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CSR Al Youm

Issue of November - December 2020

CSR

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2020

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Editorial 3

Human Health and Happiness during COVID-19: Addressing the Dark Side of Flexible Working Model 4

Employees’ Happiness and Wellbeing: An Interview with Mashreq Bank 6

Employee Wellbeing and Development during the Global Pandemic: A Case Study by Chalhoub Group 9

CRB News 12

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Welcome to the last issue of CSR Al Youm Magazine in 2020. To say this year has been unprecedented is perhaps an

understatement. During such challenging times, protecting employees’ wellbeing is of a great importance. This issue is

dedicated to employee wellbeing during COVID-19. The issue starts with an article by Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra, Aston

University. It highlights the positives and the “dark side” as he calls it of flexible working models during COVID-19 and

suggests strategies to navigate the negative impacts of flexible working in general and working from home in particular.

This is followed by a very insightful interview with Ashok Gopal, Head of People Development & Employee Wellbeing

for Mashreq Bank, on the importance and strategies to improve employee happiness and wellbeing during COVID-19.

The case study section features a case study on Chalhoub Group’s employee wellbeing and development during the

pandemic. CRB has been very busy during November and December. The last section provides a short summary of the

main initiatives taken by CRB over the last two months and some of the key takeaways from these events.

We always welcome your suggestions and feedback. Please send your suggestions and feedback to: responsiblebusiness@dubaichamber.com

EDITORIAL

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An article by Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra, Lecturer in Strategy and International Business at Aston Business School, UK

The COVID-19 pandemic has overturned many businesses and disrupted our daily lives; many businesses are primarily focusing on their

survival, and employees are principally contemplating about their health and happiness. The hurdle on individuals is not just physical and/or

financial, but psychological and emotional as well. Research has shown that the occurrence of infectious diseases carries serious, beyond

economic, financial, social and career challenges, psychological and behavioral consequences in the workplace such as depression,

psychological distress, worry, and isolation.

Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, we at a personal and professional level have experienced some tensions and

contradictory actions and situations. For instance, businesses that are seeking to thrive and grow in the new normal, initiated some

flexible practices for individuals such as flexible hours, telecommuting, online communication, reduced work hours, and job sharing as

a short-term solution to keep the workforce safe and the business alive. A flexibility for most approach has helped most businesses and

employees to enhance work-life balance and boost productivity.

This approach also promoted flexible, fluid, learning-oriented and engaging work

environment that steers positive change and enables individuals to withstand

challenges. Moreover, reducing travel to work enhanced sustainable practices such as

reduced energy costs and paperwork, and hence decrease environmental footprint.

However, there is a dark side of the moon as flexible work turned out to be a struggle

for many. Evidence shows that many employees with high variability of flexible working

hours, especially if tightly controlled by the management, are experiencing increased

and excessive stress. A thought leader recently commented “we are in danger that

instead of learning to work from home, we will end up learning to live at work.” In

addition, remote work creates a critical challenge on how to draw the lines between

family and work responsibilities.

This new form of work from home arrangement is pushing individuals to provide

additional cognitive and emotional resources in order to fulfill family and work demands.

This in turn caused stress and serious mental and physical problems that negatively

affect employees’ wellbeing and productivity.

HUMAN HEALTH AND HAPPINESS DURING COVID-19:ADDRESSING THE DARK SIDE OF FLEXIBLE WORKING MODEL

Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra

Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra is a Lecturer in Strategy & International Business at Aston Business School, United

Kingdom. His main research area focuses on organizational learning, dynamic capabilities, organizational agility, and

environmental processes toward sustainability. His research has been published in top-tier business and management journals. Beyond his academic contributions, Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra has also provided consulting ideas

and solutions for both businesses and governments.

Dr. Abderaouf Bouguerra is multilingual (English, French and Arabic), with a global and inquisitive mindset developed while living and working in different countries namely France, Saudi

Arabia, Libya, Morocco, UK and Denmark.

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Finding a pathway through the paradoxes

With all the contradictions, there is a paradox at the heart of any individual, business and government decision. The challenge is not to

solve them but to find a pathway through the paradoxes.

