visit us at the HR Summit & Expo in Dubai World Trade Center from the 14th to the 16th of November booth A20. cebglobal.com/reinvent-me

Welcome

Time to think ‘big picture’

Matthew Mee Managing director, CIPD Middle East

Welcome to our first anniversary edition of People Management Middle East! It seems 2016 is speeding along and it’s amazing to think we’ve now been operating the CIPD’s Middle East office for nearly a year. We’re excited to bring you some great features in this, our fifth, issue – including very topical views from Dave Ulrich and some fascinating insights into the world of HR within some of the region’s family-run conglomerate businesses. However, our main focus this quarter was to bring alive some of the debate and opportunities facing our profession given the ever-changing world of work. Earlier this year, the CIPD created a new community and discussion forum, The Future of Work is Human (futureworkishuman.org), which has been designed to spark ideas and debate about how HR should take an active role in shaping the workplaces of the future. HR professionals across the region will be well aware of industries and organisations that have been truly disrupted as a result of mega-trends and global innovation. The likes of Blockbuster and Netflix, RIM, Nokia and Apple, Uber and Airbnb are all now familiar stories of how

sectors and companies alike are experiencing and driving wholesale change. The reality is that today’s HR leaders need to be closely connected to changes happening in the macro environment. We need foresight to understand how these shifts will potentially impact on the livelihoods and wellbeing of workforce ecosystems – and, indeed, broader society. To explore this further, we recently instigated a major piece of research in partnership with YouGov to understand how GCC businesses are actually approaching these challenges, and we’re excited to be publishing the full results of this work later on this quarter. In the meantime, I hope this edition of the magazine inspires you all to look at your organisation through a slightly different, future-focused lens.

Visit the website and sign up for the newsletter www.cipd.ae/pm Tweet us @peoplemgt_me Join our LinkedIn group Search ‘People Management Middle East’

Contents Who we are p5 News and analysis p6 The rise of GCC entrepreneurship Case studies p10 Focus on Qatar Cool and Omantel Debate: ‘Always on’ cultures p14 Is it time to disconnect from our devices? The future of work p17 The trends every business needs to understand

Q&A: Dave Ulrich p26 HR’s ultimate guru on making leaders truly lead Family businesses p30 The unique HR challenges of the family-owned ﬁrm The Knowledge p34 Key workplace skills, with expert commentary The View From Here: Dr Antoine Eid p38

People Management Middle East

New

100% online qualiﬁcations

Boost your expertise

with a CIPD qualiﬁcation

For you and your team Invest in development with a CIPD qualiﬁcation and boost career prospects, expertise and business success.

Choose how to learn – CIPD Training offers ﬂexible qualiﬁcation programmes to suit different lifestyles, timescales, budgets and work commitments.

Choose from face-to-face options to purely online programmes To ﬁnd out more, email contactus@cipd.ae

Welcome

People Management is published on behalf of the CIPD by Haymarket Network and Haymarket Business Media, both divisions of Haymarket Media Group Ltd. Registered oﬃce: Bridge House, 69 London Road, Twickenham TW1 3SP, UK

Editiorial email: pmeditorial_me@haymarket.com Commercial email: pmsales@haymarket.com Editor Robert Jeﬀery Deputy editor Cathryn Newbery Art editor Chris Barker Associate editor Georgi Gyton Production editor Joanna Kelly Designers Richard Walker, Lisa Irving Digital content coordinator Emily Burt Online editor Mark Williams Picture editor Dominique Campbell Commercial director Cathy McDonagh Global partnerships director Nicola Fulker Senior production controller Alex Wilton Production manager Trevor Simpson Managing director, Haymarket Network Andrew Taplin Editorial director Simon Kanter Creative director Martin Tullett Account director Issie Peate Senior account manager Julia Saunders CIPD Publishing Margaret Marriott Repro by Haymarket Prepress Printed by Stephens & George Print Group

CONTACT THE CIPD Oﬃce 3, Ground Floor, Block 2B, Dubai Knowledge Village PO Box 503231, Dubai cipdme@cipd.ae

COPYRIGHT © All rights reserved. This publication (or any part thereof) may not be reproduced, transmitted or stored in print or electronic format (including, but not limited, to any online service, any database or any part of the internet), or in any other format in any media whatsoever, without the prior written permission of Haymarket Media Group Ltd, which accepts no liability for the accuracy of the contents or any opinions expressed herein.

Be part of a global community When you’re a member of the CIPD, you’re part of an international community of 140,000 members working in HR, learning and development, people management and consulting. The CIPD is the only professional body for HR and L&D in the world that awards Chartered status. It contributes to the development of HR internationally, sets and maintains HR standards, and works with governments, organisations and partners to help fulfil its broader mission of championing better work and working lives. CIPD professional membership is an achievement you can be proud of and will ensure you stand out in the workplace. It will give you status and relevance with employers and an edge over your peers. It’s a badge of your credibility: • It shows that you meet the CIPD’s rigorous standards for good practice and adhere to its Code of Professional Conduct. • It demonstrates your ability to make a difference to your organisation. • It inspires confidence in employers, clients and peers. • It proves a commitment to your continuing professional development. CIPD professional membership is respected by employers and industry, and can help improve career prospects and earning potential. It is available at three levels: Associate Member, Chartered Member and Chartered Fellow. When you gain professional membership, you can use designatory letters after your name to highlight your professional standing within the HR and L&D community.

Associate Member (Assoc CIPD) For professionals providing advice to managers across the business, and supporting the HR or L&D function. Associate membership is the CIPD’s first level of professional membership. It demonstrates that an individual has attained a recognised level of competence as an HR or L&D professional. Chartered Member (Chartered MCIPD) For experienced professionals managing, developing and implementing HR policies that support organisational objectives. Chartered Member is the CIPD’s second level of professional membership. Achieving Chartered Member status demonstrates that the individual has the knowledge and experience to create a real impact in the workplace and make a difference to an organisation’s strategy and people. Chartered Fellow (Chartered FCIPD) Chartered Fellow is the highest level of professional membership and is aimed at experts who are leading the development of strategic HR and L&D plans that drive business performance. A Chartered Fellow is a role model for the profession and part of a select group of senior HR and L&D professionals and business leaders who drive innovative people practices to help deliver strategy. Wherever you are in your career, the CIPD and its members will support and inspire you to achieve your full potential. For more information about professional membership and how to join the CIPD, visit: www.cipd.ae/membership People Management Middle East

ational Dubai’s Intern is re nt Ce l ia nc Fina rn in seeing an uptu start-up ﬁrms

The age of the entrepreneur

Self-employment

WORDS GEORGI GYTON

Professionals want to work for themselves – but does the GCC have the infrastructure to support them? The dream of working for yourself is becoming so attractive that the majority of professionals in major Middle East economies would now prefer to go it alone than remain in a corporate environment, according to a new study. The Entrepreneurship in the Mena report, from Bayt.com and YouGov, suggests that 71 per cent of respondents would prefer to be self-employed if they could – a figure that peaks at 73 per cent in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This represents a surprising increase on the same survey in 2013, when the figures were 47 per cent for the UAE and 42 per cent in KSA. The main reasons for being self-employed in the UAE were personal fulfilment (50 per cent), an increased level of autonomy when it comes to work-life balance (46 per cent) and the ability to be your own boss. In Saudi Arabia, 44 per cent felt it would enable them to give something back to the community.

There are, however, a number of key barriers to self-employment. One is startup finance, with 48 per cent of survey respondents citing it as the reason they have not become entrepreneurs so far. They were also uncertain whether they would be able to generate sufficient income. Regulation is another obvious problem, particularly in the UAE, where 47 per cent reported that starting a business was difficult, and 63 per cent felt legislation should be relaxed to improve the entrepreneurial landscape. Unsurprisingly, the number of self-employed workers is currently tiny, given the bureaucratic and legal barriers in place. According to the Dubai 2014 Labor Force Survey, only 1 per cent of UAE workers are self-employed, the majority of them Emiratis, though this has doubled in four years. The numbers in neighbouring countries, where regulations are even tighter, are likely to be lower.

“Thereis plentyof support ifnationals wanttoset up�ir�s”

People Management Middle East

While they represent a small cohort of the working population, the push to boost the entrepreneurial spirit is a feature of every national strategic plan across the GCC, according to Professor William Scott-Jackson, chairman of Oxford Strategic Consulting. Governments, mindful of the broader economic climate, are prepared to offer financial and logistical support to help entrepreneurs get off the ground. “There are numerous and generous schemes in place to support nationals wishing to set up innovative new businesses,” he says. “And the ‘year of innovation’ in the UAE last year also generated a great deal of interest and motivation to set up new businesses.” Gorvinder Pannu, legal director, employment, at Addleshaw Goddard, does not believe the broad restrictions on non-nationals opening businesses in GCC countries are likely to be removed soon, but points out there are many free zones – particularly in the UAE – that allow greater flexibility, a trend she expects to continue. “The free zone culture encourages entrepreneurship,” says Pannu. “It’s very common for expats to go and set up their

News and analysis News in numbers

4.7% Average increase in salaries predicted across the GCC in 2017

PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

58,000 own businesses there and have control over the services they want to provide.” According to Arleen Gonsalves, associate research manager at Bayt: “There is a long way to go to reach a mature entrepreneurial landscape in the UAE, but the opportunities are sufficiently large, and with better Gorvinder Pannu: support from the free zones have government it will encouraged greater further accelerate enterpreneurialism the trend.” Scott-Jackson says his research suggests it is possible to assess the psychological characteristics of those who are likely to make good entrepreneurs. This insight could be used by governments to target different kinds of support to these individuals. “For example, these high-growth potential entrepreneurs could be supported (financially and with advice) to deal with the tricky stages of fast growth, whereas the likely ‘one-man bands’ would get different support to help them maximise their own personal success,” he says.

Number of new pilots that will be required by 2035 to meet demand in the aviation industry in the Middle East

$385bn

Combined value in of businesses led by women in the GCC

23% Increase in online job advertisements in Bahrain in 2015 SOURCE: AON HEWITT, BOEING, AL MASAH CAPITAL, MONSTER.COM

LEGAL UPDATE

Charles Laubach, partner at Afridi & Angell, gives an overview of legislative changes in the GCC that HR professionals need to know about

The UAE’s Wage Protection System (WPS) is one of the most significant aspects of its employment legislation and, under a new ministerial resolution, employers’ obligations have been tightened, with enhanced penalties for non-compliance. The WPS was first introduced in 2009. Before this, delayed payment and non-payment of salaries by employers was a widely acknowledged problem in the country. The WPS addressed this by requiring all employers to pay salaries by fund transfer through the UAE banking system. Salary payments had to comply with the salary in an employee’s registered employment contract. Sanctions for noncompliance included possible recategorisation of an employer from the first category to the second or even third category, resulting in restricted privileges and higher fees for labour transactions; suspension of the

right to hire new employees or engage in any labour transactions; and fines. In 2013, the Ministry of Labour was given further power to withhold privileges and impose sanctions on affiliated employers, meaning all businesses owned by the same proprietor could be sanctioned for breaches in any one of them. In practice, the WPS remedied, in short order, one of the most important deficiencies of the local legal system and significantly addressed the protection of employees’ rights. The new resolution continues the government’s determination to require compliance with the WPS and to sanction non-compliance on the part of employers. It remains the case that all employees must receive their salary through the WPS. The new resolution provides expressly that the ministry shall proceed with no transactions for continued overleaf People Management Middle East

