HE Aisha Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of Human Resources Policies Sector at the Authority, opened the workshops, which were attended by dozens of employees of ministries and federal entities implementing the four guides.

At the outset, HE Al Suwaidi said: “The Authority is keen to hold these refresher workshops so as to familiarize the ministries and federal bodies with the importance of the manuals and ensure their proper implementation. Moreover, these guides can be used as a road map to enhance the effectiveness of Federal Government's work system and to promote the global leadership of the UAE on more than one level, particularly on the level of government efficiency”.

She pointed out that the workshops highlighted the impact of the guides in the ministries and federal bodies in terms of improving the work environment, as well as raising levels of satisfaction, happiness and productivity, and enhancing the social responsibility of our federal institutions. She lauded the efforts being made by the federal entities to support and contribute to the success of the Authority’s projects and initiatives, and their commitment to applying the various guides that organize human resources function in the Federal Government, occasionally launched by the Authority.

Aisha Al-Suwaidi specifically spoke about the importance of implementing the guides for the purposes of Occupational Health & Safety in the Federal Government, as it contributes to providing a safe environment for employees and customers, reducing injuries and accidents in the workplace and raising awareness about occupational health and safety in the workplace. She explained the stages and requirements of activating  the guide within the federal entities, including formation of occupational health and safety team, preparation and development of an action plan, risk identification and assessment at the entity level, launching awareness and training activities related to occupational health and safety, and implementation of occupational health and safety standards.

The Executive Director of the Human Resources Policies continued highlighting the most important benefits of the Guide to Knowledge Management in the Federal Government, which was launched by the Authority in 2017.  The Guide identifies essential knowledge to make use of, increase efficiency and productivity through utilization of proven solutions; accelerates transfer of knowledge by focusing on compiling, documenting, saving and updating explicit and tacit knowledge.

She explained the 3 knowledge development stages, and internal and external Knowledge sources, noting that knowledge assets can be classified into three different groups: tacit knowledge, embedded knowledge and explicit knowledge.

Maha Khamis, Senior Executive - Policies & Research, reviewed the Guide to Volunteering in the Work Environment launched in 2017, including its benefits, concept of volunteering, its objectives and areas of volunteering, as well as the components of volunteer program, roles and responsibilities, the duties of the volunteer and mechanisms for selection

She explained that the stages of implementing the Guide to Volunteering in the Work Environment includes forming a volunteer team, preparing a work plan for the volunteer program and identifying the partners from different sectors who will cooperate in implementing voluntary initiatives. She stressed that indicators like the number of volunteers recruited by the organization, the leadership participated in the volunteer opportunities available, the total number of volunteer hours carried out by the employees of the organization, and the number of volunteers registered in the national volunteer platform are very important for assessment purposes.

Regarding the Guide to Talent Attraction and Retention, Maha Khamis said: ”The main objective of preparing the Guide to Talent Attraction and Retention is to enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of the work environment in the Federal Government through attracting talented and competent employees in various fields and disciplines, and to empower them to achieve their potential within their role, which would strengthen the leadership of the United Arab Emirates at various levels, particularly government efficiency.

” The Guide will greatly contribute to the development of the work system across the ministries and federal entities and enable them to apply the best practices in attracting and keeping outstanding employees, thus minimizing turnover rates and maintaining a reliable talent pipeline at the Federal Government level. In addition, it is intended to support and encourage federal entities to develop innovative practices and solutions that ensure the effectiveness talent management policies, using predetermined regulatory framework.”