Dubai: Dubai Police was declared the happiest place to work in the public sector while Aafaq Islamic Finance was awarded the honour in the private sector category at the Happiness @ Work Award ceremony on Tuesday.
The region’s most happy workplaces were revealed and honoured at the second edition of the award managed by Sustainable Mindz, a corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) expertise centre in the Gulf and MENA region.
The winners include government and private sector organisations that have taken steps to increase the happiness quotient of its workforce.
The award jury received a total of 67 nominations for different categories for the 2018 Happiness @ Work Award. Based on multiple parameters, an independent panel of jury evaluated organisations in five different categories and shortlisted 16 organisations.
Dubai Police, Department of Economic Development of Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah City Municipality and Aafaq Islamic Finance won the Happiness @ Work Award in the Best Employee Engagement category.
Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, TIME Hotels and Dubai Islamic Bank took top honours in the Best Workplace Wellness Programme category.
The Happiness @ Work Award in the Best Work-Life Balance Programme category was won by Dubai Statistics Centre, Dubai Police and Savola Group.
Fujairah Municipality won the award in the Best Workers Welfare Programme category.
While Blossom by Babilou Education was declared winner in Best Workplace Sustainability Programme category, Fujairah Municipality took home the Article 13 Sustainability Prize.
The first award of its kind in the region and the world, recognises and honours forward-thinking organisations from public, private and non-profit sectors that believe that happy employees create high performing organisations
“The Happiness @ Work Award aims to recognise organisations that are game-changers, the forward-thinking ones that strive to do things differently and put their workforce at the heart of its operations,” said Dima Maaytah and Vineetha Mathew, founding partners of Sustainable Mindz.
“It aims to highlight leading examples of organisations actively looking at creating a workplace culture that nurtures, engages employees and reinforces their role in a sustainable future,” she added.
The jury members include Dr Saamdu Chetri, Visiting Faculty at IIT Kharagpur, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Rekhi Centre for Science of Happiness, Dr Yasmin Al Bulushi, Dean of Muscat College — Oman, Dr Mansour Anwar, Head of Happiness & Tolerance, du — UAE and Jane Fiona Cumming, Director and Co-Founder, Article 13 — UK.