News and analysis

LEGAL UPDATE continued

employers that do not comply with the WPS. The new resolution also distinguishes between late payment and non-payment. A delay past 10 days will be viewed as a late payment on the part of the employer, and a delay past one month will be viewed as a failure to pay. The ministry has been given the right to serve notice on any employer with 100 employees or more that commits a late payment offence, notifying the employer that the granting of any permits will be suspended from the 16th day of the delay in payment. On that day, the ministry may suspend the employer and notify it of additional measures. If nonpayment continues until the end of the month, the judicial authorities will be notified of the violation; suspension will be extended to other establishments of the same owner; no new files will be opened for the offending employer; any bank guarantees provided to the ministry may be liquidated; the employer will be demoted to category three; and employees who wish to transfer to another employer will able to do so. If non-payment continues for 60 days, fines may be imposed. The new resolution also states that sanctions imposed as a result of delay will be lifted as soon as payment is made. In contrast, sanctions that are imposed as a result of failure to pay will continue for two months following payment in full of the salaries in question, with this term doubled in the event of any repeats. For an employer that has fewer than 100 employees, the measures taken by the ministry will not change, except for those that commit repeated offences within one year. Such employers will be subjected to the same sanctions as those imposed on employers of 100 or more people. 8

People Management Middle East

Professionals who want to develop their own careers have led a spike in online learning

Employees desperate for online learning Demand outstrips supply as professionals take charge of development Demand for online learning is outstripping supply as organisations look to cut costs and utilise technology to aid employees. GulfTalent says fewer organisations are offering classroom-based learning in constrained

financial circumstances, but e-learning has received a significant boost. Proactive professionals looking to further their own development are believed to be behind the increasing appetite for these courses –

particularly those delivered in Arabic. Their popularity, however, has left a gap in the market for locally developed courses, as professionals turn to offerings from international providers. A GulfTalent study found that one in five GCC professionals

Facts at your ﬁngertips The latest CIPD research ﬁndings

Development opportunities should be open to all Almost 9 out of 10 HR practitioners believe that everyone within an organisation should be considered a ‘talent’, and supported to reach their potential, according to the Attitudes to employability and talent report. However, when reporting on actual practices supporting employee development, opportunities to enhance careers were only

available to some workers based on the value they could oﬀer the employer in 3 out of 10 organisations surveyed. ✶ bit.ly/HRattitudes

Culture begins at the top

culture of engagement and voice, aligning core values at the top of the organisation, and building leadership capability in line with an organisation’s cultural and behavioural values, are all key recommendations to business leaders who want to understand, measure and develop corporate culture.

Business leaders need to champion organisational ✶ bit.ly/Dutytocare change from the top, says the CIPD in its recent report A Lack of support for duty to care? Evidence of the mental health importance of organisational culture to eﬀective governance The importance of addressing mental health is highlighted and leadership. Building a

were looking to take up an online course. However, among those who wanted to learn in Arabic, 23 per cent were unable to find suitable options, compared to 14 per cent of all learners. The desire for additional learning was highest among IT and HR professionals. Louis Lebbos, founding partner at AstroLabs, a learning start-up, says: “The main gap is region-specific content and Arabic content. There’s a lot of world-class content available from platforms such as edX, Udacity and Coursera, and this is an opportunity for everyone to take advantage of these incredible resources. However, the gap remains for locally specific content, especially when it comes to practical skills.” Lebbos adds that those looking for online courses are often limited by time commitments or location, while online courses are generally viewed as less expensive than classroom alternatives. GulfTalent says a desire to improve skills (52 per cent) was the biggest motivational factor among individuals paying for their own training, followed by changing jobs (18 per cent), securing a promotion (16 per cent) and making a complete career change (9 per cent).

in the latest CIPD Employee Outlook. Three in 10 respondents acknowledged that they had experienced poor mental health at some stage in their life. However, only half of those who described their mental health as poor (5 per cent) had ever taken time oﬀ work for that reason. The research also found that, overall, 20 per cent of those surveyed felt their employers either did not support employees with mental health problems well, or did not do so at all. ✶ bit.ly/Mentalhealthoutlook

Big thinkers The latest round-up of inspiring ideas for HR professionals

The pressure on businesses to ‘do the right thing’ could lead to the rise of more ‘employee-centric’ relationships, suggests Dr Linda Holbeche. In her new book, Influencing Organizational Effectiveness, she says this idea could translate to employers being more upfront with new recruits and employing everyone on reasonable terms, rather than giving financial rewards to the top talent while putting others on casual contracts. So many initiatives around diversity still ignore bias, rendering most of them ineffective and possibly even counterproductive, according to Stephen Frost, former head of diversity at the 2012 Olympics, and talent expert Danny Kalman. In their new title, Inclusive Talent Management, they argue that organisations don’t need to sugarcoat policies or programmes to achieve change: “It’s as much about the barriers you remove, as about the decorations you add.” While many people expect learning to be as simple as watching YouTube, corporate learning management systems remain slow, hard to use and difficult to maintain, says Josh Bersin, founder of Bersin & Associates (now Bersin by Deloitte) in a blog. However, the problem can’t just be solved by designing better programmes or upgrading learning platforms: there is “a need to totally rethink corporate L&D, to shift the focus to design

thinking and the employee experience”, he says. “In today’s always-on, distracting work environment, people simply don’t take the time to learn unless it feels relevant and it’s embedded in the work.” A recent global study by Oxford Economics found that companies that get digital leadership right perform better in the marketplace and have happier and more engaged employees. Commenting on its Leaders 2020 report, Edward Cone, deputy director of thought leadership at Oxford Economics, says the findings should serve as a wake-up call: “Your employees, your younger executives and your financial results are all sending you a clear message about the importance of updating and upgrading leadership skills for the digital age. It’s time to listen and lead – or get out of the way.” Most think of play at work as a distraction – think bowling, volleyball and meditation in Google’s offices, for example – but what if the opposite of play isn’t work, but boredom, asks communication and workplace strategist Michelle Burke. “We have made assumptions over the years that play doesn’t belong during work hours,” she writes in a recent blog. But for organisations looking to boost employee engagement and create a more positive and energised workforce, “I believe play is the vital missing solution”.

Linda Holbeche says it’s time for businesses to stop treating ‘top talent’ diﬀerently from the rest of the employee base

Case studies

“We’ll do anything to avoid a bad hire” Qatar Cool, Qatar

How an innovative, Doha-based business introduced psychometric testing in a bid to put its values at the heart of recruitment WORDS ROBERT JEFFERY PHOTOGRAPHY MOHAMED FARAJ

People Management Middle East

ritics often like to complain that HR doesn’t understand the bottom line. For Hasan Imam (left), however, it couldn’t be clearer. “I would rather spend 10 dollars on a good hire than lose a single dollar on a bad one,” says the talent acquisition and retention manager at Qatar Cool, one of Doha’s most innovative businesses and a flag-bearer for quality people management in Qatar. “A bad hire is not only a cost, it’s a cultural shock,” he adds. “We’re an organisation that believes in people development. If I get someone who can’t absorb our culture, that creates a negativity around them that will affect others who are already part of the company. We want to avoid that.” It’s a philosophy that has led Imam to thoroughly revamp the way the firm approaches recruitment, including the highly unusual introduction of psychometric testing into the process, and an emphasis on values and cultural fit alongside technical competence. That’s entirely in keeping with a business that has grand ambitions. Formed

Qatar Cool

Citycentre

QatarCool

Doha

“OurCEOsees HR asanenabler and strategic partner,notjust an executioner ofpolicy”

11 years ago, Qatar Cool is a pioneer in the science of ‘district cooling’ – where cooling units are powered by chilled water distributed from a central source rather than individually, leading to an increase in energy efficiency of around 40 per cent. In Qatar Cool’s case, this means three plants in the Doha region (including the world’s largest district cooling site) serving an area including the man-made Pearl-Qatar island and much of the city’s business district. The organisation has around 200 employees but, as Imam puts it, “we’re not a labour-intensive company, we’re a machineintensive company”. That means every member of staff has an essential part to play in a growing and lucrative business, as his own job title suggests. Everything the business does, says Imam, revolves around five key values: customer focus, commitment, common interest, safety and our people. Ensuring every employee buys into these ideas means they must be both visible and meaningful, he adds: “The people who work for us have been getting the message on values from their internal communications, assessments, staff meetings, even email signatures. New people see the values at every part of the recruitment process – the way the reception area looks, the way we talk in interviews, the way we structure the procedure. Mission and values are the starting point of induction, and it’s made clear that’s what they will be assessed on too.” And if you want to hire for values, you need to ensure the candidate grasps what you stand for and, crucially, that their own values and behaviours reflect this. Qatar Cool’s recruitment process breaks down into three parts: a technical interview conducted by a line manager; a behavioural interview, led most often by the HR team, focusing on personality and values; and an assessment of psychological and technical traits (which may be followed by a panel interview in the case of more senior hires).

It’s the psychometric assessment, of course, that is most unusual in the context of a Qatari-owned business. For a lot of companies, says Imam, psychometrics are a “fad”, but at Qatar Cool they are fundamental to recruitment decisions. The key is an internal benchmarking process that shows the psychometric profile of the existing employee base, to give an idea of what cultural fit might look like. And while issues flagged by the assessments are not an absolute bar on hiring an individual, they do give managers serious pause for thought and suggest a careful approach may be required. The actual process, says Imam, has to be managed in the same way a doctor gives an injection, to ensure it isn’t surprising or confusing. “You have to explain to people what you are doing… you tell them it’s not about measuring intelligence and it’s not a test of speed. It’s a not a performance test. We just want to understand you better.” Crucially, such assessment has to be part of an holistic approach to values. And it helps if HR is an integral part of the business. “HR is everywhere in recruitment, performance, operations, communications,” says Imam. “Our CEO wants to see HR as an enabler and strategic partner, not just an executioner of policy.” Imam and the HR team worked with leaders when it came to defining values, and partner with line managers to understand what that means operationally. Job descriptions, he says, must cover capabilities and skillsets but also mindsets. And with such an enlightened approach now understood throughout the firm, the next stage is to work more concertedly on development for high potentials, broaden the Qatarisation programme and think about growth. “For us, the challenge is how we balance cultures if we acquire companies,” says Imam. “That really interests me: how do you ensure a seamless transition from one company to the other? How do you help them interact with each other?” Taking care of the bottom line certainly seems to have paid off. People Management Middle East

Case studies

“Our aim was to put HR right at the centre of the business” Omantel, Oman

Omantel’s HR function has been re-engineered and revived – and now it’s become integral to the telecoms company’s ambitious future plans

WORDS KIRSTY TUXFORD

mantel’s staff may not match the athleticism of the Rio Olympians, but they do love a good sports competition. In fact, the considerably less famous ‘Omantel Olympics’, as is it colloquially known, is so popular with the telecoms operator’s 2,700 employees that they keep asking to hold the event twice a year. The ‘Olympics’ is just one of a series of HRled initiatives designed to increase employee engagement, and drive the business forward by nurturing and developing Omantel’s staff. Founded in 1970, Omantel is a public company in which the government retains a 51 per cent stake. It provides fixed-line, mobile telephony and internet access. And it’s definitely not content to rest on its laurels. The HR initiatives are part of a two-year plan aligned to the company’s overall business strategy, which prioritises customers and employees, digital transformation and 12

People Management Middle East

innovation. A more business-savvy and agile HR function is one of the four pillars of the new strategy. The HR department at Omantel is made up of 119 employees and was the first to have a plan aligned to the company’s strategy, notes Dr Ghalib Saif Al Hosni (pictured), vice president of HR. But it wasn’t always a smooth process, and initially met with resistance from parts of the firm that wanted to keep HR away from core business. HR staff took a proactive approach to dealing with other business functions, and attitudes have changed. “I now have VPs calling me for advice regarding personnel and performance,” says Mohammed Al Riyami, senior manager for workforce planning. The change in status for the HR department goes back to the previous decade. At that time, recalls Al Hosni, it performed only basic functions such as payroll. Al Hosni restructured it, dividing the department into three distinct functions: planning, development and delivery. “I also looked at

performance management,” he says. “Ninety per cent of employees were outstanding. Nobody was good. No one was poor or average. That didn’t make sense…” The performance management system had to change, so in 2010 the company decided to scrap employee appraisals and distribute bonuses equally. “That year, we did 250 workshops on how to give and receive feedback for line managers and employees,” says Al Hosni. “And we asked people what performance management meant to them. Did they only want a bonus or also to improve?” Over a period of several months, HR carefully measured performance and rerated employees. “In 2011, performance management ratings went from 90 per cent outstanding, to 6 per cent. Everybody started hating me at this time!” he laughs. “But that performance management system worked well – now it’s 95 per cent matured as a system. And the good ones – they don’t hate me any more.”