In the COVID-19 context, businesses in the pursuit of success, on the one hand, need to redesign and adapt a set of practices to support

employees’ health and wellbeing during this pandemic. Measures can include supporting employees to regain an effective work life balance

and tackling worries about return to work. Also, managers need to communicate regularly on psychological and wellbeing support, and

encourage employees for physical, mental, financial and social wellbeing activities so they can feel more connected and engaged.

Employees in their quest for health and happiness, on the other hand, need to be more resilient to change. Individuals’ capability to

confront challenges and cope with stress and bounce back to crises is vital to maintain motivation, positive energy, and engagement. In

addition, self-efficacy, defined as a personal belief one can successfully execute specific tasks, can play an essential role in embracing

change and overcoming tensions through exerting sufficient effort and belief to achieve positive outcomes. Moreover, self-efficacy through

initiative, effort, and persistence, has a positive effect on personal accomplishment, wellbeing and happiness.

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1. Why is it important for businesses to focus on employees’ happiness and wellbeing, and how does this help

businesses remain sustainable?

“It has been established across the world that for organizations to stay successful on a sustained basis, they need to have employees that

are working in an environment that allows them to make the fullest use of their capabilities. Only when this is the case that the frequently

used phrase ‘Employees are our greatest asset’ actually holds true - otherwise, these words ring hollow, and the impact of these assets

is sub-optimal. Focusing on creating an environment in which employees are happy and with high levels of wellbeing is not just a good

thing to do, but an essential thing in order to achieve business success. While this has held true for a long time, it is even more important

now, because in terms of products and services, any company can replicate what another company is doing extremely quickly. The

democratization of technology has leveled this playing field to an even greater extent. Hence, the only real differentiator between one

company and the other is the quality of their people and the focus on creating an environment in which these employees can really thrive.

Focusing on employee happiness and wellbeing allows companies to tide over tough economic times, as well as to make the most of

good times.”

2. From your experience, what is the effect of COVID-19 on employees’

wellbeing and how can organizations help in this?

“The impact of COVID-19 has been unprecedented. There have been numerous crises in

the past, but they tended to have an impact on a selected audience and around

particular areas. COVID-19 on the other hand was truly a ‘perfect storm’, in terms of the

impact that it had on economies, on health, on security, on the workplace, on education -

essentially on every aspect of a person’s life, redefining what was considered to be a

normal way of living. And the fact that it was truly a global crisis meant that not a single

person was exempt from its impact. So be it white collar employees in corporations, or

low-wage workers, or students, the impact of this pandemic spared no one.

If we look at employees in particular, COVID-19 completely altered the way of doing

business. Literally overnight, entire corporations had to move their full work force to

‘Work from Home’ mode, which meant challenges posed by teams now functioning

virtually, business models moving to the virtual world, minimal social interaction etc.

And in this new workplace “the home”, personal and professional lives came together.

Employees were working (often more than one person in the household was working

virtually), students were attending online classes, young children were finding intrusions

into their space etc. And while all of this was happening, the spread of COVID-19

was relentless, creating an air of fear and uncertainty related to the virus itself and the

economic impact that it was having.

EMPLOYEES’ HAPPINESS AND WELLBEING:AN INTERVIEW WITH MASHREQ BANK

Ashok Gopal

Is the Head of People Development & Employee Wellbeing for

Mashreq Bank. In this capacity, he is responsible for developing

the workplace agenda for Organisational Development, Training

and High Potential Management - in this regard, he has to

develop engagement and development strategies that target an

ever evolving millennial workforce. After joining Mashreq in 2013,

he has driven the entire Employee Engagement program at the

bank, creating a program that has won significant recognition,

including winning the coveted ‘Gallup Great Workplace Award’ 6

times in succession, one of only a handful of companies across

the world to do so. He has also created the Staff Wellness

program that has been awarded as the best Corporate Wellness

program in the UAE and that formed the basis for the response

to the recent pandemic. Prior to joining Mashreq in 2013, Ashok

spent 16 years in consulting with The Gallup Organization,

operating across the Asia-Pacific region in extended stints out

of India, Singapore and Dubai. The focus of his work there was

Customer and Employee Engagement. Ashok is a well-regarded

thought leader - he has written for a variety of publications including

the Harvard Business Review and has been a keynote speaker at

conferences across the Asia-Pacific region.

