Ahmad Hamad Al-Hammad

KUWAIT: Kuwait Telecommunications Company - stc, a world-class digital leader providing innovative services and platforms to customers, enabling the digital transformation in Kuwait, announced its participation in the CHRO Table Talk series organized by HR Tech MENA Summit in partnership with Oracle. The purpose of the talk was to discover the various ways and methods HR executives accelerate employee engagement, as well as the role that this caliber plays in setting and sustaining the organization's culture.

The virtual event welcomed various Chief Human Resources Officers from some of the leading companies in the region, including stc's CHRO, Ahmad Hamad Al-Hammad. Topics discussed included promoting employee engagement, wellbeing, knowledge management, and innovation, especially given the cultural transitions that have taken place since the pandemic. The talk was organized in a casual setting over a cup of coffee with HR peers expressing their various views and techniques on managing remote working, demands for flexible hours, in addition to the fogged phenomenon of the work and personal life balance.

During the discussion, Hammad mentioned the importance of acknowledging the hard work and effort put forth by employees and instilling that recognition into the culture. stc has cultivated its corporate culture to be performance driven. This included focusing on employee growth initiatives and compensation programs that reward employees based on their performance. Fostering this type of culture in the organization was supported by stc's internal digital strategy that enabled employees to be productive while contributing to others. The performance management process and culture at stc identified clear metrics applicable to employees and linked their roles to the organizational strategy of the company. The sense of purpose that employees possess corelates not only with their performance and satisfaction but also with meeting the needs of stc customers.

In terms of empowering and developing skillsets, stc provided access to several platforms that could assist in upskilling and reskilling employees through e-learning, special development, and assessment programs. Al-Hammad highlighted that one of the key aspects of employee engagement is to provide platforms that develop both technical and soft skills. This comes as one of the main pillars under the HR's people strategy, focusing primarily on providing employees with various opportunities for growth and self-development to reach their full potential.

Currently, leading with data serves as a key of measurement for HR within large organizations to measure the quality and performance of their employees. Businesses are leaning towards data-driven approach to gauge organizational output and through that take decisions to optimize the people strategy set in place. Hammad emphasizes that HR analytical measuring tools and dashboards serve as a critical component in understanding important metrics such as turnover data, employee engagement, performance, assessments for potential growth, and other factors that can greatly enhance the workforce caliber.

Commenting on his participation, Hammad said, "It essential for any organization to invest in its employees and provide them with an environment that allows them to reach their full potential. Following the pandemic, we witnessed an unexpected transitional period that completely changed the way employees connected with the organization's culture due to remote working protocols. The blurred boundaries of the work and personal life balance proved to be challenging for some more than others. Now in our gradual return to normal working protocols, we can utilize our experience to strengthen the corporate culture as a whole and connect with our employees through various methods that proved to be resilient."

Hammad added, "On behalf of stc, I would like to thank the HR Tech MENA Summit organizers and Oracle for extending their invitation to participate in the CHRO Table Talk's series. The platform brings together the views of leaders within their industries to discuss interesting topics related to the challenges and opportunities organizations are facing today. Overall, we are highly pleased with the outcome and turnout of this virtual talk and look forward to participating in similar initiatives within the near future."