Gulf Business January 2011 | Top 10 places to work

WORDS BY ALICIA BULLER, PHOTOS BY FAROOQ SALIK

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Welcome to the first ever Top 10 Great Places to Work in the UAE

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ot only did I feel proud to mingle with this month’s winning cover stars, I was abuzz with the sheer list of firsts being born before our very eyes.

Here, in less than a week, we’d lured some of the UAE’s brightest and best minds to Gulf Business towers for a same place, same time photo shoot. What’s more, they were all punctual and gracious – even under the hot camera lights.

For anyone acquainted with organising a media shoot, particularly on these sandy shores, it was not only a coup, it was a near miracle of the corporate kind. It struck me viscerally that these weren’t your average CEOs, these were the proud bosses of companies that focus on people.

And as you read on through the Gulf Business Great Places to Work report, you’ll see that a focus on ‘assets with shoes’ stems from a vision that permeates an organisation and everything it touches.

Bosses that run great places to work also know that success is born, without exception, from attracting the best people.

More than most, they have an intrinsic understanding that the cream-of-the-crop have choices. When the best brains make decisions on career moves, it involves more than simple remuneration.

Superior employees are compelled by firms that exude excellence, longevity and, most importantly, reputation. What greater validation than this national list.

And so the cycle goes: talented people, growth, sustainability, talented people...

Great Places to Work is a global institution that has so far published similar data in 39 countries, including the famous Fortune magazine Top 100 Places to Work list in the US. The fact that regional leader, Michael Burchell, and his team have entered the region now is not insignificant. The UAE is on the cusp of change.

As the recession resides, the memories of the boom times are still fresh in the

national psyche, and so is the knowledge that short-term gain and ‘low hanging fruit’ mantras left many companies on their proverbial knees.

The UAE boasts a uniquely diverse and talented workforce, made up of around 80 per cent expat labour, but as the world becomes increasingly globalised, the days of fly-by-night, quick-buck tenures will weaken the competitiveness of the nation.

The message is clear, sustainability is the only option; and sustainability arises from the brains that you attract and retain in your company. Nothing else will do.

According to the UN, the Arab working world lags far behind the West in productivity terms and the gap is growing. Workers from the Gulf have the potential to create more wealth, but are constrained by a lack of investment in training, equipment and technology.

The UN is also making strong calls for the abolishment of the Gulf-wide sponsorship system. The new UAE law which limits the power of bosses to ban employees going to rival companies will go some way to promote employee freedom. Today, it is empowerment of your employees that will spur growth, not enslavement.

The companies that made the Top Ten Great Places to Work in the UAE list understand that a happy, empowered team drives growth. But they also understand that it’s much easier to talk about it than to do it. That’s why they’ve made it their core impetus to push forward initiatives that explicitly foster transparency, communication, engagement, trust and respect.

I, for one, am proud to recognise this list as a springboard for the future. How do we become a country that excels in the global marketplace? We do it together.

Alicia Buller, Editor Gulf Business

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People matter For the first time in the region, Gulf Business unveils the Top Ten Places to Work, highlighting the crucial relationship between people and profits.

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s the UAE business mindset shifts to thinking about the longterm, focusing on people is paramount.

But whoever said that ‘people are your greatest asset’ was wrong; it’s actually the ‘right’ people that are your greatest asset. And in order to attract the best people, it’s important to have a great place to work.

That’s why Gulf Business has tied up with the world’s most popular employment survey to find out what’s really going on in the UAE’s companies and publish the country’s first annual ranking of the nation’s best employers. The survey assessed the level of trust between three key relationships within the local work place – employees and their managers, employees and their jobs, and between employees and other employees.

The Institute publishes similar lists in 39 international markets, including the Fortune “100 Best” in the US and top company lists in the Financial Times in the UK and Nikkei Business in Japan.

