Moving up the career ladder
These companies, taking their place in the 2016 UAE roster of Great Places to Work, a global research firm conducting annual benchmarking study about organisations with outstanding workplace cultures, share their perspectives on why employee empowerment i
FedEx “We encourage our people to pursue courses that will enable them to develop their career, while also keeping them up to speed with our constantly evolving industry.”
Sixty team members in 2017 advanced their careers in the UAE alone.
The company’s tuition assistance programme for study outside the organisation and a policy of ‘promotion within’ have made this possible, according to a senior executive of FedEX, an American multinational courier delivery services company.
“In fact, most of our senior management began their careers in positions such as customer service representatives, couriers or package handlers,” said Darshana Shelke, HR Manager of FedEx Express Middle East.
Team members are given access to a wide range of resources through the company’s online Virtual Academy, enabling them to enhance their skills through either a focus on their current role, or to prepare them for a new opportunity or chance for promotion or advancement.
Weber Shandwick ‘One of the factors that helped us rank in the top five of the 2016 Great Place to Work UAE, was our flexible work hours programme.”
Some employers offer flexible working hours to employees, which help them pursue higher studies. Weber Shandwick is one of them.
“Besides cultivating a healthy working environment, and having an ‘open door’ policy, one of the other factors that helped us rank in the top five of the 2016 Great Place to Work UAE, was our flexible work hours programme,” said Ghalib Zeidan, Managing Director, Weber Shandwick Abu Dhabi.
A number of people in his team have done master’s programmes and earned executive certificates.
Through the flexi work programme, employees are free to leave the office early and work remotely as needed, and at the same time, attend to their families or pursue their education etc, he said.
He encourages his colleagues to pursue higher studies. “However, adding educational responsibilities to an existing workload and family duties can be gruelling, so I always stress the importance of finding that workeducation-life balance,” Zeidan said.
Hilton Middle East Africa & Turkey “In today’s world, learning does not end when one graduates.”
“Changes in technology and other aspects of professional life make it absolutely necessary for individuals to continuously develop themselves. This is why lifelong learning is a key component of Thrive@Hilton, our employee value proposition,” said Koray Genckul, Senior Director of Human Resources at Hilton Middle East, Africa & Turkey.
If team members would like to take a short course relevant to their field, the company provides them with assistance, he said.
The company offers its employees industry-leading learning and development opportunities internally, including access to Hilton University, an online platform offering over five million hours of training through 2,500 courses.
Hilton University also partners with eCornell to offer award-winning professional certificate programmes.
“This year, we launched a new Women’s Leadership curriculum to learn about the unique perspectives of women in the workforce, and to help female team members successfully navigate career journeys,” he said.
Biz Group “We believe that learning should be an ongoing journey and careers should form part of that journey.”
Biz Group has a personalised learning and development plan for its employees. “These plans aren’t put together by the HR department working in isolation; each employee contributes to their own plan, based on their personal and professional objectives. This generates much higher levels of engagement, behaviour changes and ultimately, impacts both the business and the individual positively,” said Hazel Jackson, CEO, Biz Group, an agency offering corporate training, teambuilding and employee engagement solutions.
“We believe learning should be an ongoing journey and careers should form part of that
journey,” Jackson said. “We encourage employees to take control of their own learning and development rather than relying on the training we provide. This approach increases learner engagement which in turn leads to more successful training courses,” she said.