First Session: Future and Sustainability of Human Resources:
The first session was moderated by the journalist Hamed Al Mashani, main presenter at Abu Dhabi TV, and it focused on an important theme “Future and Sustainability of Human Resources”. H.E. Hamad Al Rahoomi, First Deputy President of the Federal National Council, spoke about the anticipated future and planning of human resources, stating that it is an important matter for every citizen, and confirmed that professions are evolving. if we look at the childhood of the previous generations of grandparents, children and grand-children, we see differences in the nature and interests of the children, which confirms the ongoing development in the country.
He explained his point of view by stating that he sees that the weakness and decline of some traditional professions will be faced by the emergence of new occupations having a different and new vision.
He confirmed that the human being is the basis of professions and the first interactive element that the humanity will continue to depend on in most of the future occupations and jobs. He added that we are required to cope with time and develop ourselves in order to be able to keep pace with the future and its requirements, noting that the undergraduate and postgraduate phases are important to keep pace with the education outcomes with the labour market, so there should be an educational revolution to accompany the coming future revolution, as the future planning of education should be considered an important role to be assumed by the governments.
He confirmed that the Emirati government, thanks to its wise decisions, has supported its nationals and has qualified them to work in the most difficult working environments, such as manufacturing important planes’ parts and going to space, to prove their competence and skills in such locations.
In a discussion with the audience, H.E. presented the Emiratisation file and clarified that the UAE is optimistic about the future despite the challenges. He stated that the Emiratisation matter shall start by bridging the gap between the government sector and the private sector and the Emiratisation of the government sector first, stating that there are thousands of jobs that may be emiratised. He called the nationals to enter the private labour market with job protection and security, stating that there are appropriate job opportunities and education outcomes that are compatible with the labour market.
He tackled the subject of future thought and assumptions, confirming that the UAE has great privileges that enable it to address the future assumptions, as it has educated and conscious people, economic quality, conscious future planning, diverse and large resources, global openness and a distinct social status. He explained that the human investment in the UAE makes it ready for the future and all its challenges.
For his part, H.E. Consultant Abdulrahim Al Zarooni, Corporate Development Advisor and Consultant, said: Each era has its skills and jobs, and the countries that do not have a prospect for the future will find it hard to be present on the map of the future. He focused on the concept of sustainability of human resources, by stating the importance of talking about new skills, opening labour markets, training the current human resources and investing in their skills.
He clarified his point of view on the importance of preparing for the future by not fearing it, and confirmed the readiness of the UAE for the future of human resources, by laying down the regulations that guarantee such future.
He called for adopting the ideas of the wise government through which the legislation and procedures will be changed in order to allow maximum benefit from human resources. He explained that developing the skills of employees will enable them to unleash their creativity and to make accomplishments, which maintain their mental health and reflects positively on their personality, family and society.
In his reply to one of the attendees’ questions, asking about the remote work initiative as one of the employment solutions, he stated that there are important requirements, including a controlling legislation, correct performance measures and clear follow-up mechanisms for the implementation of this initiative.
H.E. Consultant Mohammed Saeed Al Qubaisi from Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation also spoke, explaining the importance of cooperation and coordination between the roles of the governments, educational entities and the private sector concerning the future of human resources. He stressed on the development of education as changing its practices continuously is a real evidence of keeping pace with the future requirements.
For his part, H.E. Dr. Saeed Hareb Al Mansoori, an expert and academic in the management of strategic change and future foresight, made an important presentation where he tackled the human resources engineering facing the contemporary future challenges, and addressed valuable information and themes, most notably: human resources and future jobs, presenting the jobs that will disappear, the new jobs and the remote jobs. He stated that the jobs that will survive are those based on creativity and innovation.
He also tackled the challenges of artificial intelligence faced by human resources and the role of the UAE in revitalising this important subject with its most prominent achievements in this field, which is the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence. He also talked about the industrial revolution, challenges of the robot era, the Internet of Things, augmented reality and virtual reality, explaining the importance of smart applications and their global role in all fields, considered as a developer for the future jobs.
He then talked about the corporate happiness industry and the interest of the wise leaders of the UAE in this regard, as well as the State practices from theoretical thought to applied reality, as he stated that the indicators of happiness globally were measured by the reality and the quality of life. He set a realistic example in the thought of H.H. Ruler of Sharjah, may God preserve him, by providing all the components of a happy family in the Emirate of Sharjah, which qualified it to obtain a world title as a child-friendly Emirate.
He also addressed an important subject in this field, which is the readiness of the State to the post-oil phase and the alternatives adopted by it as the new energy sources, confirming, through realistic practices, the readiness of the State for the next stage through its strategy adopted since inception, focusing on building human beings.
He then talked about the qualification of future leaders and building the culture of leadership, and tackled the subject of human resources governance, standards and laws. He also presented the institutional excellence programmes and their role in creating competitiveness and promoting excellence standards, and tackled the subjects of knowledge management, huge databases, cybersecurity, and the archiving, storage, classification, analysis and indexing of electronic information, emphasising that data analysis is the language of the future.
Second Session: Impact of Globalisation on Human Resources and Social Life:
The second session was held under the title “Impact of Globalisation on Human Resources and Social Life”, moderated by the journalist Hussein Al-Sheikh, presenter at Al-Arabiya Channel/Al-Hadath, where he welcomed the audience saying that “We do not want globalisation to prevail over man, because when we support the human element, we will certainly gain a lot”. H.E. Najeeb Abdullah Al Shamsi, Director-General of AlMasar Cooperation for Economic Studies and Publishing delivered a speech saying: "There is no doubt about the importance of supporting the human element, and we refer to the saying of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, that the basis of development, prosperity and progress is the human being. The UAE Constitution provides for caring for the human being since development would not possible without the development of humans, thus, humans should be aware of their responsibilities.