This makes it the largest workplace evaluation tool globally, surveying around 1.5 million employees every year. Companies that regularly feature on the Great Place to Work lists in other markets include Google, Coca Cola, Novartis, IBM, Cisco, Telefonica and Microsoft (the software giant has made it to the UAE list too).

Following the slowdown in the UAE labour market, when one in 16 professionals lost their jobs in 2009, measuring the extent to which employee loyalty and engagement has been maintained is key, says Dr. Michael Burchell, partner and director of the UAE Great Place to Work Institute.

“Now is the right time to bring the list to the UAE labour market. In the boom-times, there was a lot of job hopping in the UAE,” Burchell adds.

“As finance and commerce rebounds,

About the List

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ny UAE company with 50 or more employees was eligible to participate in the fee-based program.

Any company that appears on the list is selected primarily on the basis of their employees’ responses to the Great Place to Work Trust Index, a proprietary employee survey developed by the Great Place to Work Institute. In addition, the firm evaluates materials submitted by the company, including the company’s

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response to the Great Place to Work Culture Audit.

In accordance with Great Place to Work practices, the research firm may not reveal details of companies that did not make this list, including whether or not a company has participated for selection on the list. Companies interested in applying for the January, 2012 list may apply from February 1 at www.greatplacetowork.ae/ best/nomform.php.

you have to think ‘how do I create loyalty so that doesn’t happen again in future?’ Pay does not equal employee engagement; this comes from interesting work.”

While Burchell notes that while multi-national companies topped the list, the local companies were also extremely strong in a global context. “We found that the multinationals came top of the list because they have more resources globally. But just because you’re a multinational, it doesn’t mean you’re perfect,” he says.

“The local companies were very creative without having the resources of the multinationals. All the companies that made the list worked hard to meet their employees needs, including regarding religion and culture. They also had extensive communications between the management and the ewmployees.

But there is still a need for senior management to invest in staff and talk to their staff more.”

Burchell says while the companies that made it to the list are solid, there’s room for improvement across UAE companies overall. The country may be made up largely of ex-pats on relatively shorter-term tenures but that’s no reason to neglect your people policies. “There are employees that you want for longer than a year.

There is a need for top talent to be retained for at least between three and five years,” he adds.

David Robert, partner and director at Great Places to Work UAE, agrees that there needs to be more of a focus on grass-roots strategy and people policy.

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“There seems to be a lot of emphasis on superficial tenets in the UAE, but a good exterior is not sustainable if you don’t have good people,” he says. “In the UAE, the focus has been on short-term gains. However, the companies that made the list are head and shoulders above their peers, their HR practices are integrated and robust. They are good quality workplaces in every way.”

The UAE is a young, maturing and dynamic market and is at a critical stage in its development, which is why it’s a pivotal time to be publishing the Top Ten Places to Work survey.

“The main thing is that the UAE wants to be the best; to do this, they need the right leaders, the right products and great places to work,” says Burchell. “If you want to get ahead in a global economy, you absolutely have to think about how people drive your business.” n

About the Great Place to Work Institute UAE

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he Great Place to Work Institute is a global research and management consultancy that recognises the best workplaces in 39 countries worldwide and provides business and advisory services.

The Institute was founded in 1991 to provide a simple, research-driven methodology that could be widely used to understand and assess organisations. A proprietary employee survey and assessment of HR policies form the foundation of the Institute’s research and consulting services and has been used by companies from all over the world to create strong workplace cultures based on trusting relationships.

Following increased demand from the GCC countries for its workplace evaluation services, Great Place to Work Institute expanded to the UAE in March 2010. By 2012 Great Place to Work Institute plans to publish ‘Top Companies to Work For’ lists in each of the GCC countries.

UAE people challenges: what the experts say Hazel Jackson, CEO, Biz-Ability business consulting firm

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ne of the biggest people challenges for UAE companies is dealing with the vast cultural diversity that exists here. Having 204 different nationalities means dealing with different approaches to and understanding of HR policies, workplace culture and leadership.

Effective people management is also impacted by weak leadership behaviour in a number of companies.