HR is working towards ensuring that all managers are also coaches, which will further enhance communication and feedback. “We also have HR dialogues, and we visit outposts,” says Al Hosni. “We did a survey on KPIs and found out that employees felt they were unrealistic, so they were altered and made achievable.” Career planning and ownership is important too. “One of the challenges we always hear – especially from millennials – is ‘what’s next? I did my job? Now what?’” says Al Riyami. “We help employees work towards developing themselves so they can achieve what they want.” Processes have been streamlined – employees can book leave over the phone, and the company is integrating all HR systems. There’s also been a lot of effort on communicating the employee value proposition. “We want to make employees and external candidates feel the Omantel brand, and that it is an employee choice,” says Al Riyami. “HR is now customer centric. This relates to our culture change.” HR is helping the company drive forward its ‘Omanisation’ initiatives, designed to reduce dependency on foreign nationals. A knowledge transfer system hires expatriates on short-term contracts to pass on expertise. Longer term, career development is critical for HR, notes Al Hosni. “Recruitment needs are increasing, but for specifically skilled roles, and we are not finding the talent in the local market,” he says. “This puts HR in a bad position in terms of the Omanisation rate – it will drop – but only temporarily. I am struggling to find the right candidates – they are too expensive. Sometimes you bring them over and after one year, they leave. Even Europe is struggling to find the right talent.” Over time, development programmes should help fill the talent gaps, he says: “We work with different schools. Our HR people are all taking CIPD level 3 and some started taking CIPD level 5 – I was actually the first person in Oman to take level 5.” Al Hosni is confident he has the HR department going in the right direction. Omanisation stands at 90 per cent currently, although it may fall in the short term; former employees are returning; 75 per cent of positions are filled internally; at 2.6 per cent, staff turnover is low; and complaints are down 50 per cent. “We are very happy about the type of environment that we have created,” says Al Hosni.

“Performance ratingswent from90percent outstanding to 6percent… HR washated”

Omantel

University

Omantel

Airport

Muscat

Fast forward to 2016 and employees at Omantel are engaged, with 80 per cent aware of the company strategy, and around 66 per cent who say they understand it. Following the restructuring of HR, employees were also encouraged to come up with ideas in a bottom-up approach to management. “Our Omantel Talents competition came from the employees, as have ideas for apps that have helped the business,” says Al Riyami. “We asked families to join the programme to come up with initiatives, and we started using employees’ family members as Omantel ambassadors. They are engaged.” In fact, the entire corporate strategy is the result of innovative contributions from employees, working alongside a consultant for eight months as part of a focus group. “The consultant gave us the benchmarks, best practices and research, but the strategy itself came from the employees. After that it came to us as executives – just for us to confirm,” says Al Hosni.

People Management Middle East

The debate

Is being ‘always on’ bad for business? Ultra-connected employees may keep you competitive, but some experts warn that could prove counter-productive in the long run INTERVIEWS CRISELDA DIALA�MCBRIDE

Hazel Jackson CEO, Biz Group

Learn how to manage distractions The increasing demands of smartphones and other mobile technology shouldn’t be seen as the enemy. They can, in fact, save us significant time and provide great flexibility. It is our own inability to manage these distractions that is really at fault, leading to longer working hours and less work-life balance.

We often think that by juggling our phone and emails while finishing a report and eating lunch at our desks, we are getting more done. Yet research unequivocally shows that multitasking damages our productivity. We feel busier, but we are doing less and doing it less well. Our brains are just not designed to handle deliberate thinking work in parallel. Rather, the brain switches between tasks, taking up to 15 minutes to reconnect to the main task at hand when distracted by a WhatsApp message or pop-up email reminder. However, all this is not the fault of new technology but the product of our ferocious desire to

stay permanently connected. The ‘always on’ culture needs to be managed by our own productivity preferences and then respected by the leadership team. If I prefer to clear my inbox quietly at 5am, it shouldn’t mean replies are expected before normal working hours. It is how we manage the distractions, set boundaries and then leverage technology that will enable us to win in a modern workplace.

Randa Bessiso Director, Manchester Business School Middle East

It opens opportunities for businesses and staff Digital transformation is changing the way we live and work. It reaches deep into society, schools, homes, the workplace and all the public spaces in between as people, information and communications become increasingly mobile. This ‘always on’ culture is changing the workplace – in fact, work is no longer a place – and creating new flexibility and options, from flexihours to remote working. These elements are especially supportive of 14

People Management Middle East

working mothers. But it goes beyond this. Business is increasingly international and globally integrated, embracing both collaboration and competition; teams are increasingly multicultural and working within more dispersed organisations, crossing time zones and harnessing the benefits of collaborative tools and software, from video conferencing to file sharing. Staying connected flexibly opens up new opportunities for business and employees.

Technology is changing the way executive education is accessed, enabling a flexible, blended learning experience, combining online tools with face-to-face contact. Without these tools, professionals would not be able to combine their work responsibilities with family commitments and studies. Always being connected gives us the freedom to choose where, when and how we are ‘on’ – whether it’s for work, family or education. But we are still learning how to manage this and it is important sometimes to ‘disconnect to connect’ – disconnect from work to reconnect with self and family.

Steve Clements Director of health and group beneﬁts, Willis Towers Watson

Employers are more worried by ‘always on’ than their employees The culture that requires employees to stay connected to their mobile devices has been increasing as the demands of businesses evolve. This places more emphasis on the need to maintain a positive worklife balance to avoid a negative impact not only on employees’ productivity, but also on their overall health and wellbeing. It’s therefore paramount that organisations understand the risks

associated with such behaviours so that they do not compromise the workplace’s performance and overall outcomes. By comparing employers’ responses in the latest Staying@Work Survey with employees’ views in Willis Towers Watson’s Global Benefit Attitudes Survey, we found noticeable differences of opinion on the primary causes of workrelated stress. Employers believe the impact of the ‘always on’ culture on their employees is the third leading cause of stress. But employees think the expanding use of technological devices during non-working hours has the least influence on stress, while company culture and rewards were mentioned as the most common causes of stress. So it seems that many employees embrace the flexibility that mobile devices

deliver, enabling them to work where and when they want, and employers overestimate the impact of this element. It is a good thing that organisations are becoming more aware of this matter, and it is still crucial to underline the importance of employers having the ability to mitigate the causes of workplace stress and to educate employees on the best ways to manage it and improve resilience. Even though employees don’t regard the expanding use of mobile devices as a leading stress factor, employers must monitor individuals closely to ensure they are not ‘burning out’. Organisations must always understand their employees’ needs, to create support programmes that will maintain and improve their health and wellbeing.

Dr Mona Mustafa Associate professor, faculty of business and management, University of Wollongong, Dubai

Home life can become a casualty The separation of work and home activity has become evermore difficult to maintain with the increasing penetration of information and communications technology (ICT) into everyday life, particularly with the development of mobile communications technology (MCT).

Continuous access to mobile devices may lead to confusion between work and home roles. This is because both work and home domains are always accessible and work may spill into evenings, nights and weekends. My previous research on this topic highlighted expressions from respondents such as ‘being chained to work’, ‘becoming a slave to your work’, ‘being on call 24 hours’ and ‘being always tempted to work’, which express how people view the nature of their jobs. ‘Switching off’ from work has become a genuine challenge. Technology has allowed for more flexibility, which may help

mothers with their work. But then again, it is still difficult for them to work from home and look after their children. In fact, some women may find it necessary to leave the house so that they can concentrate on their work. The use of ICT/MCT may allow workers to maintain a degree of order in their lives, but it may also lead to them experiencing disorder, with work and home potentially seeping into, invading or even overwhelming each other.

People Management Middle East

ADVERTISING FEATURE

Succession planning 2.0: How to build leadership bench strength

The future isn’t what it used to be; talent is mobile and the values of status and security are being replaced by growth and opportunity. Top talent is now reference-checking employers. Succession planning in this new deal is critical: it’s as much about managing risk as it is developing leaders, and this demands clarity on success criteria, as well as creating a talent strategy and a business-led accountability structure. Managing talent is a business strategy, not an HR strategy. The role of the HR team is to design and facilitate the process, and it is line leaders who are the ‘talent managers’. And until line leaders take accountability, talent management defaults into just more HR administration. When you ask successful leaders what has been important in their development, they talk about managers they have worked with and the stretch experiences that marked points of departure to new levels of confidence. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) requires leadership learning in the context of the organisation and its own challenges. Leaders need to work with unsettling questions and real business issues, not

be passively exposed to interesting practices and case material. Leaving succession and development up to chance is a big risk. Academic and author Morgan McCall notes that a reliance on buying leadership is hard work, expensive and comes with no money back guarantee. Market analyst assessments factor in the quality of leaders, and we know inadequate leaders destroy value – the higher the level, the greater the cost. Uncertainty creates demand for effective leadership and the capability to manage change. Talented people are attracted to organisations that offer leadership and growth, where their talent will be recognised. Getting started means establishing a talent board which is accountable for the strategy. The board monitors and manages the capability of the organisation and ensures the development needs of top talent are integrated and balanced with the needs of the organisation. This serves four critical outcomes: retaining talent; informing succession; focusing development investment where it is most valuable; and building a brand that attracts new talent. HR can assist by providing a robust process for identifying role criticality, replacement factors and other elements that are central to maintaining an effective succession planning process.

For further information, contact Crispin Garden-Webster at crispin.webster@takatuf.om or visit us at the HR Summit and Expo in Dubai in November.

GETTY IMAGES

By Crispin Garden-Webster Takatuf Managing Consultant – Talent Management

Cover story

“ONLYTHE LUCKYFEW WILLDOMORE THANSERVE A MACHINE” Isaac Asimov, 1964

Fortunately, the fabled sci-fi writer was wrong and the robots aren’t in control (yet). But what are the major forces shaping the workplace of tomorrow? And how should HR professionals react to them? WORDS STUART MATTHEWS ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ROBERT JEFFERY

People Management Middle East

If you want to understand why a keen eye on the future direction of work – encompassing economic shifts, the development of tomorrow’s skills and technological advances – is so crucial to being part of an organisation today, you could do worse than take a trip to your local branch of Blockbuster Video… Except you can’t. Once the preeminent video and DVD rental chain in the world, with thousands of branches spanning everywhere from Tokyo to Lima, Blockbuster was undone in double quick time by the arrival of a disruptive rival called Netflix, which offered DVD rental by mail. In 2000, Netflix offered to sell itself to Blockbuster. The offer was declined.

multinational fiscal health – stayed in the index for 55 years. Today, it is around 18 years. Only 12 per cent of Fortune 500 firms in 1955 were still listed 60 years later. This is partly down to technology rendering business models obsolete (a trend accelerated by the rise of Silicon Valley) and partly becasue of financial engineering. But it’s also true that many businesses

Making work better – for individuals, organisations and society – is only possible if work itself becomes more human, and more attuned to human needs. That means jobs, and companies, that are designed with people in mind; where being flexible and catering for the expectations and needs of diversity, ages, cultures, backgrounds and commitments is the new normal.

