Dubai: The department for positive energy at the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai (GDRFA) will have recognised 65 of its employees through its ‘365 days of positivity’ initiative by the end of the month. The department itself is believed to be a first of its kind in the UAE and the region.
The department, which was inaugurated in July, aims to promote positive thinking and come up with methods to enhance positivity amongst the directorate’s employees so that they can create the best working environment for themselves.
Mohammad Sultan Bin Thani, Organisational Excellence Consultant at the GDRFA in Dubai, said that the department for positive energy headed by Lieutenant Ali Al Sharif builds on the ideas put forward by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, about the importance of positive energy to success.
Bin Thani said the GDRFA made a conscious effort to apply the idea of positive thinking and that’s how the department was born.
“Across the world, organisations are trying to find ways to make their workplaces spaces that encourage their employees to work.”
Bin Thani added, “Positive energy has become part of many workplaces, but we are probably the only or one of the only organisations who created a department that is dedicated to actively finding ways and creating initiatives to promote positive energy. A happy employee is more productive, and this is what the department aims to do.”
One of the first initiatives by the department was the 365 days of positivity scheme, where the department recognises an employee each day for his or her positivity. The employee is handed a certificate of recognition from one of the GDRFA’s top officials and given a model shaped after Shaikh Mohammad’s famous ‘I love you’ sign.
The employee’s photo is also circulated on the GDRFA’s social media accounts.
Employees can nominate their colleagues or themselves, and customers of any of GDRFA’s Dubai facilities can nominate an employee who they feel is positive and helpful when performing his or her job.
Nominations may be sent through ‘Amer’, the GDRFA’s hotline, or by emailing positiveenergy@dnrd.gov.ae.
“In the first month of the 365 initiative, we only received nine nominations because people did not know about it yet. The second month we had 22 nominees and, this month, we got 34 nominations, so now we have more people than there are days in a month, which shows that people are engaging in the initiative,” Bin Thani said.
He said that it was decided not to give a monetary incentive because that would defeat the purpose of the recognition.
The positive energy department also help the employees grow on a personal level. “For example, if one of the employees has a talent or a hobby, the department tries to develop that talent and also showcase it.”
The GDRFA had previously held exhibitions of artworks of its employees and now the department for positive energy has taken on this responsibility and is working to further such initiatives.
The department also has plans to transform the office space planning of the GDRFA. “They have already changed the office space of the strategies department at the GDRFA. They turned it into an open office, put more lights and used a lot of the white colour in the space.”
The department also holds lectures that aim to enhance positive energy among employees.