This can be attributed to the rapid growth of the economy that forced companies to source talent from within the organisation to meet urgent business demands. While this meant more opportunities for young individuals, companies have made some compromise on the skills set and experience of their people in leadership positions.

Companies should begin by analysing their HR policies and procedures to discover loopholes and see how they

can revise them to promote better employee welfare. It is only recently that the HR function has started to be taken seriously by companies in the UAE. While there is a lot of awareness about better workforce management, the HR industry in the UAE is still developing.

Grey areas will definitely exist during this transitional phase.

Philip Anderson, professor of entrepreneurship, INSEAD, Abu Dhabi

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he top challenge usually is attracting talented Emiratis. Most firms want to emiratise their work forces, so competition for high-quality local talent is quite fierce.

Consequently, retaining Emiratis is also an issue, particularly since many are not primarily motivated by money, due to the wealth of the country. Firms must find other ways to attract and retain them, through interesting work and professional growth opportunities. The next greatest employee challenge is managing a diverse workforce.

The UAE has attracted people from many different geographies, which provides opportunities for value-creation but is not simple to manage.

The most common complaints we hear are about lack of consistent direction and micro-management. Both spring from the tendency in the region for organisations to run in a very top-down way. Top-down

management has its strengths, but it can lead to delays, especially when senior leaders juggle many commitments, and to a stop-and-go pattern of change.

Because senior leaders are expected to know all the details of the operations they supervise, they tend to use a lot of reports and approvals compared to companies in the West.

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“Never underestimate anyone’s role”

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icrosoft is no stranger to the Great Places to Work award, having already scooped the top place in last year’s Europe list and a regular spot in Fortune magazine’s US rankings. The company’s chairman, Bill Gates, got it right – he invested in his people.

And it shows.

“We are focused on growing the company and enabling people to reach their potential – inside and outside the office. Taking care of people is one of the top priorities; everyone contributes to the company strategy regardless of their position,” says Samer Abu Latif, the company’s regional general manager.

Microsoft’s key focus is the development of its employees through the distribution of transparent information, a clear career development plan and work/life balance.

“We do not underestimate employee roles. We all have a passion for technology and, no matter where we are positioned, everyone has a role.

We all feel part of a group. We show this in the way we communicate and we make the company strategy transparent. Development of people is central and we foster that spirit.”

The Microsoft career experience begins with a unique ‘on-boarding road map’, where a new employee is shadowed by a member of the company who has been there for a number of years. The firm also conducts a lengthy hiring process, getting to know potential employees indepth and always includes a potential peer member in the interview panel.

“It’s such a large company that we go beyond the usual orientation,” says Latif Communication itself is the most salient aspect of Microsoft’s people policy. The firm conducts an extensive annual

poll that collects suggestions and feedback from all its employees and a staff member is nominated to make the final recommendations to the general manager. ”One of the results of this survey was a mandate not to bombard each other with emails over the weekend.

We sent out a communication that said ‘does that email you’re sending really need to be sent now or can it wait?’,” Latif says. “We wanted to assure our staff that it’s not an expectation to read an email at the weekend.”

In addition, Microsoft has its own ‘taskforce’, which is given a remit of coming up with recommendations on how to improve employee work/life balance. This bottom-up strategy is cultivated with the aim of fostering trust MICROSOFT

Sector: Technology Founded: 1975 UAE employees: 290 M/F ratio: 244/46 Paid leave: 23 days Annual job applications: 6394 Annual training hours: 53

and team spirit within the company.

Latif also cites recogition programmes as a motivator. “We have founded a Circle of Excellence for global recognition of our employees and we also conduct local awards, where our people nominate our people.

This creates a sense of solidarity and teamwork,” he says.

Finally, the Gulf office offers a community citizenship programme, so that employees feel that they are not only commercially-orientated, but that they are also making a difference to the wider world.

“It’s important that employees feel that they are part of something bigger.