I wrote a book entitled (Zayed the Leader of Challenge and Achievement) where I discuss the economic development and talk about the human being and the importance of discussion of the concept of globalisation, as it is an economic concept imposed by globalised companies to reach all the countries and control them, and if we do not defy them, we will not be able to defy this globalisation.
One of the effects of globalisation is that we are talking today about the fourth industrial revolution while the European and foreign countries are discussing the fifth industrial revolution, and the developing countries are still discussing the first industrial revolution.
We must point out that the term “globalisation” is one of the new world terms, which was invented after the concept of economic openness. Through the indicators we observe, we are not able to control the flow of artificial intelligence to our countries so humans should develop themselves and seek to develop the Arab thought.
We are facing great challenges and if we do not fortify our society and our Arab thought we will face difficult challenges. If we do not serve each other, we will not serve our strategic goals.
We must look for the sources of strength in our economy as whoever seeks economic power finds it abundantly in our society but we lack planning of this power and the resources to face globalisation.
Hence, I advocate the importance of facing globalisation with Arabism. The UAE is a living model of globalisation, we have global foreign investments, human and economic resources, and a unique geographical location that make the UAE an important strategic and regional centre for many international companies as their mediator in the Middle East. We should use such strength to serve our goals and develop the human element.
He also talked about the importance of Emiratisation in jobs and that work is the right of every Emirati National especially since the UAE Constitution stipulates such right in its legislation.
The UAE has opened its arms to foreign companies but imposed the Emiratisation of jobs in order to contribute to supporting Emiratisation.
However, there is some ambiguity in supporting the subject of Emiratisation and employment at the State, and the State shall enact laws and legislation that compel the private sector companies to contribute to Emiratisation and employment of nationals, each according to his specialty.
The economic indicators urge us to utilise our wealth positively in a way that serves our goals, otherwise we will not be able to address globalisation.
If we do not shape our future and restore our internal situation, we will not be able to face the coming challenges and the view will not be adequate, thus we should seek to develop the human element.
Economic growth is declining in the world and the foreign economic countries will seek to appropriate such wealth.
Then H.E. Mohammed Salman Al Shehhi, Deputy President of the Emirates Centre for Human Rights, delivered a speech saying: Human resources are facing a great challenge today. Globalisation is an inevitable challenge that we have to accept and we should seek to solve this challenge, thus we should focus on globalisation.
Globalisation is one of the reasons for development as it has opened large markets for communication but this scramble over societies has its own problems and disadvantages.
Thus, we must discuss how to be fully prepared to address the downside of globalisation.
Today, due to the preoccupation of the heads of families in work, globalisation was able to enter the families because of the emptiness left by the preoccupation of mothers and fathers, allowing their kids to enter this world, so we should nurture and develop the family and its values.
There is a lot of ways to address globalisation, first the selection of individuals. Why employ foreign individuals while we have experienced manpower? Second, training the resources on international programmes and getting acquainted to them. Third, evaluating performance in the international environment and not the internal environment only. Fourth, the growth of service sectors. Fifth, the role of companies and multiple nationalities, and we should accept this challenge.
As for the voluntary and training programmes provided by institutes, universities, departments and institutions, we confirm the importance of volunteering in the State as the latter is able to produce young national leaders who serve the UAE in an excellent way. Thus, we call on everyone to activate these programmes and we should coexist with artificial intelligence in order to reach the desired life. We are optimistic due to the presence of our wise leaders as the knowledge exchange makes us optimistic.
A question was asked by the moderator of the session, Mr. Hussein Al-Sheikh, “are we really able to pull our children from globalisation to our society?” H.E. Dr. Salah El-Din Fahmy, Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Commerce in Al-Azhar University, replied as follows: “If you look at any community, you find that the social culture will directly or indirectly affect this family. We did not discuss the human resources issue until this globalisation brought many challenges and opportunities, the time when countries were living on the crumbs of large countries has ended and these countries should strive to produce and manufacture to obtain the resources they need.
The human element aims to achieve development and the future lies in the development of humans. We should develop and invest in humans especially since the human capital is responsible for increasing return and productivity, unlike the material capital that depends on materials and will only give you small returns.
The human element may face globalisation by developing and educating the human element at universities. Culture is able to face globalisation by merging academic and professional educations. Education is important at early age and then at universities and later at field training. He confirmed that the management of individuals means the management of human development and human development is more comprehensive than human resources.
Accompanying Workshop: Importance of Saving:
Amin Al Sahlawi, Head of Retail Banking Services Support and Control at Sharjah Islamic Bank, presented an accompanying workshop to the Conference under the title of “Saving is the Way to Investment”. He tackled the importance of controlling salaries’ expenses, in terms of: household expenses, education, travel, treatment, bank financing, gas, internet, monthly invoices, entertainment and sports.
He explained the 70:20:10 theory, where 70% is allocated to daily expenses, 20% for debts and 10% for saving. He made a practical application on a given salary to show the attendees the interest of saving for five years.
He also presented the savings index of national bonds for 2017, which shows that the UAE has the largest percentage of regular savers among the GCC countries. He introduced the most important methods to save 10% of the salary, namely: Specifying the necessary personal and family obligations, the procurement list, list of priority needs, opening a savings account and paying obligations on time.
He also explained to the attendees the types of savings accounts and the differences between them and discussed the best benefits made by the saver in the saving process.