Even by 2005, Netflix was still just an upstart business slowly building scale. But by 2010, it had so fatally undermined its competitor’s business model that Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy and delisted from the stock exchange in its native US. By 2013, Blockbuster was out of business, with Netflix having pioneered streaming technology that had rendered even the concept of owning a DVD obsolete in many parts of the world. With greater foresight, it’s arguable Blockbuster could have moved quicker – or at least embraced the future rather than hoping it would go away. But history is littered with similar examples, and their number only keeps growing as business becomes more volatile. In 1960, the average company in the S&P 500 – the benchmark of

have sat back and watched as global demographics have completely shifted, and have failed to understand how the rise of a global middle class, or the availability of a mobile labour market, would turn how they operated upside down. Across the world, businesses haven’t examined the future from a broad enough perspective, preferring to interrogate only their own sector or specialism, argues Laura Harrison, people and strategy director at the CIPD. While governments often think deeply about the skills they need and how they will invest in future talent, businesses (and HR professionals in particular) tend to be playing catch-up in the debate.

So many of the questions about how business and society will operate in the future fall squarely in HR’s in-tray. Will we treat people as disposable cogs in the machine or hand them autonomy and stability? Will we increase bureaucracy or move to a model (best articulated, aptly, by Netflix’s visionary former chief talent officer, Patty McCord) where people are judged by their results, rather than a more traditional means of performance management? Will we allow the emergence of the ‘gig economy’ to make some people’s lives more precarious, or will it mean flexibility and choice for all? The answer, says Harrison, is partly about a better grasp of work itself: “HR’s

People Management Middle East

“HRshouldn’t beinthe cornerdoing admin–it shouldbe central”

PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES, REX FEATURES/SHUTTERSTOCK

The future of

primary concern should be a thorough understanding of the work people do, and what enables them to do it – we need to reduce our focus on policies and processes and put the human back into job design.” Meanwhile, an understanding of behavioural science – how and why people do what they do, as individuals, teams or organisations – offers the opportunity to put the human into decision-making and problem-solving. Handily, this is also the exact sort of skills and knowledge that sets HR apart as a profession. And because so much of the future is contingent on what people, employees and consumers will look like, HR professionals have a vital stake in the discussion – to ensure the strategic elements of HR (such as skills development or workforce planning) are informed by the facts, and to help governments and experts make decisions that affect the future supply of talent. “HR should be absolutely central to discussions about the future of work,” says Harrison. “It certainly shouldn’t be over in the corner doing its admin. As an HR professional with an identity, you have to feel you have some stake in the future as it’s being created – and that means thinking about the public good is more important than doing the most short-term thing.”

For HR to begin building on such thoughts, it must be willing to free itself from the purely operational and focus on more strategic concerns; considering the workforce of tomorrow rather than only the workforce of today, no matter how hard that is. If you are spending a large part of every day dealing with the immediate employee-related issues that land across your desk, are you able to think ahead? asks Harrison. “It’s important to ask whether In the wake of Netﬂix, the things you’re Blockbuster tumbled doing day-to-day add value,” she says. like a House of Cards “Studies show HR is a devil for taking on new ideas and initiatives, but it can be harder to step back and ask what they are really achieving.” On these pages, People Management delves into some of the most pressing areas that may affect businesses in the coming years, and asks experts how GCC governments and businesses in particular should react to them. After all, the line between Blockbuster and Netflix is thinner than you imagine. As Harrison says: “The only thing certain is there will be more change.”

f work is

about being truly inclusive I DIVERSITY the variety of this n some ways, the typical GCC private sector environment, it can be easy to miss what is not there. workplace, particularly “The most challenging a white-collar operation, is type of diversity is gender a poster child for diversity. diversity,” says Khaled El With employees drawn from Merachli, a consultant with around the world, the oﬃce Willis Towers Watson. “Women can be a cultural melting pot of are still struggling to fulﬁll their ideas, creativity and comedic ambitions to undertake senior misunderstandings. But in

A great

Not at all

deal

15%

19%

A little

26%

ount

A fair am

40%

leadership roles. Studies indicate the ratios of women in senior positions in GCC countries is still lower than other regions.” This is confirmed by a CIPD survey of GCC decision-makers – Workforce insights: a Middle East perspective – which suggests women make up around 26 per cent of workforces in the region, compared to around 40 per cent globally. There is clearly an issue with progression, too: only 15 per cent of local businesses can say that women make up more than 31 per cent of senior managers, and only 18 per cent can say the same about middle managers. At the bottom of the regional pile sits Saudi Arabia, where there is still some way to go, with women holding just 13 per cent of the jobs. Saudi social enterprise Glowork is a genderspecific recruitment portal that has placed 26,000 women in the workplace since Khalid Alkhudair founded the business in 2011. It’s a figure he expects to rise to 50,000 by 2017, driven in part by the fact roughly half the country’s recent graduates are female. The CIPD survey suggests that lack of flexible work opportunities, as well as lack of women in an individual sector, are key barriers to female progression. But 18 per cent of organisations have increased the number

of women in executive board roles in the last 12 months, and the majority are taking action on the topic (see graph, below), with training and mentoring topping the list of interventions. Although gender has been a hot topic, diversity incorporates different cultural backgrounds, age groups, skills and special needs. And the academic understanding of the term increasingly morphs with the idea of inclusion – that while meeting certain quotas for key demographics is useful, it means little if people do not have equality of opportunity and progression. Ultimately, in an inclusive workplace, difference should not be an issue. While a diverse workforce can be difficult to achieve and may present new management challenges, there are distinct benefits, too. Successive studies have shown that diverse organisations are more financially successful because they bring multiple perspectives to problem-solving and innovation. “Young nationals who work in big organisations and find themselves dealing with Westerners, Asians or other Arabs start opening up to the fact there is more than their own little bubble,” says Hanan Nagi, founder and CEO of UAE-based HNI Training & Coaching. “That helps them become not just more productive, but flexible and emotionally intelligent, too.”

All ﬁgures in graphs taken from CIPD/YouGov survey of 1,027 GCC decision-makers, July 2016

How much is yo proactively tryi ur organisation number of womng to increase the leadership role en in management and s across the GC C? People Management Middle East

in a world that feels smaller, G

34% Changing

demands and demographics of customers

In the next ﬁve years, which of the following trends do you anticipate will have the most impact on your organisational workforce strategy?

have peaked: Global lobalisation as a concept GLOBALISATION Trade Alert calculates that the volume of has had a world trade was static between bad press of late. The UK’s vote to January 2015 and March 2016. To leave the European Union dealt a compensate, countries may seek to blow to unity within the continent, while resistance to the Trans-Pacific increase trade on a regional basis, Partnership – a huge trade deal or find geographically closer trading involving the US and Asia – has been partners. For the GCC, this means growing among a broad spectrum the Indian sub-continent or Africa. of the politically active. The Doha Yet while globalisation’s progress talks on multilateral trade have may be imperfect and stalling, stalled. Apple and General Electric it has spread rapidly and had a are among companies that have wide-reaching impact. Backed opened manufacturing facilities in by sovereign wealth funds, the US as they begin to ‘reshore’ governments have reached out jobs, a phenomenon that has hit the globally and invested in businesses Indian business process outsourcing through their state enterprises. The (BPO) sector hard. result has seen And closer to home, the Gulf’s vibrant lower oil prices may trading activity in the future dictate boosted and the extent to which a surge of newly countries invest mobilised people their oil-generated arriving to find wealth abroad, as work and build well as where. businesses. China’s dominance There is evidence in the war for talent “Globalisation drives may soon be over globalisation may the war for talent, affects

32% Changing

economic and political environment

27% Shifting employee relationships and expectations

26% The need to innovate to compete

2Orga1% nisational

social corporate and responsibility

21% Increased

participation of GCC nationals

the movement of people, and the growth of people moving across borders,” says Steve Girdler managing director EMEA & APAC at HireRight. “The Middle East is in such a strong position to take advantage of globalisation because, in terms of how it has embraced talent coming in from around the world to help drive businesses, it has a successful model.” Without a doubt, globalisation is far from over, and there are a

19% Shifting

regulatory environment

18%

Digitisation, AI, job automation cloud and cyber, security, etc

17% Increased focus on workforce health and wellbeing

16% International trade and business diversiﬁcation

15% Organisational security and safety

13% Environmental

pressures, natural resources and climate change

number of signs that investment is simply shifting from the likes of China to even lower cost economies. Africa has huge untapped potential, both as an employee base and a consumer market, and could certainly be the story of the coming decades. But political upheavals in parts of Europe and the US have shown that the liberal orthodoxy of the free market, which drives global trade, should not be taken as a given.

CORPORATE SOCIAL chaired professor of ethics and t is generally a given RESPONSIBILITY that companies can social responsibility. no longer put the There are, however, pursuit of profit above all other goals. some standout examples of businesses Social media means transparency is making a real difference. In its annual everything, and companies that do sustainability report, developer Majid wrong – or don’t actively seek to do Al Futtaim, for example, good – have few places to hide. At the same demonstrates CSR activity time, consumers expect high standards that encompasses everything from the people they buy from, and from green building policies to millennials increasingly seek out employers labour standards and localised who aspire to a higher purpose. economic development, all Welcome to the modern-day version of under a sustainable umbrella. corporate social responsibility (CSR). And The company’s reporting on the since employee engagement is a critical issue is notable for its depth, side of the coin, it’s an area where HR is transparency and efforts to measure the involved. In the GCC, the idea of CSR is value it achieves in its local communities. still in a nascent stage, and while there are But many organisations still see plenty of examples of companies engaging community activities as something “more in community-focused activities, aligning akin to philanthropy,” warns Smith. such programmes with their core business True CSR (in its current understanding) is rare, says N. Craig Smith, INSEAD means broad activities that demonstrate 20

concern for wider society, and the notion of being a good ‘corporate citizen’. It can be seen in consumer goods giant Unilever’s ‘Sustainable Living Plan’ that sets ambitious targets for environmental impact in its manufacturing processes (it now sends no waste to landfill from 600 different factories). But there is a disconnect lurking. KPMG’s fourth annual Global Consumer Executive Top of Mind Survey shows a distinct gap between the importance of CSR to executives in building brand and loyalty, and how much consumers valued those same actions. When it comes to CSR, 30 per cent of executives have it in the top five of their to-do lists to build trust, whereas only 16 per cent of consumers identify it as important. What we mean by CSR (if we mean anything at all) will continue to evolve.

“Somesee CSRas morelike charity”

People Management Middle East

GETTY IMAGES, PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

where ‘caring’ counts

and people demand more, faster.

