HR Tech MENA Summit Opens With 400 + HR And Digital Transformation Leaders Joining The Region’s Biggest Platform To Discuss The Future Of Work

The 8^th edition of the Annual HR Tech MENA Summit brought together 400+ industry professionals for two days to reassess the current trends in the world of HR and to take a holistic approach to improve employee wellbeing.

To keep up with the rapidly evolving changes taking place in the HR Industry, leveraging technology, and embracing a digital-first mindset is extremely important. It’s essential to emphasize the ‘human’ aspect of Human Resources and instill the right technology into one’s business strategy while also empowering employees to boost their productivity and quality of work.

Andrew Stocker, Head of Employee Benefits from MetLife Gulf has commented on the topic, “In today’s post-pandemic world, where work-life norms have changed, supporting employees’ well-being is becoming an integral part of a company’s culture. Employers offering help and support through the different employee benefits programs will find that their employees have become more engaged, resilient, and trust leadership. Ultimately, it’s a win-win for everyone.”

From upskilling employees to analyzing the future of the workforce, the HR Tech MENA Summit will be attended by industry professionals from all over the Middle East. Day 1 of the Summit, on the 16^th of March, will include panel discussions about accelerating the employee agenda through the digital revolution. The opening keynote is by Jason Averbrook, the CEO of Leapgen. Speaking about reimagining possibilities, Jason would be speaking about highlighting HR priorities with the business agenda as well as leveraging HR Tech to transform the employee experience.

Commenting on its participation at the HR Tech MENA summit, Zeina Fakhry – HR Director, UAE and Saudi Arabia of Microsoft comments, “In-person business events are absolutely vital in fostering connections, and in sparking new dialogue around opportunities to innovate and collaborate. It’s always important to share best practices and experiences with your peers and given that we are now in a period of history that has been defined by mass disruption, that need becomes even more pronounced. Technology is already permeating every industry and will affect workers in every imaginable workplace, and platforms like the HR Tech MENA Summit help to foster more innovative, inclusive workplaces that empower employees and prepare organisations for the future of work.”

The acceleration in the world of technology had its influence on the workplace culture as well. Prasad Rajappan, the Founder and MD of Zing HR says, “While evolving technologies in the HR domain are digitizing and automating HR processes, human interaction has not become obsolete. The pandemic has accelerated the need for HR to balance personal touch coupled with technology – digital onboarding, virtual engagement etc. CHROs are being tasked to create a balanced environment of human interaction combined with technology to deliver Board level outcomes such as top line increases, EBITA margin improvements, ESG Compliance. The HR Tech MENA Summit offers a unique opportunity for CHROs to learn about cutting-edge technologies & tactics that make an impact on tangible business outcomes. Through the summit, we will be able to shed light on the importance of human touch amidst the digitally connected world whilst ensuring HR delivers strategic outcomes for its organization.

Day 2 of the Summit will have two parallel sessions, occurring simultaneously. Parallel Track 1 will focus on Employee Experience, Benefits and Wellbeing whereas Parallel Track 2 will include Digital Transformation, Analytics and Digital Learning. Giving due importance to each aspect of the HR industry and its many challenges as well as changes, the summit is not one to be missed.

Striking a balance between employee wellbeing and exploring digital learning ecosystems and implementing it into one’s analytics strategy is a tricky yet extremely essential task. Nancy Mourad, Managing Director, Gulf LifeSpeak Inc.shares the trends in the future of work- “Two key trends I see and believe are impacting humanity’s mental health & way of living in unprecedented ways: 1) flexibility to work from anywhere and 2) the increasing focus on empathy in the workplace. When we think of how life looked a few years back, where the corporate world was a place people go to and abide by rather stricter rules with much less focus on how a human feels, that tells you how much progress we have made in terms of rights to lead happier lives collectively. All empowered by technology (to work remotely) and increasing knowledge in organizational and behavioral psychology spread online, creating awareness of the importance of a healthy, empathetic, humble workplace culture. In my view, companies who don’t adopt these two key trends will suffer tremendously to maintain employee engagement, retain talent, and eventually stay in business in a talent-driven economy.”

With more than 70 speakers and 15 hours of networking, the HR Tech MENA Summit is a great opportunity for HR and IT Decision Makers and give them a platform to interact with each other, allowing them to build meaningful relationships.

The HR Tech MENA Summit urges HR Leaders to harness the true potential of one’s human capital, curate experiences as well as provide opportunities to leverage technology to make the best of the resources given to them.