Top 5 trends transforming Human Resources in UAE

A country with no rivers, UAE is on its way to becoming one of the world's happiest nations.

The United Arab Emirates is the world's first country ever to appoint a minister for artificial intelligence. Top 5 HR trends in UAE leave no stone unturned to adopt new technologies in a systematic way, similar to what the country's leaders have done.

Companies in the Emirates have been greatly investing in HR capability, technology and automation. Here are the top 5 HR trends in UAE.

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Top 5 HR trends in UAE:

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1. Taking bold steps in an age of uncertainty: Accelerating the future of work and workplace

Technology gives the impression: that anything that may change, will.

The growing need for organisations to change at a large scale and at a rapid pace is crucial to their success over the next ten years. This led to many businesses being uncertain about their future.

But what if, rather than causing doubt, the uncertainty created new opportunities? The chance to alter the future via great action? To do so, businesses must transform uncertainty into a well-informed viewpoint that allows them to confidently manage the future of work.
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“Our primary focus in the coming months is to help organisations accelerate their IT transformation initiatives, with speed and purpose, as we work together to power the innovation agenda of the UAE. Enterprises should disrupt themselves before technology disrupts their business.” - Walid Yehia, Senior Director at Dell Technologies.

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2. Recreating work for well-being: Employees living and performing at their best

UAE, like the rest of the globe, is focusing much on redesigning work around well-being by assessing employee well-being needs. Increased communication channels, frequent updates, webinars and engagement surveys & tools, are some of the strategies to help employees in dealing with the problem and promote a healthier work lifestyle.

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Companies must further establish more employee-focused tools, such as mobile-enabled Human Resources in UAE and learning services, and digitise employee self-services, by implementing HR solutions. They should continue to implement their well-being plans, after the pandemic, by strengthening connections, earning employee trust by doing the right things, preserving fairness and honesty, and being open to feedback.

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3. From workplace connection to contribution: Creating a better sense of belonging

Because of the amount of time that employees spend at work, developing a sense of belonging is critical. Organizations in the UAE take pride in being recognised for their work culture and people-focused initiatives, making it one of the top HR trends in UAE.
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Through a good and flexible work environment, encouraging employee proposals, and the interchange of ideas and collaboration between teams, happiness is an intrinsic aspect of UAE’s work environment. And while there has been an increased focus on it (in the UAE), there is still much more that can be done to deeply engage the workforce.
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What’s more: As the future of work looks very different in the global and regional worlds, organisations should focus on continuously connecting, comforting, and engaging a virtual workforce. An employer may find leverage technology to integrate real-time insights on employee sentiment and behaviour. Businesses may further automate routine employee survey questions while focusing largely on the end result of providing a successful people experience.

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4. Making HR automation an ideal destination

"Many years ago,” says Mr. Hashish, General Manager of Microsoft UAE, “people were understandably afraid to move their operations to the cloud, but the attitude to migrating to the cloud has changed. Moving to these hyper-scaled cloud services allows organisations to pinpoint any particular threat in one place rather than trying to find the same threat in various locations."
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In keeping with one of the top HR trends in UAE, the nation is living up to its image as a centre for 'connecting minds,' with small and medium firms (SMEs) progressively automating HR processes, in a period where industry change is common, and businesses are continually forced to adapt. HRM solutions that offer data & insights and assist firms in making informed decisions are becoming more popular for managing talent.
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Some large firms have begun their transition to HR cloud and are using solutions like peopleHum. Menal Tech believes that implementing HR cloud solutions in the UAE is vital in order to foster innovation and improve the user experience.

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5. Reaping the benefits out of Al & Analytics

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The UAE's artificial intelligence policy set ambitious goals to improve employee performance and accelerate AI use in nine areas: transportation, health, space, renewable energy, water, technology, education, the environment, and traffic. UAE has incorporated and invested heavily in AI in its corporate aspirations. The road to full augmentation of AI in the workforce is long and involves continual investment and proactive change management.
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HR strategies must incorporate AI into their plans and anticipate its influence across their organisation in the next years. Owing to it being among the top HR trends in UAE, all stakeholders and society must be involved in adopting AI since it is ubiquitous and here to stay.
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Read more about how the integration of Al can rapidly automate your hiring process, with efficiency and talent insights: Quick guide to an effective recruitment process.