Spotify has pioneered a more ﬂuid, less linear style of management

hat do customers want? No CHANGING CUSTOMERS question tests a business more, book. Whether it’s the or more often. Getting the answer right is both ‘holacracy’ system of crucial and difficult. Customer demands are a management that was shifting collection of wants and needs, influenced all the rage last year, by gradual changes in demographics and or the lattice-like accountability pioneered by Spotify – where accelerated by the immediacy of digitisation. people work in cross-functional teams, but are managed according Across the board, customers expect greater choice, service, to their technical discipline – rigid structures and austere seamless and friction-less interactions and, in particular, performance management practices just don’t cut it any more. personalisation. These expectations are changing how businesses Whatever the shift in company culture, organisations must look – with nimble, highly empowered organisations gaining remain connected to the customer. Meiraj Hussain, group HR rapid market share – and the way people work. As customers lead director of Fakhruddin Holdings, which has a large trading more flexible, more fluid lives, they expect the same of companies operation in the UAE, says the shift to e-commerce has had an they interact with. impact on staff and HR. “We need new skills within the business. The workforce has seen similar shifts. “We’re moving to a much The traditional skills of the sales guys [in showrooms] speaking more collaborative and empowered workforce. It’s a more creative, three or four languages and being able to close [customers] as they more mobile, better educated, younger and more diverse group, walk through the shop are not relevant today,” he says. “Asking which has very different expectations,” says author and consultant them to change the way they do business is not easy… because Fleet Maull. “The primary thing is that really creative companies are going to work in less structural, less linear, less top-down we’ve got people who’ve been with the business for 25 to 30 years.” ways that optimise each person’s engagement in their work and Brockbank believes organisational culture is a critical part of therefore their motivation, creativity and productivity.” competing. “Culture is how people think and how they behave Getting it right means having flatter, more together, but a second and important responsive organisations with fewer layers between qualifying characteristic is that for culture to ition 27% customers and the business. Essentially, anyone be relevant, people have to behave and think Rewards/recogn the customer comes into contact with should be in ways that are dictated by, or are consistent % 20 nt velopme Training and de able to respond almost immediately. That, says with, the requirements of the marketplace. The culture 17% Maull, means successful companies are training culture a firm needs has to be consistent with the Organisational and empowering their people at all levels to handle competitive realities as dictated by customers, and tools 13% s ce cti pra HR Investing in greater responsibility. “Part of it is how much our competitors and, in some industries, regulators.” talent 7% world has sped up and with the digital age people Brockbank says the key issue to help Hiring the right are accustomed to getting what they want pretty companies adapt is to make sure people in What one thing is quickly,” he says. an organisation are thinking and behaving your HR team doing This feeds into a broader debate about how consistently – not just on an individual basis, to support innovation businesses are organised, which has been given but collectively. And in that way, HR begins to or productivity across new impetus by the advent of tech start-ups that shift its focus away from individual notions of have been increasingly prepared to rip up the rule ‘talent’ to a focus on teams. your organisation? dramatically. We have several showrooms in the Deira bazaar and historically in our business, we’ve had clients who come to the bazaar, do their shopping in that very traditional way and we put [their goods] in the container and they sail off to Mombasa or wherever else. Now, the younger generation of business owners from Africa and other Meiraj Hussain, traditional markets are no longer group HR director, coming to the bazaar. They don’t buy Fakhruddin Holdings products in that way. E-commerce is a very big trend and it’s changed the way people buy things dramatically. What changes are influencing We have 16,000+ products that your business and your staffing? we sell across household, luggage, We are a very traditional business, kitchenware, DIY and sundry items. typical of a lot of companies that We’re having to put all our products are merchant family businesses in the region. One of the big changes online and digitise the business. we’ve seen is that the way clients buy That is a big change and we need a products and services has changed lot of new skills within the business.

“Thewaypeople buyproducts haschanged”

Are there upsides to the changes? The sales work [has shifted] from the traditional sales guy sitting in the shop, to the back-end call centre individual. The cost of doing business and delivering business has also come down quite signiﬁcantly, because we don’t need expensive showrooms. We still have them now, but in the future we will not need them. Has this put a greater emphasis on technology and technologyrelated skills? Absolutely. If we have a customer, for example, and their buying pattern is to buy from us once every other month... if the customer doesn’t place an order every second month, we should be relying

on a salesperson to recognise that and alert us. Then somebody could make an outbound call and ask the customer: “We’ve noticed you haven’t purchased from us this month. Can we help you with anything?” Retention of customers using technology is very important to us. The automation needs to be there. I think mining your big data on customers, buying patterns, behaviours, all that type of stuﬀ is becoming a lot more important to businesses like ours. I know many companies are looking for the same skillsets we are, and I see a growing trend to hire individuals who really understand how to engage with customers using technology, and push oﬀers to clients.

People Management Middle East

er capita NATIONALISATION In Saudi incomes Arabia, the among the oilresponse has been to become producing states of the more prescriptive about how Middle East soar above those fast nationalisation takes in the rest of the world. The place in certain sectors and area is a magnet for expatriate functions. In the UAE, a staff. But underneath lurks an quota system is in place for issue nobody in a GCC country the private sector, but these can fail to have engaged with: rules do not always apply in the nationalisation, or the drive many free zones. Significantly, to get more local forthcoming citizens into the legislation workforce. affecting the Each time the UAE’s banks region’s wellwill mandate documented the level (as well youth bulge gets as the number) bigger, so the of Emiratis, need for states tackling for to create jobs the first time Saudi Arabia is among for their own the systemic the countries facing a citizens becomes issues relating demographic shift more pressing. to promotion Figures from the Arab Youth and progression inside Survey 2016 show youth organisations. unemployment in particular “While the governments remains high in all but one of of the GCC countries are the GCC states – Qatar. focusing on developing Research by the International nationals and there are a lot of Monetary Fund in 2014 initiatives, it is not always easy suggested that if the share of to achieve ambitious targets nationals in the private sector because of the demographics didn’t change across the region, and certain cultural around 600,000 private sector restraints,” says Nagi, who jobs would be generated for runs programmes to enhance nationals by 2019, or enough the performance of nationals for only about 30-50 per cent of in the workplace. the nationals expected to enter This can leave nationals the labour market. That leaves competing for jobs with state a significant shortfall businesses and semi-state employers, must help address. rather than exploring what

Does your organisation proactively look to recruit young people (aged 16-24) across the GCC?

33%

57% YES We recruit young employees

YES We oﬀer internships

People Management Middle East

18%

11% YES We oﬀer apprenticeships

NO No speciﬁc initiatives

the private sector might have to offer. It also leaves private sector companies typically well short of mandated but unenforced nationalisation targets. While Nagi believes the public sector is doing well to reach out to nationals, particularly young women and graduates, the private sector has much to learn. “If the private sector understands what’s important culturally and professionally to the local talent, and if it

could offer more opportunities that are professionally and culturally suitable, it would see more nationals working in the sector,” she says. The good news is that, according to Nagi, there is no lack of talent or ambition among the young people she sees entering the job market. “I find it refreshing, actually, when we train fresh graduates who are first-time managers and I see how keen and hungry those nationals are to learn and develop,” she says. “It’s very, very promising.”

“Thereis nolackof ambition intheyoung”

“Wewant toofferthe bestwelfare standards” Minelle Gholami, people director, Emrill Services How are issues around worker welfare aﬀecting your business? It is a burning issue at the moment, and with the diverse demographics we have coming in and out from a number of developing nations or third-world countries, those issues are becoming very important. Not just in terms of our ethical values and principles, but also in terms of compliance with supplier requirements, client requirements and reporting back to the UK, where one of our shareholders is a PLC. While we are always keen to explore new territories to hire staﬀ, there are practical challenges in that. There is a lot of legal governance and compliance required to move workers legally from one country to another. What challenges are presented by having such a diverse group of employees? There are the practical challenges of blending

people into the business if we bring workers in from a territory we’ve not recruited from before. If language is a challenge, how do you get them into the right teams where the supervisor is able to communicate with them? There tends to be a little bit more of a leaning towards certain cultures because there’s a common language spoken; that centres around south Asia, and certain countries in Africa. And all those countries now are becoming more aware of how we can help protect the rights of individuals who are travelling to other countries for employment. How do you stay ahead of the diﬀerent international regulatory requirements? We benchmark an international standard that most companies are aiming to follow now – the Dhaka Principles. They lay out very clear criteria. We try to stay ahead by doing things voluntarily. In terms of the welfare and wellbeing that we provide our colleagues at Emrill, we’re a little bit ahead of the competition. We want to be the best because we want our colleagues to be engaged and embedded in our business. The working culture here is very important to retention, and retention is very important when it comes to development, progression and organic growth of talent in the business.

PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

You’ll need to reﬂect your markets

and make sure the robots don’t take over AUTOMATION

ince robot arms first cut a swathe through the rank and file of auto manufacturing in the 1970s, production line workers have feared for their jobs. Some still do, as a new wave of automation threatens manufacturing jobs. But it has been supplemented by a new concern: codepowered intelligent machines that could replace skilled and semi-skilled white-collar jobs. It’s about the ability of software and machines – particularly those that can “learn” tasks – to take over all kinds of routinised work over time, from payroll processing to receptionists via basic medical diagnosis. While the GCC has not seen this kind of change at any significant scale yet, for some sectors it could be on the near horizon. A 2015 survey by consultants Frost & Sullivan looking at logistics businesses in the GCC, found many organisations expecting to adopt automation in warehousing and transportation. Current automation technology for materials handling equipment is well suited to working in the closed and controllable confines of a warehouse, and similar automated technology is also being deployed in ports around the region, where container freight is increasingly being handled by robotic cranes as a way of boosting throughput and efficiency. However, there is a long way to go before the robots take over completely, even in

On the plus side, humanoid robots like Asimo could take on the tasks we hate

ports and logistics operations. The Frost & Sullivan survey found the level of penetration of automation is low because of the current high cost of implementation. In developing markets, such laboursaving technologies may wipe out jobs faster than countries can replace them, according to Carl Frey and Ebrahim Rahbari, authors of Do laborsaving technologies spell the death of jobs in the developing world? They suggest the big issue might not be a new wave of unemployment, but the challenge of creating rewarding jobs in an automated world. Proponents of AI believe the technology will create more wealth than it destroys, and far more slowly than expected. “In the short term, it will influence the workplace more in the tools we have and the capabilities of those

“Someof thethings wehate willend”

tools,” says Jana Eggers, CEO of Nara Logics, a Bostonbased company behind a neuroscience-inspired AI platform for decision support. “Some of the things we hate spending time working on, which feel like very low level tasks, will go away.” The alternative view is that we simply will not need people when machines can take on their tasks and governments may need to introduce guarantees such as a universal basic income, as part of a radical reshaping of how the economy works. HR may have a key role in ountering such pessimism by emphasising the value of the human dimension of the workforce.

The nature of our work

28%

27% Operational demands

Client demands

Leadership attitudes

20%

19%

Lack of trust

18% Presenteeism

17%

✶ Read more at the CIPD’s Future of Work is Human website: futureworkishuman.org

Negative attitudes from line managers

What are the biggest obstacles your organisation faces to providing or increasing ﬂexible working arrangements?

14% 13%

ce Workplaorms n cultural

Lack of resources required to work remotely

11%

People Management Middle East

Improve your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance Provide them with the training they need

Human Resource / Learning & Development team

Short Courses

As one of the only CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) Approved Centres in the Middle East offering HR and Learning & Development qualifications, your team will have access to our expert and qualified tutors and dedicated support team.

Bradfield has considerable experience in building ad hoc Short Courses for a number of clients. Taking a partnership approach, we ensure that you have full ownership of the design and delivery of your programme.

Locations

Management team

Bradfield has successfully trained more than 4,000 HR professional across the Middle East over the last 10 years in locations including:

An ILM (Institute of Leadership & Management) qualification with Bradfield will drive up standards of leadership and management as well as improve individual and team performance.

Dubai

Doha

Abu Dhabi

Muscat

Get in touch today to accelerate your teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning and performance with Bradfield

enquiries@bradfield.co.uk

+971 4 4 40 5190

www.bradfield.co.uk

People Management Middle East

before we get to grips with the stats

“Diversitymakes yousomuch moreproductive”

