- Event, that highlights responsible practices at workplace, is attended by Government officials and representatives of private companies
The current market crisis has highlighted the importance of responsible workplace practices as the focus now is on treating employees as partners and valuing their contribution to the progress of the organization. The need of the hour is to create competitive advantages through creating a right culture of integrity, wellbeing, fairness, motivation and freedom for the workforce.
It’s here that the role of Sustainable Human Resources Management in the light of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) takes on awider dimension. The way a company treats its employees contributes directly to it being seen as willingness to accept its wider responsibilities. CSR needs to integrate into processes such as the employer brand, recruitment, appraisal, retention, motivation, reward, internal communications, diversity, coaching and training to create long term value for the employees.
As part of its strategy to raise awareness of responsible business practices and help business organizations cope with the effects of the global economic slowdown, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, represented by its initiatives of Center for Responsible Business (CRB) and the University of Dubai, organized a seminar on ‘Sustainable Human Resources Management’ at the Chamber’s premises recently.
The seminar that was addressed by Jean Fares, Policy Advisor to Minister of Labour , Ministry of Labour andHuman Resources heads of major Dubai companies which included George Saab, Head HR, Tecom, Jill Nealon, senior Vice President HR & Development, Dubai Airports International, Nathalie Bethanis, Recruitment Manager, DP World and Vineetha Mathew, Senior Executive CSR Training, Centre for Responsible Business highlighted the important role of leadership and HR in managing and protecting human capital in a market crisis situation. The seminar also focused on practices within different organizations that have looked at creating a culture of trust and ownership in a sustained manner and thus is better equipped to deal with market changes leading to improved brand and employee loyalty.
HE Eng Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber, said: “At Dubai Chamber we see CSR as being integral to Human Resources Management (HRM) and believe that all businesses should have policies and systems in place to attract and retain talent within organizations. Recent changes in the global market and business environment have placed an added impetus on companies to revaluate their HRM practices and its link to sustainability of the organization. This strategy is part of our role to highlight the importance of Sustainable Human Resources Management so that the business community could benefit from this best practices policy and be able to play its role in the development of the country.”
Dr Omar Hefni, President, University of Dubai said, “CSR needs to be embedded in an organisation’s culture to make a change to actions and attitudes, and the support of the top team is critical to success. HR already works at communicating and implementing ideas, policies, cultural and behavioural change across organisations. Its role in influencing attitudes and links with line managers and the top team mean it is ideally placed to do the same with CSR.”
Speakers and participants at the seminar discussed the various aspects of sustainable practices in human resources management, especially in the current financial scenario and the challenges of retaining qualified staff. Participants also discussed during a break out session the business case for well being practices in the workplace, existing best practices/policies, how wellbeing practices are currently accessed and shared and what are the key challenges/barriers for developing wellbeing practices.
The seminar provided an opportunity for all participants to exchange views and experiences on the importance of sustainable human resources management practices and its wider application in the organization.