Our commitment to CSR shows people they are working for a company that is aware. That’s crucial,” concludes Latif, the first winner of the UAE’s first-ever Great Places to Work list.

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amdi Osman knows the FedEx people policy better than most, not just because he’s the regional senior vice president but because he’s lived it. Over 30 years ago, Osman embarked on a make-orbreak trip to the US, where he spent six months washing FedEx lorries.

Two years later, he was a manager.

And thanks to FedEx’s ‘peopleservice-profit’ mantra, he hasn’t looked back since.

“It is the differentiator that made FedEx a world-class company.

We hire the best and look after them, which makes employees conscientious and motivated.

Dedicated employees give the highest quality, most professional service.

Our business is about passion, we have no tangible products. Our service relies totally on our people.

Our assets wear shoes,” he says.

“We have to make sure of the consistency of the purple promise; we are renowned for our purple people.

We make our customer experience an outstanding one. Leadership starts from the bottom.”

FedEx consistently outperforms in global independent employee satisfaction surveys because of its palpable commitment to its ‘purple people’. The firm is now the most successful express delivery company in the world with billion dollar global revenues.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES Microsoft 290 FedEx 440 Pepsi Co 200 Marriott 520

TOTAL: 9205

Merck Serono 247 The One 363 Bayt.com 213 Shuaa Capital 205 Zayed University 727 Dulsco 6000

TOP 10 Places to work.indd 49

Osman says the most important factors for motivating his staff are empowerment, communication and feedback. FedEx operates an open door policy that the company “lives and dies by.”

Another tenet of the delivery firm’s ‘people-service-profit’ strategy is a healthy work/life balance.

“We don’t want our people to work to death, we want to make sure they have no stress. So there’s no surprises at any moment. When you’re working as a happy team you succeed, everyone knows a sinking ship doesn’t win.”

The firm’s focus on diversity is also a key market differentiator and a primary reason FedEx made it so high on the Great Places to Work list.

In short, a comprehensive diversity

FedEx

“Our assets wear shoes”

FEDEX

Sector: Logistics Founded: 1971 UAE employees: 440 M/F ratio: 292/61 Paid leave: 24 days Annual job applications: 5000 Annual training hours: 99

policy ensures you’re not only connecting with the community and the social fabric of the country in which you’re based, your company is also able to mine a rich well of differing talents and insights. “In FedEx, there’s no differentiation made based on where you come from, as long as you can communicate,” Osman says.

“When I became a manager, my English was quite broken, but I passed with the panel because six out of seven people said I had passion and they saw my potential.

They taught me and let me make some mistakes. We recruit around 70 per cent of our managers from within.

It shows you believe in your staff.”

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Pepsi Co

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“Act like a family”

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uw Gilbert, communications manager for the PepsiCo Middle East, Africa and Asia (MEAA), says: “It all starts with empowerment.

Empowered employees are motivated and energised.”

Established in Dubai in 1976, PepsiCo MEAA runs the Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade brands. The company’s ambitious mission statement ‘to deliver sustained growth through empowered people acting with responsibility and building trust’ is what helped to push PepsiCo up this year’s list.

The firm has introduced ‘Saad’s Blog’, which is written by the CEO and informs the staff of anything from business results to CSR programmes (of which PepsiCo has many). But what’s

most interesting about the F&B organisation is its work/life balance policy. Employees must always include one out-of-work activity in their annual KPI objectives and they are benchmarked on them, just as they would be a work objective.

Gilbert says his own work/life balance KPI is ‘making sure he personally drives his daughter to school every day’.

Gilbert adds that PepsiCo ‘feels like a family’, which he says can be a powerful motivational factor.

PEPSICO

Sector: F&B Founded: 1976 UAE employees: 184 M/F ratio: 99/85 Paid leave: 22 days Annual job applications: 237 Annual training hours: 10

“We put employees before guests”

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nternational hotel group Marriott is still run by US family owner Bill Marriott, who believes that if the firm respects and cares for its employees, in turn, they’ll respect and care for their guests.