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At a time like this, it was clear that the impact on wellbeing was immense. The first thing that organizations needed to do was to

acknowledge this and to recognize that an action plan to address wellbeing had to cover multiple elements. Traditionally, wellbeing

programs have tended to focus primarily on a couple of aspects - physical and mental - but to deal with the wellbeing challenges created

by the pandemic, many more aspects would have to be considered if a meaningful change had to be made. In the absence of that, a token

response would be initiated that would not make a real, sustained difference to wellbeing.”

3. Please tell us more on how Mashreq prioritizes its employees’ wellbeing and development.

“While the term ‘wellbeing’ might still be a somewhat recent term used in management, Mashreq has focused on creating a great workplace

culture for employees for well over 3 decades now, recognizing that a culture of engagement is central to the success of our organization.

While the methods to do this have evolved over the years, the focus has been relentless. Looking specifically at the COVID-19 period,

ensuring employee wellbeing was at the heart of pandemic response. A few of the primary aspects are listed below:

Ensuring staff safety and security: Mashreq moved early and completely into ‘Work from Home’ mode. Having invested significantly

over a period of years on digitization allowed this move to take place with minimal disruption to business, while prioritizing the safety of

staff. And even after workplace opening norms were relaxed, Mashreq adopted a very conservative approach to asking staff to return to

the workplace.

Operationalizing the ‘Wheel of Happiness’: Recognizing that the pandemic was impacting all elements of an individual’s life, an integrated

‘Wheel of Happiness’ program was launched covering 6 primary aspects of Wellbeing - Professional Wellbeing, Community Wellbeing,

Family, Fun, Physical Wellbeing and Financial Wellbeing. Taking this integrated approach meant that both physical and mental/emotional

wellbeing needs were addressed.

A few programs that were launched during this period include:

• Employee Assistance through Counselling

• Free Yoga Classes

• Workshops on Financial Management

• Supporting the Less Privileged during Eid

• Virtual Fun Days for Staff Children

Extensive focus was also placed on employee upskilling during this time, especially around digital training. Training also covered new

ways of working - for example, how to sell virtually.

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Focus on Positivity: At a time when all the news around the pandemic and its impact was negative, Mashreq launched a program called

GoodVibes that focused on highlighting good news and events during this time. Ranging from recognition programs to acknowledge the

role played by others in one’s life to celebrating special occasions virtually, the program was hugely successful in bringing positivity in

deeply negative times.”

4. What message would you convey to businesses that are de-prioritizing their employees’ happiness and

focusing on recovering from COVID-19?

“It is important that we learn lessons from the pandemic in terms of the best way to do business. But while this can reflect in the increased

use of technology and revamped business models, there is another key dimension that we have to be acutely cognizant of - that looking

at ‘employee happiness’ and ‘pandemic recovery’ as mutually exclusive issues are a recipe for disaster. Even after investing significantly

in the emotional wellbeing of your people, the road to be traversed for business recovery is going to be a challenging, arduous one. But

the efforts of engaged staff with high levels of wellbeing will provide a bit of a tailwind in aiding the speed and quality of the recovery. Not

focusing on the wellbeing of staff on the other hand would result in the exact opposite, and many organizations may not be able to survive

the damage that would come from making that kind of mistake. Employee happiness and wellbeing ought to provide the central platform

around which an organization’s business recovery strategy is built, not be something that is relegated to an afterthought. Doing so will be

the difference between success and failure as the world seeks to recover from COVID-19.”

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EMPLOYEE WELLBEING AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC: A CASE STUDY BY CHALHOUB GROUP

Challenge: The Global Pandemic

Just like everyone else around the world, in the beginning of this pandemic this year, Chalhoub Group was not prepared, and did not know

the magnitude of its impact on its business. There was an overwhelming amount of information coming from different sources and things

were changing fast. Governments of different countries around the world made decisions to lockdown the entire country, which forced many

businesses, including Chalhoub Group, to temporarily suspend store and office operations. People were asked to work remotely from the

comfort of their own homes.

