2009-04-29
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6 MNCs and 6 regional organizations recognized as the Best
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Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting firm, has announced the highly anticipated names of the Best Employers in Middle East at an awards ceremony in Dubai today. The 2009 Best Employers are:
- Alghanim Industries, Kuwait
- BankMuscat SAOG, Oman
- Deloitte & Touche (M.E.), Middle East
- Emerging International Best Employer from Middle East: Jumeirah Group, UAE
- Emerging SME Best Employer in Middle East: Magrudy Enterprises LLC, UAE
- Fine Hygenic Paper FZE, UAE
- First Gulf Bank, UAE
- Jones Lang LaSalle- Middle East & North Africa
- Marriott International, UAE
- Microsoft Gulf FZ LLC and Microsoft Egypt
- Procter and Gamble Near East- Beirut Office
- The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai
The CEOs and HR Heads of the Best Employers were honoured in person at the event.
Some of the key findings of the study are:
- The HR function in organizations that are Best Employers plays the role of an expert people administrator and strategic business partner
- Best Employers are better at Career Development
- Best Employers provide Better Benefits
- Best Employers are better at delivering the employment promise
- Best Employers make significantly better investments in employee development
- Best Employers are better at work assignment and performance management
- Best Employers are better at making employees feel valued
The research also highlighted the Top 4 Drivers of Employee Engagement in Middle East:
- People/HR policies and practices—Creating a positive work environment through People/HR policies and practices
- Career Aspirations—Fulfilling Career Aspirations of employees
- Career Opportunities—Providing future Career Opportunities to employees
- Brand Alignment—Delivery on the Employment Brand promise
Debabrat Mishra, Consulting Business Leader—Middle East, Hewitt Associates said, "We want to congratulate every one of our select Best Employers, as well as thank the other study participants. It's our belief that the results of the study will inspire and provide direction to organizations in becoming employers of choice. In the long run, we expect this study to enhance the standards of people practices in Middle East and make the region a better place to work."
Hewitt's Study partners include the Dubai Knowledge Village, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, the Tamkeen (Labour Fund) in Bahrain, and the American Chambers of Commerce in Egypt. Dr Ayoub Kazim, Executive Director of the first Study Partner, agreed. He said, "This Study is of tremendous value to the region as it raises the standard of people practices across the Middle East. This was a need that was not being met in the market, and we were very pleased to be able to support a much-needed initiative. Dubai Knowledge Village is committed to the development of the Human Resources function, which in turn strengthens our business community at large."
In order to make the study findings easily accessible to practitioners and benefit the region's Human Capital development, Hewitt will also conduct round-tables in Cairo (18th May), Jeddah (19th May), Doha (21st May) and Abu Dhabi (26th May). "These sessions are non-commercial and support Hewitt's mission of 'Making the world a better place to work'", added Mr. Mishra.
Earlier this year, Hewitt reported that the representative employee base registered for the study was over 150,000 employees from across the GCC and Levant region. Details on the round-tables and study findings are available at: www.hewitt.com/bestemployersmiddleeast.
About Hewitt
With more than 65 years of experience, Hewitt Associates (NYSE: HEW) is the world's foremost provider of HR outsourcing and consulting services. The firm consults with more than 2,300 companies and administers HR, health care, payroll and retirement programs on behalf of more than 300 companies to millions of employees and retirees worldwide. Located in 33 markets, Hewitt employs approximately 23,000 associates.
Hewitt Associates has been operating in Middle East market since 2002. Hewitt's Middle East operations are headquartered in Dubai, which serves as the regional hub for its business. In the region, Hewitt successfully partners with over 100+ clients across different areas of human resource and business support. Hewitt's current client base in the Middle East is spread across all the GCC countries, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
Hewitt offers HR solutions that seamlessly blend its global expertise with a strong regional flavor. The focus areas for consulting in the Middle East reflect the current business requirements in the region.
For more information, please visit www.hewitt.com/middleeast.
Our service offerings in the Middle East include:
About Best Employers in Middle East
Hewitt Best Employer study one of its kind globally.
The study involves surveying the participating organizations using three instruments developed by Hewitt which are:
- The Employee Opinion Survey (to gauge the level of employee engagement and gather information on employee perceptions of their work environment),
- The People Practices Inventory™ (to gather information about philosophies, practices, and policies that influence the management of people), and
- The CEO Questionnaire (to explore the alignment between business strategy and people policies).
Hewitt reported 250+ registrations of interest from organizations across Hospitality, Manufacturing, Banking and Financial Services, Real Estate and Infrastructure, Retail, Telecom and Government services sectors. Through the initiative, Hewitt Associates aims to contribute to the ongoing efforts of regional governments to create an economic environment that is conducive to growth and yet meets the aspirations of individuals seeking positive work environments. The Hewitt study, which was launched last summer, realized its promised goal and became the largest employee research project ever undertaken in the Middle East region.
The study is now the definitive source of employee and human capital research across the Middle East region, with the largest benchmark database on Employee Engagement, Organization Culture, Nationalization, High-Performance, Leadership Development and many other People Practices.
Study Website: www.hewitt.com/bestemployersmiddleeast.