The company even goes as far as saying that it puts employees before guests. “It’s just sound business sense,” says Robert Dodds,VP of HR for Middle East and Africa. “A better performing employee creates a better satisfied guest who will come back.”

Aside from living the culture from Bill Marriott ‘down to every waiter and waitress’, Dodds is a strong believer in communication. The hotel

chain runs daily team briefings and runs quarterly town hall meetings.

“Every employee can ask questions, anything they like. Managers share the business results and direction and seek their feedback,” he says. “We have a programme of guaranteeing fair treatment where any employee can, and does, write to ask the regional office, or even Bill Marriott, to review a perceived hardship.”

ANNUAL JOB APPLICATIONS 15000 12000

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9000 6000

PepsiCo

Merck Serona

Dulsco

FedEx

0

Marriott

3000 Microsoft

Sector: Hospitality UAE employees: 520 M/F ratio: 797/168 Paid leave: 25 days Annual job applications: 6000 Annual training hours: 40

SHUAA Capital

MARRIOTT

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lobal pharmaceuticals firm Merck Serono set up its Dubai office in 2006, but has been doing business in the region for over 50 years. The company places a heavy focus on ‘growing’ its people through learning.

“Our environment, where learning and experiencing on the job are encouraged, leads to innovation in developing new health solutions for our customers.

Brand recognition and loyalty is developed and ensures the MERCK SERONO

Sector: Pharmaceuticals Founded: 2006 UAE employees: 247 M/F ratio: 173/74 Paid leave: 30 days Annual job applications: 851 Annual training hours: 100

sustainability of our organisation,” says Karim Smaira, the firm’s Intercontinental vice president.

Merck Serono Middle East was the winner of the 2009 Merck Best Pharma Award for Work Environment for the development of the ‘Empower’ initiative – an innovative home-grown training programme, with topics ranging from ‘selling skills’ to ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘dealing with difficult people’.

“We focus on employee engagement rather than motivation. Achieving objectives is a given.

Surpassing these objectives is what employees should get out of bed for.”

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ome furniture pioneer The One, is the highest ranking local company in the list. Selfappointed chief emotional officer (CEO) Thomas Lundgren says it’s all about feelings. “It’s the combined energy of the staff that charges the stores each day,” he says. “In every person there is a dream – if you take care of the team, they take care of you.”

Lundgren, who founded 14 stores

COMPANY ORIGIN Locally founded

International

across the Gulf, runs some of the region’s most comprehensive socially responsible investment programmes, from hiring challenged young adults to global community initiatives. “You have to give people a chance, I don’t want a system based on KPIs, they are already paid to meet those. I want empathy, I want someone with a big heart.”

Lundgren, who has half of his employees as Facebook friends, likens employees to dogs and children because of their high sociabilty and longing for recognition.

“People are the only species more sociable than dogs. We want to be proud of where we work, so we can show it off to our peers. It’s simple, if you’re proud of where you work, you do a good job.”

The One

“In every person, there is a dream”

Merck Serono

“Engagement gets you out of bed”

THE ONE

Sector: Retail Founded: 1996 UAE employees: 363 M/F ratio: 279/84 Paid leave: 30 days Annual job applications: Not given Annual training hours: Not given

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Bayt.com

Shuaa Capital

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“People must feel what they do matters”

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fter a difficult couple of years and management changes, local investment firm Shuaa Capital’s new people strategy has paid off.

The firm’s CEO, Sameer Al Ansari, was appointed 18 months ago and has put a firm focus on employee engagement and training.

“I introduced the ‘One Shuaa’ initiative across the organisation.

We have five divisions but only one Shuaa; the idea is that we win together or lose together,” he says. “We now have a strong team culture; if we’d entered for this award a year ago, we wouldn’t have won it.”

