Dubai – United Arab Emirates: Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, the 8th FAHR International Conference, concluded in Dubai today after two successful days of active discussions on a number of key trending topics in  human resources including the need to embrace new digital technologies, choosing the right leaders, creating a great talent pool and building a sound organizational structure. On its final day, participants have stressed on the important role of HR in attracting and retaining talents and developing employees’ skills, as the HR department is considered the backbone of any organization, and its role exceeds the border of an organization.

Participants have demanded from higher education institutions to play a more active role in providing the labor market with new skills and developing specializations that meet the future needs of the market in line with the digital revolution that will affect many existing jobs.

Global experts and speakers praised the experience of the UAE in the development of human resources and the keenness of UAE leaders to invest the human capital and talents, as they form the key to comprehensive and sustainable development. Ensuring the pivotal role of leaders and direct managers in motivating employees and improving the environment of the workplace which successively will enhance the productivity.

The 2nd and the final day of the conference featured a number of important discussions on a broad range of topics in Human Resources including ‘The Future of Work: Why Digital Transformation Isn’t Enough’, ‘Mastering Talent Analytics’, ‘Role of AI in Enabling Strategic HR’, ‘Sizing the Prize: PwC’s Global Artificial Intelligence Study: Exploring the AI Revolution What’s the Real Value of AI for your Business and How Can You Capitalize?, Future of Works – Employee Experience & The Adapting Culture, HR Challenges in the Coming Years, Leadership Development: Why They Don’t Work and Employee Engagement: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All.

 Commenting on his participation, Mr. Sushant Upadhyay, Senior Client Partner at Korn Ferry: “FAHR is a great event to help the HR community think about the future of HR. I presented highlights from Korn Ferry’s Digital sustainability study that brings out how the workforce, organization structures and leaders need to continually evolve in times of digital transformation.”


Mr. Sushant Upadhyay highlighted the results of the company's recent study on the sustainability of digital transformation in enterprises, including 400 companies from around the world, that has led international organizations to make a number of changes so that they can maintain their competitiveness. The most important changes are: (changing business style, changing services and solutions, improving customer experience, and focusing on enhancing employee effectiveness).

Mr. Sushant Upadhyay said: “In the race for digital transformation that we are witnessing these days, enterprises are required to recruit talented staff, to accept the idea of ​​technological transformation, to change the way they work and lead, and to adopt innovative and non-traditional methods of work.”

Mr. Sushant Upadhyay talked about the qualities of a successful leader, which include: (giving employees the opportunity to participate in the decision making process, listening to their feedback and improving the work environment, ability to deal with risks, manage crises effectively, and ensure staff development and training).

Employee Engagement: Why one size doesn’t fit all?

During his session entitled “Employee Engagement: Why one size doesn’t fit all?”, Khaled S. Fathi emphasized the importance of the direct role of a leader in motivating his staff members and raising the levels of harmony at the workplace. A recent study of 50,000 employees found that there is a strong correlation between direct employee promotion and job harmony levels.

He said: "Employee motivation varies according to the organization's culture and staff experience. Harmony at the workplace is defined as a state of mind for the employee, which motivates him to engage passionately at work, enhances institutional loyalty, thereby boosting productivity and turning employees into ambassadors of their institutions.”

HR Challenges in the Coming 10 Years

From his side, Abdalla Saleh, National Development Manager, Acting Head of Talent Management Group Human Resources, at Emirates National Oil Company Limited (ENOC) has highlighted in his session the most important challenges that are expected to face HR professionals in both government and private organizations in the coming years.

He pointed out that the rapid technological developments and the artificial intelligence revolution have changed the equation and the mechanism of employment in the institutions nowadays, HR departments are required to focus more on attracting talents and professionals in the digital world, as many jobs will disappear in the future and will be replaced with jobs based on Artificial Intelligence.

Role of AI in Enabling Strategic HR

While commenting on the significance of FAHR International Conference and the need to strengthen the Human Resources sector, Hussain Shaikh, HCM Strategy Leader, ECEMEA at ORACLE said, “The annual FAHR International conference is witnessing continuous growth yearly. The event nowadays presents a great platform to exchange views on the latest trends in the HR industry while also allowing collaboration opportunities with peers and industry leaders. HR is an important discipline and plays a fundamental role in improving international communication in any organization and apart from Employee Engagement, Diversity and other HR trends, I believe the two key HR trends that require focus are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Employee Wellness & Wellbeing.”