n the same way customer internal ratings being unreliable, BIG DATA data has grown exponentially and the data they create being as in recent years, we know more about much a reflection of the assessor as the person Riham Dewidar, head our employees than ever before. But being assessed, pivotal decisions are still made of HR, Middle East, India & Turkey, Fujitsu what do we do with this explosion of on the basis of often erroneous results. information? Does it have a role in Technology may provide part of the answer predicting recruitment issues – whether by offering the ability to go big on the data itself. How does an international company recruiting the right staff, or pointing to Gathering up information on employees and filter down its programmes of diversity and inclusion to a location those who might leave? And can it help potential employees can help get the right people such as the GCC? guide discussions about future skills needs, in the best positions, but also provide insight into We have a very extensive and diverse remuneration and workflows? how an organisation’s culture may develop. range of inclusion programmes across In the GCC, there are some signs of “What we found, through a range of the globe that meet international standards, where we obviously abide by emerging regulatory efforts experiments, is that individual all the gender, ethnicity, religion, disability to improve the quality managers are very inconsistent [requirements]. We abide by them in Negatively Very negatively of, and access to, data. In in their ability to articulate everything that we do, from employment 1% 4% 2015, Dubai enacted an what traits they want in order to engagement, and in the GCC we say No they are the standard. But some things open data law to encourage to achieve a particular culture, impact Very that are considered customary in other data-driven innovation and and figure out if a particular positively 13% countries wouldn’t necessarily work here 25% entrepreneurship. But using individual holds those traits,” for us in the GCC. data to aid HR is as much says Michael Rosenbaum, CEO It’s been easier than you might expect, because [governments] about getting the right of Arena, a software company Positively actually are really trying to adopt these information into play as it is focused on people analytics. philosophies and practices as well. For 57% about finding new ways to Employees may resist such example, in the UAE, the constitution analyse performance, or assess apparent intrusions of privacy actually states all individuals are equal in law – there is no distinction among a person’s suitability for one but, says Rosenbaum, much of citizens on the basis of origin, nationality, role over another. the information is already out How do you think age, or social status. That fits nicely with A 2015 CIPD report, there. From third-party analytics advances in how we put things in place. Evolution of HR analytics: technology will impact in the public domain, people’s Does the requirement for gender a Middle East perspective, own resumes and data collected your employees? diversity have an impact on your found that the region had specifically through interaction local business? a significant opportunity to bypass legacy such as questionnaires, it can all help map In the UAE, there is a huge focus on behaviours and technologies witnessed and predict outcomes across millions of job women in the workforce, which is perfect because that is a big focus for elsewhere in the world and begin making data- applications each year. us as well. When I first joined, there was driven decisions. At its most flexible, analytics can enable only one other women in a leadership Dubai-based outsourcing business Tanfeeth scenario-modelling that shows at the touch of role here in the GCC. Right now, it has (owned by Emirates NBD), for example, has a button what happens to diversity, skills and been a year, and we have four more women in our management team of 10 dealt with a rapid period of expansion by salaries if you close a particular operation, or people. That has been quite nice for us, cleansing and rationalising its data to create channel investment in a new direction. But in the male-dominated IT industry. a massive, centralised source of information there are two big questions to be answered first: on its thousands of employees. The resulting does HR have What do you see as the benefits of diversity in improved insight has helped the company the mix of skills the workplace? zoom in on specific parts of the business and to analyse and You become so much immediately see the impact of organisational understand the In October 2015, the CIPD published a major more productive. It piece of research highlighting the gap between development work. data it handles, brings a completely ambition and practice when it comes to ethical different dimension to Part of the knack may be realising that not and have productivity and ideas. decision making in business. The results were all data is created equal. In fact, data created organisations I think it also shows based on a survey of more than 10,000 HR by people might only be as good as the people got good how we can relate to practitioners and business leaders. themselves, encumbered by their biases and reasons for many different types of customers. accompanied by unwitting prejudices. embracing big 9 in 10 said that long term There is going to be goals were more important Marcus Buckingham, business thinker data, beyond a shift towards a diverse than short-term gains, but and author of HBR article ‘Most HR Data feeling it’s a workforce. Companies in practice, only 1 in 4 were actually prepared to make is Bad Data’, suggests people are to blame, bandwagon with a history of sticking short term sacrifices for long to one nationality are especially when it comes to rating someone’s they ought to term gains widening their scope, performance. Despite research pointing to board? and breaking those

The long term view

When planning HR strategic priorities, how far ahead does your organisation typically look? This year only

17%

The next 2 years

31%

The next 3 years

24%

The next 10 years

The next 5 years 22%

More than 10 years

1 in 3 reported they have to compromise their principles to meet current business needs

Find out more about the CIPD’s work on helping HR meet the needs of a changing world of work by visiting the Profession for the Future website at cipd.co.uk/pﬀ

barriers, because they have seen that the times are moving so much faster now than they can cope with – they are losing a lot of their edge.

People Management Middle East

Interview

“Analytics only work if you ask the right sort of questions” HR guru Dave Ulrich on the challenges facing the business of the future, and GCC nationalisation INTERVIEW KIRSTY TUXFORD PHOTOGRAPHY CHAD KIRKLAND

nown as the ‘father of modern HR’, Dave Ulrich is Rensis Likert Professor of Business at Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Globally respected, he talks to People Management about big issues such as Middle East nationalisation, what it takes to be a modernday leader and how organisations need to adapt their structures and hierarchies.

One of the biggest challenges facing Middle Eastern HR professionals is to nationalise their businesses by encouraging local talent. Which strategies work best, and how do good leaders create cohesive organisations? Nationalisation (Emiratisation, Saudisation, etc) is an important pathway to build a viable local economy, if done well. The danger is that placing individuals in positions of influence and power without the proper skills will disable the economy and stifle growth. Localisation can be powerful if there is rapid personal and career development. In organisations, expatriates must have an incentive to develop local talent who can not only replace, but surpass them. Sourcing 26

People Management Middle East

individuals who diligently work to replace themselves can be difficult, and requires building total reward systems for non-locals that motivate them to nurture others. How would you make the case for HR professionals to move into senior executive roles? Which areas do they need to develop to take on such jobs? In defining the requirements of most senior positions, the dominant issues are around executing strategy, managing change, motivating individuals, shaping culture and building stronger organisation capabilities. These job requirements are central to the experience of many senior HR leaders. In our research, published in Harvard Business Review, we found 20 per cent of CEOs and CHROs had similar leadership profiles on 14 leadership dimensions, more so than the CFO, CIO or CMO. This is not surprising when you consider the best CEOs today are required to manage the more intangible sides of business. You’ve written extensively about eﬀective leadership. How hard

as the world rapidly changes, the challenges of coordination, control and clarity have to adapt. We are seeing organisational innovation with things such as holacracy [a ‘circle’-based management system], networks and self-governing teams. These innovations will endure as we discover new organisational forms that enable the whole to continue to be more than the parts; through management by mindset more than management by objectives; through platforms of individual competencies more than organisational requirements; and through innovative pods within networks more than innovation centres. Where can data add genuine insight to HR operations and strategy? Analytics, technology and big data should be enablers of business, not the drivers. Without asking relevant business questions, all these enablers can be misused. Building an ‘HR’ scorecard of practices or competencies, which is not tied to relevant business results, misuses data. Drawing on work by Dick Beatty, we see four phases of business relevance: HR scorecards (tracking information on HR activities); HR insights (drawing insights from big data, statistical analysis or anthropological work); intervention (comparing the impact of HR practices); and impact (starting with a business challenge and showing how HR efforts will impact it).

is it to change the traditional view of a leader in a conservative culture? Leadership is less about who a leader is and more about the value a leader creates for someone else. A leader who does not create value for others is more a narcissist than a true leader. With value creation for others the dominant paradigm, a conservative traditional (or liberal and innovative) culture works to create leaders who make others better. Leaders who act as autocrats do not build future leadership. Changing this mindset is more likely to come when leaders recognise their success is what happens when they are gone.

Why has the Ulrich model [of HR structure] endured, and what do people most misunderstand about it? People say they disagree with the Ulrich model because it isn’t about how HR can deliver business value – but that’s exactly what it is about. My focus when developing the model was always about how HR isn’t just HR, but is about helping the business succeed through finding talent and leaders, and enhancing capabilities – those capabilities might include external sensing, innovation, collaboration, efficiency, information management and so forth. Organisations must ensure they adapt HR to the strategy and structure of the business. I’ve seen the model applied wrongly when businesses believe one type of HR structure fits all. If you look at the model as it was in the 1990s, of course it won’t work in 2016. It endures because we are constantly updating it.

“Aleaderwho doesnot createvalue forothersis morelikea narcissist”

Will new organisational forms – which do away with traditional hierarchies and encourage deep democracies – spell the end for the concept of traditional organisations? For centuries, we have seen the traditional hierarchy or bureaucracy, which has clarified who does what and ensured coordination to make the whole more than the sum. But

✶ Professor Dave Ulrich is speaking at the HR Summit and Expo at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre, UAE, on 14-16 November People Management Middle East

Capability Assessmen

Short Courses

Membershi

Professional Development Partnership

Take your organisation’s HR to the next level

ince opening its Dubai office in January 2016, the CIPD has been engaging with HR professionals and business leaders across the region about how it can help organisations navigate the challenges and opportunities in the fast changing world of work. As economic shifts accelerate and globalisation deepens, having a professional

and respected HR function has never been more crucial to business success. The CIPD is now officially launching a new proposition designed to strengthen professional capability, ensuring your HR professionals are continually improving, and genuinely aligned to your business priorities. The CIPD’s Professional Development Partnership is a new way to help transform

the capability, credibility and impact of your HR function. By partnering with the internationally recognised leader in HR and L&D excellence, you benefit from the CIPD’s independent knowledge and advice. This offering has been developed exclusively for the Middle East market in response to insight and feedback from organisations across the region.

SUPERSTOCK

Why becoming a CIPD Professional Development Partner is the best way to raise HR’s professional capability, credibility and impact

y nt t

ip ip

Endorsement

Professional Development Partner

Qualiﬁcations

Group Experience Assessment

Partners, who can sign up for up for between one and three years at a time, receive a range of benefits including access to resources, tailored support, networking opportunities and preferential pricing for services including short courses, qualifications and experience assessment. They can also benefit from bespoke solutions such as HR capability assessments, HR audits and coaching for GCC nationals. But even more importantly, it means guiding the strategic development of your team in line with the needs of your business and boosting the confidence and reputation of your HR and L&D professionals – working with a dedicated local CIPD engagement manager to understand the needs of your business, the skills of your function and the opportunities and resources that will best help you take advantage of the opportunities in the changing world of work.

All partners receive a range of benefits, including: • Public brand affiliation with the CIPD – demonstrating your organisation’s commitment to the continuous professional development of your HR and L&D functions • A quarterly round-up of the latest and most thought provoking thinking and research from HR and business, shared in person with the HR team • Invitations for your HR director to join debates and regional thought leadership opportunities, plus networking events for members of your HR and L&D community • Copies of our regional HR publication, People Management Middle East and Work. the CIPD’s quarterly thought leadership title, delivered to your team Additional bespoke solutions include: • HR capability assessments • HR audits and additional CIPD support • Tailored region-specific short courses

Why partner with the CIPD? Maximise the impact and influence of your HR function Guide the strategic development of your HR team aligned to organisational priorities Improve the reputation, confidence and credibility of HR across your organisation

Meet some of the partners Shooq Suhail Al Ali

Robin Windley

Head of people excellence, The Executive Council of Dubai

Senior vice president – human capital, DP World

An organisation’s performance goes hand in hand with its talent strategy, which means HR is really important in enabling business performance. For an organisation like The Executive Council that has a strong strategy, high expectations and high impact in the government of Dubai, it is vital to ensure our employees are supported and empowered through our people excellence work. We are careful when partnering with external institutions to ensure we are always working with the best. The CIPD has a very “glocal” approach (global, but customised to a local environment) which really suits our aspirations and needs. The fact the CIPD has a strong presence in the GCC means we have access to global practices but also research and information that will help us stay ahead in this ﬁeld. The Professional Development Partnership initiative has been developed speciﬁcally for the Middle East and has been built in conjunction with insight and feedback from employers. And working with the CIPD is a pleasure – they always try to truly understand business priorities and develop customised rather than off-the-shelf solutions.

We want to challenge ourselves to go beyond taking care of our human capital team, to take care of all of our employees, and improve the profession as a whole. We can always challenge ourselves to do better: there are speciﬁc areas we need to focus on, such as the way diversity is viewed and understood by the business. Developing these is both a challenge and a responsibility, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to tap into a lot of experience to help drive this process. We want to create an environment in which HC professionals can ﬂourish, and feel able to support the business. I believe the opportunity to tap into expert knowledge through the CIPD partnership will give DP World the energy and drive to explore the other areas of the profession; growing and developing our HR team as individuals, and as a function. We believe this partnership will enable us to look after our HC professionals, providing them with the right development opportunities, and making sure they feel as though they have a career with the company, not just a job.