Employees asked themselves, what do you do during these times where your existing strategy is no longer relevant, and playbook or best

practice documents on how to survive in a pandemic do not exist. Chalhoub Group took advantage of the situation and used this time to

help its employees reimagine and redefine the future of work and co-create new experiences. In Chalhoub Group, 10 commando task forces

were setup that covered key aspects of the business, from supply chain, e-commerce, finance, customer & employee engagement to post

COVID-19 plan and co-created new experiences with the employees.

What did Chalhoub Group do to keep its employees at heart?

Chalhoub Group strengthened its connection with its employees by putting their safety, wellbeing and engagement on top of its priorities.

Chalhoub Group organized numerous virtual wellbeing & engagement initiatives for employees during the lockdown period e.g. wellbeing

webinars with clinical psychologists & psychiatrists, CARE Employee Assistance Programme, access to curated wellbeing resources,

launched ChalhoubTube - a platform that inspires employees, and provided warehouse employees with hamper gifts & safety kit.

In addition, Chalhoub Group organized regular Group virtual town-hall meetings with the CEO to ensure transparency & instill psychological

safety during uncertain times. The Group has regularly engaged with its people through its employee app. This has opened cross-brand

engagement and kept employees updated on changes at the Group in real-time.

Other initiatives include:

• Designing and implementing a permanent flexible workplace policy

• Providing employees with opportunities to give back to the communities in need through online CSR campaigns

• Launching the Chalhoub University so that employees have access to thousands of learning resources anywhere and anytime,

more importantly to strengthen the Group’s culture of learner-led learning practice

• Forming a collaboration task force and encouraging employees to temporarily share their expertise to another business within the

Group; regardless of which brand they work or division they belong to, employees offered help to businesses within the Group who

require additional help to accelerate key projects

• Listening to employees and communicating with them regularly

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Chalhoub University

In April 2020, Chalhoub University was launched, which is an online platform that fulfills the learning aspirations of employees by offering

innovative and rewarding learning journeys. Chalhoub University has four academies: Retail, Enabling Arts, Digital, and Leadership.

Regular Virtual Learning Sessions

In addition to Chalhoub Group’s mobile learning app, and during the lockdown period, the learning and development team has put together

a variety of virtual and digital learning programs to develop and strengthen skills or learn new ones from the safety of the staff’s homes.

H.O.P.E Wellbeing Programme

Chalhoub Group employees’ wellbeing is one of the top priorities. H.O.P.E is a programme created to bring together all wellbeing activities

driven by Chalhoub Group across all countries under one umbrella. It aims to raise the awareness around the importance of taking ownership

of one’s wellbeing in an agile work environment.

Objectives of the programme include:

• Educate employees on what employee wellbeing at Chalhoub Group means

• Offer a more holistic approach to employee wellbeing

• Revisit employee benefits to give focus on overall wellbeing at the Group

• Bring together all employees who share the same interest in sports

• Improve wellbeing and promote healthier lifestyle

• Strengthen the relationships between employees and build stronger team spirit

• Develop Group cohesion

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Physical and Mental Wellbeing

• CARE Employee Assistance Programme provides access to clinical psychologists & life coaches to help employees better manage

and improve their mental wellbeing.

• Dedicated wellbeing page on the Group’s intranet where employees can access a wide range of practical wellbeing tools and

resources to help them manage their own wellbeing.

• Virtual activities: yoga, group exercises, meditation breathing exercises conducted by external experts

• Online wellbeing webinars conducted by external guest experts on different topics such as physical, mental, social, financial, and

recreational wellbeing.

• Chalhoub Tube is an internal platform for employees to stay virtually connected during a time of social distancing.

• Crisis recognition programme was launched during the pandemic, which serves as guide and a template for business units and countries to implement in their respective population.

To conclude, they say necessity is the mother of invention. This is very true for Chalhoub Group. The Group’s employees have shown ingenuity & creativity during the crisis. This resulted in so many achievements by the employees this year despite the global pandemic. Projects that usually take months & years before they get implemented were implemented in record-breaking time. Chalhoub Group attributes this not to strategy or policies, but to the Group’s culture, where its employees come together as One Team serving one purpose. The Group has been hearing from its employees that they never felt closer and more connected to their colleagues as this year. They felt the Group looked after them during the crisis.

