Dubai: Clare Andow starts her workday playing drums at the office with her colleagues — and she's not in a rock band for a living.
"We have a huddle. We play the drums and share information," Andow, a store manager at The One, said.
"That's where the energy starts, everybody is equal. It let's the tension out to start the day."
Andow has found what cogs in the machine can only dream about: a great workplace. It may be a vague concept, but it does not just exist in your imagination.
An employee-friendly workplace focuses on the human condition: employees are treated as individuals rather than production units, managers trust and respect them, and they have an opportunity for career development.
They voice their ideas, their suggestions are sometimes implemented, they feel valued, get training programmes, have a work-life balance, and their work excites them, employees say.
"I get to sell sofas for a higher purpose," Andow chuckles. "I sell sofas but I get to make a difference and that is my dream. I want to bring up my little baby in a world that is fair."
Being part of a higher purpose, where the company builds classrooms in the employees' countries, is a big motivation, she said. In her 12 years at the company she rose from a supervisor to a store manager. "They encourage us to dream big."
The key to job satisfaction is that the work is constantly evolving and has different challenges everyday, she said. "I have a voice and it is heard and I'm allowed to have an opinion."
Besides career development, Andow also pointed out that a great workplace treats you like family. When she was sick two years ago, the company CEO called to refer her to the right hospital and express his concern. "I don't know too many CEOs who do that," she said.
"It's not just about selling furniture. You become the mother, sister, grandmother of the people around you, the captain of a ship and the expats' family," she said.
Not just a face
"I was involved in weddings, births, deaths. You become a family rather than just have an employee-employer relationship."
In her previous jobs, employees were treated as just another number when she clocked out. "Here I'm not a number, I have a face with a personality and family."
Her workplace provides a buddy system where a person from the head office visits the stores to support the employees, she said.
The CEO also takes them to yoga classes to "bring peace" into their lives and brought them drums to start the day energised, she added. For working mothers, flexible hours make the workplace more considerate environment, Crescentia Cardoz, marketing executive with Dulsco, an HR firm, said.
Regular training, talent management programs and an open-door policy also make a great workplace, she said.
Dulsco, a local company which outsources workers, has accommodations for its outsourced staff with sports and medical facilities that gives the company a "human angle," she said.
Though the company is male-dominated due to outsourcing workers, she has not encountered any gender or ethnic inequalities, she says.
"The people, environment, process and culture make it a great place," Haider Salloum, a small and medium customers and solutions partner with Microsoft, said. Employees have a say in the company because they can rate their managers, he said.
Rewards
Good performance is recognised and awarded, employees are given a task with the flexibility of choosing how to do it, and there is a sense of belonging to the company and pride in its products, he said.
However, like many large companies, the drawback is that every process or task is very "structured" and has to go through many levels, Salloum noted.
But supportive work environments are not a one-size fits all solution, analysts say.
"There is no such thing as a great workplace for everybody," Philip Anderson, Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD, Abu Dhabi, said. "It's a product of really good recruitment and selection, attracting people who find you their employer of choice."
To find a company that is the right fit for you, ask yourself "who am I?" and "what do I need?" Vernon Bryce, Managing Partner of Kenexa Middle East, an HR solutions firm, said.
Ask five people who know you well about your three top strengths, he suggested.
A person may be good at the job but may not fit the work culture, so recruiters step in to find someone who can do the job and develop the company culture. "Whatever the HR practice, it goes back to a policy based on human condition and human capital," Bryce said.
This translates into good maternal leave policies, gender and ethnic equality and the four main principles that form a great workplace: leaders that inspire confidence in the future, managers that recognise good performance, exciting work, and a corporate responsibility to the community, he said.
Great workplaces are only supported by HR systems but driven by good leadership.
"It's not about expensive initiatives and gatherings. It's about the basics: How you treat people the way you want to be treated and valuing others," Hazel Jackson, CEO of Biz Group, a business consultancy, said.
"It's a misconception that great places to work take an awful lot of systems or processes."
It boils down to how leaders connect, grow, empower and perceive people in their business, she said.
Global or local
The top five companies to work for in the UAE are all multinationals, according to the list released this month by the Great Place to Work Institute.
Multinationals may have well-developed HR policies imported from the US or Europe, but working for them in the UAE does not guarantee an employee-friendly workplace, analysts say.
Every work place, regardless of scale, has to go over and above the basic pay and job security needs to satisfy the "human conditions," said Bryce.
"Multinationals don't always stick to those conditions. Managers may be well trained in job content but not emotional content," he said.
"They are trained in marketing or finance but may not be tuned in to people's emotional requirements."
HR policies in the UAE are still developing in this young and maturing business market and it is critical to identify now areas that need improvement.
Local companies have some advantages such as a culture of respect and embracing diversity, Bryce said. "It's not about HR, it's about common sense in human interactions and respecting each other," he added. Creating a great workplace is a challenge for both multinationals and local companies operating here, said Jackson.
Multinationals face the difficulty of operating in such a diverse culture and adapting a work culture from abroad to the UAE. Local companies, who frame their work culture around the company founder, must also strive for international best practices.
To avoid the job-hopping trend during the boom times in the UAE, employees need to get opportunities to grow within the company, Jackson said.
Have your say
What do you think makes an office a great place to work in?