Visit the website now at organisations.cipd.ae

(Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t) keep it in the family

Family businesses grow faster and last longer than their rivals. But managing them means negotiating some troublesome HR challenges WORDS JEREMY HAZLEHURST

People Management Middle East

business Al Gosaibi When Saudi family bitter feud erupted a , 09 20 in ed a collaps and Maan Al Sane between the family rriage. Mohamed ma by ve (left), a relati d his family have Al Gosaibi (right)an fraud and forgery ft, the accused him of s longest-running in the Middle East’ te pu dis s es sin bu

here are plenty of leaders who like to claim they operate their business like a family. But the Middle East is one part of the world that can claim the distinction is irrelevant. From the Emirati Majid Al Futtaim Group – which owns the Mall of the Emirates – and Saudi Arabia’s Binladin construction company, to the Kuwaiti Kharafi Group, family-owned firms generate 80 per cent of the region’s GDP, and 65 per cent of all billion-dollar businesses are owned by families. Most emerging and fast-growing mid-level businesses have family roots too. There is little doubt family ownership can be very successful, promoting stability and deep engagement with values. But it comes with a complex set of problems for HR professionals. With a fondness for promoting sons (and, increasingly, daughters) to top management positions, and business affairs that can be tangled up in those of other families, these businesses can cause headaches. Can family firms modernise the way they work without losing what makes them special? The first thing to realise is that family firms are by no means homogenous. “You get some that are run by the founders who set up the business, and others that are in their third generation where the heirs don’t have the drive because they are more interested in hobbies and sports and so on,” says Mark Houghton, managing partner of recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson in the Middle East. Dependent on their history and age, he notes, “there is a dramatic variation in family businesses. And obviously there are also significant variations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.” Size also matters. “The level of professionalism can vary from company to company. The larger family businesses tend to operate like big corporate firms with all the necessary governance frameworks and policies and procedures. HR tends to play a more

GETTY IMAGES, PAWAN SINGH �THE NATIONAL

“Employees infamily�irms areengaged– theyhaveareal passionfor thebusiness”

People Management Middle East

important role in larger companies than smaller ones. In smaller companies, HR usually operates more as an administrative department with little or no strategic focus,” says Asma Bajawa, founder and managing director of the UAE’s PeopleFirst HR Consultancy, itself family-owned. For all their variety, one of the common traits of family businesses is that their stable ownership leads to a long-term vision, meaning they can plan and invest for the future. Some family firms, for example, have kept the same people at the top for decades. But their loyalty has a flip side. “One of the qualities of family-owned Reliance Industries, owned by businesses is that they are India’s Ambani family, is one of the often based on personal largest family ﬁrms, worth $45bn relationships and employee loyalty is a very important factor,” says Bajawa. “In this instance, it is very hard for the owners to separate business decisions from emotional decisions. more than others. At smaller firms, says In my experience, owners of family firms Bajawa, “details of pay and benefits for family tend to look after their long-term employees members are often kept under wraps and more than other companies. Quite often, not shared so it is hard to say if they get paid business owners will retain staff, even if more than non-family members”. Often, the employee isn’t the best performer, just she adds, “smaller, family-owned businesses because of a sense of loyalty.” don’t have such a structured approach to pay This is far from trivial. Favouritism, and benefits, which can result in either to family members or others, can be inconsistencies. Negotiations can seriously corrosive in businesses because take place at an individual level at the suspicion of a glass ceiling deters other all levels of the company, not just professionals from joining. “These businesses senior levels.” tend be run by people who have known This might sound like a the chairman or owner for many years and quagmire for HR. The solution, there are huge loyalties that make it difficult says Renalda Hayek, general for the chairman or expats who come in to manager of regional HR implement change,” says Houghton. consultancy ODCC, is that HR This also creates a challenge for professionals should steer clear recruitment, says Coralie Zaccar, a thirdof any conflicts, and only deal generation member of Lebanese family firm with the outcomes. “CEOs have Commercial Insurance. “Some people say: ‘I to understand that others will find out if will never make it right to the top; there are someone is paid more than the standard limits to how high I can go.’ So either they amount, and then everyone in that band decide they are happy with the position they will want to be paid more. If they want to have reached, or they move to a non-family pay that price, then they can go ahead,” owned business.” she says. HR should carefully spell out Because family management can deter top the consequences and – importantly – talent, one consequence is that many families the financial costs of favouritism, but should “are not directly managing any more”, and be careful not to get involved in the power instead choose to take on a purely ownership struggles and emotional battles. role, says Zaccar. More broadly, Hayek says the problem of One of the most obvious consequences owners wanting to get involved in HR issues of this is that certain people – often family can be easily solved, as long as it is dealt members, but also favourites – can be paid with coolly. “Take recruitment. If everyone

agrees with the policies and procedures, and HR is competent enough to draw up a pay scale that is congruent with the job descriptions, and is in accordance with what the business requires, then let the owner be involved,” she says. “Say that if they want to decide, we will give them the tools to create the job descriptions and the key competencies, and train them to do competency-based interviews. After a while, they come to trust HR and will not want to get involved in recruitment any more.” The attitude to control often associated with family businesses is typical of the founder generation. There is some truth in the cliche of the charismatic, buccaneering entrepreneur who likes to have a say in every hire and decision. As the generations go on, though, the owners tend to take a more relaxed approach. Zaccar says that many years ago the family would keep a close eye on HR decisions, but “there was a gradual process whereby HR was trusted to make appointments, and most of the decisions are made by professionals. The founder would maybe see them in the second interviews. Now the CEO will only get to see them to finalise a senior position.” The question of which generation the family business has reached can be crucial to

“HRshould spelloutthe consequences andfinancial costsof favouritism”

People Management Middle East

Navigating the family ﬁrm: experts give their HR advice

Coralie Zaccar Third-generation member of Commercial Insurance, Lebanon

The in-house HR team should bring in an external consultant from time to time. Sometimes, if you have long-term employees, they might ﬁnd it hard to take constructive criticism from the in-house HR, who might not have been there as long. Also, there might be a suspicion that the in-house team is working in the best interests of the family, not the employee. An external HR person is immune to that. They can introduce best practice and say things that wouldn’t have necessarily been accepted otherwise.

Mark Houghton Managing partner of recruitment ﬁrm Odgers Berndtson Middle East

Do not make your decision about coming to work for a family business based on conversations with the patriarch – meet people from across the group of businesses

and understand exactly what you are getting into. Take references from people who have worked there in the past, and get a view on the culture of the company and behaviour of the chairman.

Asma Bajawa Founder and managing director of the UAE’s PeopleFirst HR Consultancy

All newcomers to the Middle East, in particular those who are joining family-owned businesses, should take time to understand the culture and become familiar with local employment laws. The most important expectation a business owner will have from HR is to ensure legal compliance so that the company is not at risk. Also, gain an understanding of the company and business operations before making recommendations that may not be relevant.

Renalda Hayek General manager of HR consultancy ODCC

Be understanding and ﬂexible when the CEO starts telling you about HR strategy. You need to listen, understand and also be able to challenge. If you think the decisions are bad, prove it. Be scientiﬁc. Show it by proving the decision will lose money. But at the same time, you must be humble. Yes, you are an HR expert, but be aware of your own level of knowledge and expertise, and theirs, and do not let your own ego be a factor in your communication with the CEO or the owner.

its behaviour. As the company gets older, the number of family stakeholders can increase quickly, especially if there are multiple children, not to mention cousins. “The businesses that tend to be most successful are those in which a small number of inheritors are running the business,” says Houghton. “It gets much more complicated where the founder has many more children and grandchildren, and there are multiple voices and stakeholders. Typically, the businesses with fewer decision-makers at the top have been able to instill best practice more effectively than boards that are made up of numerous family members, which creates more legacy and ownership issues going down the line.” One solution, if there are a lot of family members involved in management, is to split them up. “The trend is to make sure you don’t have brothers and sisters under the same roof,” says Hayek. “The best family businesses have learned from the European and American model: have one family member in production, one in sales and so on. Never have two in the same line of business.” This has the benefit of avoiding conflicts derailing departments, and also ensuring that the next generation have complementary skills. But skills only go so far. Houghton says he heard about a billion-dollar consumer goods company where the father promoted the son to CEO. He was in his late 20s, had an MBA from the US and was well qualified: “But despite his inherent business capabilities, he lacked the people skills developed through experience, and that caused issues with motivation and employee engagement.” Revenues dropped and the son was pushed to one side, with the father coming back in. Such stories only deter people from working for family firms. Good HR departments are trying to smooth their nextgen problems by bringing in expat executives to mentor heirs, though this is often only a short term fix. Others turn to specialist mediators and troubleshooters who know how to solve the sort of disputes that typify family businesses. Does this suggest the prevalence and longevity of family firms is under threat? Not at all. And it is important not to overlook their upsides. After all, there are reasons that family ownership is so ubiquitous and successful. It often means long-termism, stability and a strong, wellunderstood culture. “A big positive with family businesses is the engagement,” says Hayek. “In HR now, we are often working on engaging employees, and instilling passion for the company. That is what you find in family firms. If we can keep it and mix it with the power and authority, I think family businesses will flourish”. People Management Middle East

THE KNOWLEDGE

Your quarterly run-through of essential skills, with expert commentary

WORDS GEORGI GYTON

Make compliance training more eﬀective For organisations, compliance training can often be seen as a tick-box exercise; for employees, it’s more a matter of ‘if I really have to’. But according to Thomson Reuters, many legal problems originate from employees acting improperly out of ignorance, misunderstanding or simply a blatant disrespect of the laws, regulations and policies that govern their daily job – much of which could be avoided with more engaging compliance training. Research has shown that staff who receive compliance training are also more productive, have lower turnover rates and are more efficient, it says. So how can organisations make compliance seem like less of a chore, and, in an ideal world, more memorable at the same time? First, companies need to make sure they have a comprehensive handle on everything that requires compliance. This means that they know all the laws, organisational procedures, regulations, rules, conventions and religious compliances that need to be adhered to, to ensure that all these requirements are then managed, communicated, audited and updated accordingly. Mike Cole, an L&D consultant at Oxford

“Electronic quizzesreveal whoknows what. Itsaveson cost,labourand productivity” 34

People Management Middle East

Strategic Consulting, which works across the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UK, says its recent work on an accreditation for compliance “encourages a cultural shift, where compliance is not just seen as a top-down command that is seldom checked except when something goes wrong. Rather, it should become a way of operating with the buy-in of all levels of management.”

How to achieve a culture of compliance The most eﬀective way for a company to be compliant is to embed core practices into its corporate culture, according to Thomson Reuters. Here are some basic principles:

Awareness You need to fully understand regulators’ expectations

Communication The tone needs to be set from the top

Education

Employees must be educated on an organisation’s internal policies and external regulations

Eﬀective technology

A customisable framework is needed

Incentives

An employee will be more motivated if there is potential for personal and professional gain SOURCE: THOMSON REUTERS REPORT: A CULTURE OF COMPLIANCE - HOW COMPLIANCE CAN AFFECT CORPORATE CULTURE FOR THE BETTER

Fellow L&D consultancy Think Associates has been working with the NHS in the UK on managing its compliance training. The NHS uses an electronic learning management system that houses its list of training courses. “By linking to payroll, it can profile job types and decide what compliance training needs to be undertaken by specific roles, and by the individuals in those roles,” Cole says. “It can then monitor who has been trained and who still needs training.” Other initiatives include transforming many of the compliance training sessions into e-learning, so less work time is lost. Electronic quizzes are also being created to test the knowledge of staff with randomised questions. “This allows employers to gauge who knows what at any given date,” says Cole. “The strength of testing is devised so that annual updates are unnecessary for a large number of people. Organisations need only retrain those who do not pass – this is a cost, labour and productivity saver.” According to Thomson Reuters, there is no one-sizefits-all approach when it comes to the Mike Cole says technolog y used for compliance isn't training. But e-learning a top-down aﬀair programmes that leverage interactive cases, videos, games and quiz questions that cater to a specific user’s job function have proven to be an extremely effective way to reach the digital-savvy employee, it says.