Shuaa Capital places focus on transparent employee communication as an engagement tool. Regular town hall meetings are held, monthly newsletters are sent and Ansari

now delivers a quarterly video CEO update because it’s important that “everybody knows what’s going on”.

“It’s all part of one circle; if you create engagement, it creates results, which creates growth, which creates retention and then engagement,” Ansari says.

“If you engage people then they feel empowered and motivated.

People have to feel that what they do matters. Recognition is not always about cash rewards.”

SHUAA CAPITAL

Sector: Finance Founded: 1979 UAE employees: 205 M/F ratio: 143/72 Paid leave: 22 days Annual job applications: 12, 456 Annual training hours: 14

“Be part of something bigger than you”

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iddle East recruitment website Bayt.com is the only dotcom to make the list. What impressed the researchers about this company was the organisational belief that employees perform best when they are ‘part of something bigger than them’.

“The measure of our success is the degree to which people’s lives are positively touched through their interaction with us. This applies to all our stakeholders,” says Rabea Ataya, CEO of Bayt.com.

“We feel that people will only ‘respect and admire’ us if we help them lead better lives. This starts with

our own team. If they are well trained, compensated and motivated, they themselves will admire and respect the organisation they are part of and are more likely to ensure that the world around them does the same.”

Bayt.com also cites the sense of forming meaningful relationships and a perceived sense of destiny and progress as critical employee motivation factors.

HOURS OF TRAINING 100 80

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60 40

PepsiCo

SHUAA Capital

Dulsco

Zayed University

Marriott

0

Microsoft

20 FedEx

Sector: Technology Founded: 2000 UAE employees: 213 M/F ratio: 116/107 Paid leave: 22 days Annual job applications: Not given Annual training hours: Not given

Merck Serona

BAYT.COM

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“We have a higher purpose”

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urrently serving around 3,000 students, the Emirati college is the only governmentorganisation to make the list. What sets the university’s working culture apart is the school’s namesake Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the country’s first president. The late leader’s passion for learning permeates the organisation’s mission statement to become the leading university in the region. “Everything we do at Zayed University revolves

ZAYED UNIVERSITY

Sector: Education Founded: 1998 UAE employees: 727 M/F ratio: 356/371 Paid leave: 40 days for senior staff Annual job applications: Not given Annual training hours: 40

around our mission. This creates a sense of community and governs everything we do. It is a huge goal,” says Daniel Johnson, provost, Zayed University.

“It’s not just about policies and procedures, it’s something that’s innately understood – and that flows from the vision of the Sheikh Nahyan. We feel like we have a higher purpose which improves employee motivation.”

He says the university places emphasis on respect and diversity as workplace values, which is reflected in the organisation’s retention rates, international employees and female staff count.

(The university’s vice president Dr. Sulaiman Al Jassim is pictured, right.)

“People trump economics”

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ith 6,000 employees, local firm Dulsco is the largest company on our list and is also the longest-established in the UAE. The company’s core business is HR solutions and waste management solutions, which goes some way to explain Dulsco’s adeptness at managing its own people.

“Our people strategy has been guided by honesty and transparency,

THE GENDER SPLIT

Dulsco

Zayed University

Bayt.com

DULSCO

SHUAA Capital

THE One

PepsiCo

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Merck Serono

FedEx

Marriott

Male Female

Microsoft

6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0

courtesy, effective two-way communication between management and employees, emphasis on individual initiative and team work,” insists the firm’s chairman Abdul Aziz Mohammad Khan.

He says that companies that have failed in the UAE made the mistake of focusing on the economic activity of producing goods and services at the exclusion of people.

“They forget that an organisation’s true nature is humans who need to live and continue for many generations, even with a commercial objective.”

Dulsco believes that autonomy and a good working environment are just as important for employee motivation as money.

Dulsco

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Zayed University

rs”

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Sector: HR & Industry Founded: 1935 UAE employees: 6000 M/F ratio: 5414/163 Paid leave: 30 days Annual job applications: 1200 Annual training hours: 20

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