Chalhoub Group knows that its journey is nowhere near where it would like to be. Chalhoub will continue to reimagine and redefine the future of the Group beyond the current global pandemic.

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CRB NEWS

• The CRB organized its annual Dubai Chamber Sustainability Week 2020 from the 8th - 12th November, this year themed “Employees

Health and Happiness, Healthy Employees, Healthy Business”. During the week, a CEO Dialogue was organized with the participation of

high-level speakers and panelists, including H.E. Majid Saif Al Ghurair, Chairman of Dubai Chamber; Rola Abu Manneh, CEO, Standard

Chartered UAE; Stuart Harrison, CEO, Emrill Services LLC; Phil Malem, CEO, Serco Middle East; and Andrew Shaw, Group CEO, Ducab,

who shared valuable insights on employee wellbeing and best practices in boosting employee engagement during COVID-19. Also, a

roundtable shed light on the opportunities and challenges associated with the physical, psychological and professional aspects of remote

working during and post COVID-19 pandemic. At the Multi stakeholder Dialogue, private and public sector stakeholders showcased

various technological solutions designed to enhance employee wellness and wellbeing strategies, while they identified key benefits and

challenges of using such technologies. The campaign “Let’s Create a Healthy and Happy Workplace” witnessed the participation of more

than 57,000 employees across 42 companies and nine academic institutions and non-profit organizations. The concluding ceremony

involved industry leaders who shared their recommendations and noted that employee health and wellbeing should be a top priority for

any organization and a matter at the top of the human resources agenda.

• Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network Community Engagement task force has recently organized a webinar “Reshaping Employee

Volunteering during COVID-19”. The key messages discussed during this webinar include that virtual volunteering offered great reach and

novel solutions for volunteering during COVID-19. Also, it is important to build meaningful partnerships with community partners in order

to run effective community projects. Furthermore, skills-based volunteering could lead to a long-term and sustainable impact on society.

• The CRB has recently held a CSR and Sustainability Reporting Workshop to help equip CSR practitioners on how to develop CSR reports

that generate value for their companies. CSR and Sustainability reporting is fundamental for engaging with stakeholders as it enables

companies to effectively communicate the opportunities and risks that they are facing with their long-term sustainability objectives.

During the session, the importance of establishing the purpose of the company as a first step in developing a process for reporting was

highlighted as well as the need for developing key performance indicators for reporting and how to align them to the wider strategy of

the business.

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• The Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network Community Engagement Task Force launched the campaign “SmartWoman” in collaboration

with SmartLife. Through this campaign, corporate volunteers helped female workers living in labor accommodations discover their

hidden talents and learn new skills such as sewing, knitting, embroidery, cooking, baking, and henna application among several

others. SmartLife is one of the CRB’s ENGAGE Dubai members, licensed by the Community Development Authority (CDA), Dubai. The

objective of the organization is to work closely with blue collar workers in the various labor accommodations in Dubai and to help them

improve their potential and thus the quality of lives through their diverse initiatives.

• Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network organized “Let’s Reduce and Recycle” campaign as part of its Waste Management Task Force

for a period of 3 months (August to October). The main objective of the campaign was to engage employees in raising awareness on

the importance of elimination of single use plastics and segregation at source. The campaign also gave an opportunity to businesses

to bring about an attitudinal and behavioral change in their employees towards reducing and recycling waste.

• Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network organized “Celebrating Diversity & Inclusion at Workplace” campaign as part of its Diversity &

Inclusion Task Force for a period of one week. The main objective of this campaign was to raise awareness and engage employees

to acknowledge, appreciate, embrace and celebrate the diverse background of people at their workplace as this can help enhance

organizational productivity and performance.

• The Dubai Chamber Sustainability Network concluded the year 2020 through End-of-year Task Force Meetings for its nine Task Forces,

which include Employees Welfare & Wellbeing, Emiratization, Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainable Supply Chain, Prompt Payment Practices

for Suppliers and Subcontractors, Community Engagement, Road Safety, Waste Management, and Green Buildings. Throughout

2020, these Task Forces have achieved their CSR & sustainability objectives and deliverables through organizing 14 webinars, carrying

out 5 campaigns, and publishing 4 publications.