The Knowledge

Deal with an allegation of bullying

As it stands, UAE Labour Law, for example, does not provide any express protection from harassment or bullying. However, depending on the circumstances, such conduct could be considered criminal. In that case, an employer may become vicariously liable Bullying in the workplace can take (by way of a civil claim for damages) many forms – from threatening or to the victim, where it can be shown insulting language to cyber-bullying that the perpetrator of the crime was or trolling. The consequences include carrying out their job at the time of the increased levels of absenteeism, offence, says Ford. decreased motivation and negative “Given that fact [...] as well as the effects on mental health. It is no particular obligations of employers surprise, therefore, that it is in based in the two financial free a company’s interest to tackle zones [Dubai International any allegations head on. Financial Centre and the But according to Rebecca Abu Dhabi Global Market – Ford, a partner at Clyde & where additional protection Co in Dubai, allegations of is afforded to employees – we bullying aren’t always clearrecommend that employers have cut. “One of the challenges in place appropriate bullying for HR practitioners is the and harassment policies,” fact that employees are often she says. Rebecca Ford: context is vital when looking from a variety of backgrounds, “It is important that into allegations with potentially different employees are aware of and social, cultural and religious understand the policies, sensitivities and beliefs, and it is likely and that, in the event of an allegation that a number of languages will be of harassment or bullying on the part spoken within the workforce,” she says. of an employee that is raised with the All these factors can lead to employer, this is treated seriously and misunderstandings and, Ford adds, acted upon by the employer.” “what may be perceived to be bullying If an allegation is made, organisations or harassment by one person, could pass should establish a realistic timeline to deal unrecognised by another”. with the complaint, and appoint a neutral In an infamous incident earlier this year, employees of a Chinese bank were 'punished' on stage

What forms can bullying take? Not all types of bullying in the workplace are easy to spot, and victims may not even realise they are being bullied. These can include: Verbal hints or comments that an employee should quit their job

Excessive monitoring of an employee's work

An employee being ignored or being given a hostile reception when they approach

Information being withheld from an employee, which could aﬀect their performance

Assigning an employee tasks that are impossible to complete within the given time frame

Instructing an employee to carry out inappropriate or humiliating tasks

SOURCE: PEOPLEPULSE

person to deal with it. Investigations should be carried out discreetly and the accused should understand what has been said about them. It is important to present any allegations with sensitivity; it is possible that an accusation could be considered defamatory, which is a criminal offence in the UAE. This may become an issue if the allegation is mischaracterised or untrue. The HR professional or other individual appointed to investigate the matter should also have access to all the necessary documentation to make a fair decision, or at least achieve a closure of the complaint. In the event of a dispute before the courts, a claim and defence must be evidenced in writing, which means it is crucial the employer documents any steps it takes. Indeed, there is no point undertaking any investigation or disciplinary process if it isn’t documented in writing – a written record should be made of the investigation, as well as documentation of the decision made and any actions taken. People Management Middle East

Selecting a new piece of HR software is far from a simple ‘click and collect’ scenario. Like any significant investment, it should involve a considerable amount of pre-purchase research and analysis. Equally, once you’ve taken the plunge, it’s important to ensure you’ve bought the right software by conducting postpurchase checks and evaluation. The key starting point in any new software selection, says Denis Barnard – director of consultancy HRmeansbusiness – is to understand exactly what your company wants, and therefore what the software needs to achieve. Having realistic expectations is also important if you are to accurately evaluate whether a new piece of software is performing as it should. “If you have done your homework, then the rest is easy,” says Barnard. “You need to ensure your project sponsor is able to resource the project correctly throughout its duration, know what you need, in terms of modules for example, and how it needs to work in your organisation.” Barnard says it is important to have the ability to develop those processes into scenarios that can be presented to vendors, and to be sure that the software you choose can be configured to your requirements. Pritul Khagram, CEO at HR and recruitment consultancy People Force International, says there are a number of areas to consider when investing in new software. Denis Barnard and These include: Pritul Khagram: ask vendors for detail identifying the 36

People Management Middle East

key stakeholders; how to document the supplier; ask as many questions requirements; and managing a as possible. Check their business selection process. continuity and their financial status Right at the outset, says – what technology they Khagram, it’s also critical to use, for example,” quantify your budget and Khagram says. And decide whether you require after you have obtained a cloud-based SaaS quotations, source (software-as-a-service) references from at least or an on-premise two existing clients for each solution. shortlisted provider. Evaluation criteria To assess whether a Technology is obsolete should be set during the product is right for you it quickly – so it pays to be thorough in choices ‘exploration’ period, with is also important to carry each software provider out adequate due diligence, scored against these. “Challenge Khagram says. “This can be achieved by having several demonstrations of various systems; for example, you wouldn’t buy a house without seeing it a couple of times,” he says. Demonstrations should be bespoke, where the provider goes into detail If you’re thinking of buying HR software, there are a number of questions to ask existing customers on your various requirements, rather than just an overview. “It’s also important,” Khagram says, “to engage with all key stakeholders during the selection process.” Describe how you are using the product. Is it When you organisation-wide or a single department? have chosen your preferred software, Why did you select it over its competitors? achieved board sign-off and implemented the new kit, What are the best features of the product? And the limitations? measuring its success can be done in a number of ways, Describe any manual processes and workarounds you follow to use it says Khagram, “but documenting your requirements in detail right at the beginning will help evaluate the system and whether it meets those needs or What did you learn during the implementation that you would have liked to know before not, once it is implemented”. you started? Other methods of evaluating the success of new software are by conducting staff and HR team If you were doing the implementation again, surveys, analysing the turnaround what would you do diﬀerently? time for information requests from the board, checking the accuracy of the information and the processes – What was the ROI timescale? How does this ensuring nothing falls through the compare with what you expected? cracks – and analysing the cost savings or ROI. SOURCE: PEOPLE FORCE INTERNATIONAL

HR software selection: key quesions to ask

“Challenge the supplier– ask many questions . Check their financialstatus”

6. 7.

REX SHUTTERSTOCK, ALAMY

Evaluate new HR software

The Knowledge

Handle employees’ personal data

From emergency contact details to information on pay and performance, organisations are legally allowed to hold large amounts of personal information about their workforce. But with that responsibility comes risk. So what are the requirements around the collection, usage and storage of this information, and what should employers be mindful of? According to Neil Crossley, partner, DLA Piper Middle East, in most GCC states there is no data protection act that specifically covers employers’ rights and obligations in the same way that data processing is handled in Europe, where it is closely regulated. “The only directly comparable example is the regime in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC),

Have you considered encryption? Encryption trends in Middle Eastern companies Employee/HR data is the most likely data type to be encrypted (65%) Only 28% of firms have an overall encryption strategy that is adjusted to fit different applications and data types while 25% have no plan or strategy Health-related data is the least likely data type to be encrypted (18%)

SOURCE: PONEMON INSTITUTE – 2016 GLOBAL ENCRYPTION TRENDS STUDY: MIDDLE EAST

A widespread leak of emails from Sony included a pre-release version of James Bond movie Spectre

which lays out similar obligations to fashion. “Inspection requirements – for those on the UK and EU,” he says. example, a request to review data on “Having said that, in all jurisdictions payroll and working hours to ensure employers are entitled to request and compliance with overtime regimes – retain sufficient personal information to often mean that an employer should be allow them to operate the employment able to print out information in a hard contract in a normal fashion." copy format locally. But sometimes this It is typical for many employers to is not possible and can cause issues with request consent to hold and process local ministries,” he says. information, including sensitive In the absence of a data act, personal data, within the context of employees do not have an automatic the employment offer and right to request sight of the contract, he adds. data their employer holds The absence of a data on them. “Equally, ‘rights act means there is no of discovery’ in litigation in legal requirement to the Middle East are typically notify employees of the not as wide-reaching as other purposes data will be used jurisdictions,” says Crossley. for. “However, there are When an employee cybercrime laws which leaves an organisation, the Neil Crossley says ﬁrms should comply prohibit the misuse of data,” personal data held on them with high standards says Crossley. “It may also be should be kept securely for sensible to comply with the long enough to comply with highest standards applicable inspection requirements, which do where data might be exported vary, and until the statute of limitations outside the region.” for labour claims relating to the period In terms of legal requirements, of employment has lapsed. In the UAE, Crossley says that, even in the absence this is a year, but regulations in other of data acts, there is a right to privacy, countries vary, so it is worth having so data needs to be held in a secure rigid policies in place. People Management Middle East

Comment

THE VIEW FROM HERE

Why do so many organisations fail to motivate their employees?

In today’s organisations, we spend a lot specific physical performance? The same of money, time and energy hiring people applies to performance on the job: we and developing them to demonstrate are born with predefined thinking a certain type of ‘acceptable and behavioural patterns and these behaviour’. It starts on the determine our ‘talent’, which is why ‘induction’ workshop, continues it helps to use assessment tools to to ‘training’ and goes on to several identify talent before hiring. ‘development’ stages. Aptitudes, meanwhile, are We succeed in some cases, the product of induction, and fail in most. This is proven training, development and by the high cost of turnover past experience. Their effect in businesses worldwide – is less significant than talent. individuals you did everything Developing individuals with you could to develop, but who the cognitive ability to acquire Managing partner of Leapership never seemed to work with skills without having the Consultants, motivation. They may have had talent will result in acceptable operating in the UAE, an outstanding talent for the but not optimal performance. Lebanon and the UK job, and a perfect set of skills, But what we can do is but one day they left to do work less on identifying and something else. How many of your staff developing weaknesses and more on members right now are secretly asking working through individual strengths. each other: ‘Is this the right job for me? Think about all the meetings you Have I found my passion in life?’ had discussing how To achieve peak performance, to develop people’s individuals normally have one or more weaknesses. In life, we of a number of key elements: talent, spend a lot of energy skills and aptitude, inner motivators trying to change the (the ‘will to do it’) and induced behaviour of those motivators (generated by the leader or around us: our children, the organisational culture). But the most spouses, co-workers and underrated element, and the part that subordinates. We later underpins them all, is motivation. realise that people are Peak performance requires a set of who they are. They may skills and aptitudes, coupled with a change their behaviour genetic talent to do the job. The more we temporarily, but then know about genetics and how the brain go back to behaving how functions, the more proof we have that we they are programmed are born with preset genetic capabilities to behave. We can that define our future performance. either keep trying to Take sport as an example: why is it that change them – which the best runners, swimmers and athletes usually leads to escalated come from specific parts of the planet? conflict and reduced Could it be genetic influence defining motivation – or accept

PRESS ASSOCIATION IMAGES

DrAntoineEid

38 People Management Middle East

them the way they are and change how we deal with them. Instead of trying to force acceptable behaviour on the people you hire, wouldn’t it be easier to just find the individuals with the proper genetic fit for the job and work through their strengths? That brings us to induced motivators. Your leaders do not necessarily know about the other factors that underpin performance. It is HR’s job to take them through development programmes that make them more aware about brain functions and what makes each brain motivated. Only when they learn how to ‘motivate to the one’ can they induce the right motivators and create an organisational culture where each brain feels appreciated and supported. And only then can they expect peak performance from individuals – and from the organisation.

We are born with preset genetic capabilities that determine our ‘talent’ – whether at work or in sport

Make your experience count Experience Assessment is a direct route to CIPD professional membership If you’re an experienced professional who already meets the standards set by the CIPD, Experience Assessment can offer you: • a study-free route into membership – no need for a qualiﬁcation • a straightforward way to recognise your HR or L&D achievements • a ﬂexible route that works around your busy lifestyle and work commitments.

Professional membership of the CIPD is your badge of credibility and proves your standing in the HR and L&D industry. It demonstrates to your employer, peers and clients that you have the knowledge and skills to meet CIPD’s rigorous standards.

Take the ﬁrst step to professional membership and open doors for your career.

Visit cipd.ae/membership/experience-assessment

At Takatuf we know that Human Capital is the answer We work with you to unlock potential and build a culture that is centred on enabling people and organisations at different levels and stages, to excel and innovate.

Human Capital Consulting | Assessment | Coaching | Training Institutes | Takatuf Scholars Programme