He added, “New emerging technologies such as AI have a profound impact on jobs, workforce and human capital. As part of its efforts, HR must embrace new technologies and actively engage with employees in order to ensure that they are readily accessible in the organization. During my presentation I elaborated on how Oracle sees the rise of emerging technologies and their impact on various HR functions and what is being done to harness these technologies and embed innovations within our HCM Cloud (Human Capital Management)”.

Future of Works – Employee Experience and the Adapting Culture

Joseph Chalouhi, VP Human Resources, Global Growth Organisation and BHGE Oil and Gas General Electric, Human Resources Middle East, North Africa, Turkey & India Region said: “In my session, I touched on the topic of “Future of Works – Employee Experience and the Adapting Culture” as the employee experiences will create win/lose equation. Those that act decisively to embrace new technologies, develop skills, create jobs, and deliver differentiated talent strategies will be the winners.”He added: “Employee experience and moments that matter (meaningful work, training) and society (corporate responsibility) will differentiate successful companies of the future.”

Jermie Brecheisen: 90% of employees want to change the companies they work at

In his session entitled “Mastering Talent Analytics”, Jermie Brecheisen, Partner and Senior Subject Matter Expert, Galluinc said: "Gallup is a living example of investing and retaining the best talents.”

Brecheisen pointed out several ways in which institutions can retain talents by offering them all the facilities they require and harmonize evaluation and recruitment of talents to serve the institution.

He mentioned that 90% of employees want to change the companies or countries they work in order to grow their career path and get opportunities that can reflect their potential. He stressed on the fact that many companies fail to attract and retain talents, and that the focus on investing in talents provides the opportunity for greater productivity and innovation in the implementation of business as most talented people are working to develop the institutions they work for.

He pointed out that there are a number of obstacles related to the recruitment process such as the importance of being flexible and clever enough to discover the employees’ skills and hidden talents other than the ones mentioned by him or her in a CV.

He concluded: “Talents are the secret for the success of any organization.”

Dr. Rabei Wazzeh: The role of HR Departments crosses the limit of an institution

Dr. Rabei Wazzeh, Executive Director, Knowledge Group stressed on the important role of HR professionals, which goes beyond the limits of the institution to the development of the society and the economy, as the growth of the individual positively affects the institution, family and society.

He said: “The human resource function has been criticized for the passive and ineffective role it has been taking in organizations. The reason behind this is that HR leaders prefer to take a back seat in driving organizational growth. Nonetheless, HR could be one of the most important functions in any organization, due to its strategic position as a mediator between vision and realization.”

FAHR (Transforming HR Services)

The conference included a special session to review the experience of the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources in terms of the way HR services are provided at the level of the federal government through the team of human resources business partners.

In her session, Kelaitham Al Sahmsi, Director of Strategic and Future Department – FAHR noted that the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources has recently formed a team of HR business partners to support the federal government associations and to ensure the proper application of human resources systems, policies and legislations applicable at the federal government level.

She said: “The service packages provided by FAHR include 23 services presented to three segments (federal government organizations, employees of federal government associations, and private sector). These services are designed to meet their needs and aspirations. It’s also designed to train approximately 20 business partners from FAHR employees that aim to enhance government efficiency, raise productivity, facilitate access to information and provide the necessary support to federal government associations, employees, partners and clients.

Leadership in Human Resources

Mr. Dennis O'Donnell, CEO, Oakwood International said: “My topic for this year was “Leadership in Human Resources”, perhaps too much has been said already on Business Partnering, Employee Engagement or the issue of dealing with Millennials, and not enough on how HR can add real value to the organization. So, we took a closer look at how this can be done.”

On the last day of the conference, participants expressed their admiration in the variety topics that had been discussed at the conference over the two days, which focused on the challenges that are facing institutions nowadays and the importance of developing human capital and learning from the experiences of international organizations.

Running parallel to the conference, the exhibition showcased over the two days the latest solutions and services provided by leading HR companies and institutions while also offering a great opportunity for visitors and participants to engage with top HR professionals representing various areas and sectors.

FAHR International Conference is organized annually by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) in cooperation with INDEX Conferences and Exhibitions – a member of INDEX Holding.

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© Press Release 2018