The Health Promotion Department, HPD, at the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah, recently organized three webinars on the remote work rules and concepts and means of enhancing health at workplaces and its impact on workforce productivity.
The event comes as part of the “Wazen” program, the first health survey for Sharjah government employees and one of the HPD’s initiatives launched under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Sharjah.
Wazen Program aims to create a database, the first of its kind, for the health and wellbeing of Sharjah government employees, through which several initiatives and decisions, and activities will be developed to enhance the health and safety of the employees and to get them acquainted with the rules of the healthy lifestyle.
Over 700 participants took part in the three-day event, through which they got acquainted with the advantages of remote work the family and individual level, and its success factors as a new investment opportunity for institutions, as well as its impact on employee productivity.
In addition, the participants were trained on how to achieve a balance between work requirements and family requirements, and ways to maintain a high level of positive health in terms of physical, psychological and social, in light of the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).
Supporting employees to face extraordinary circumstances
Her Excellency Iman Rashid Saif, Director of the Health Promotion Department, underlined the HPD’s quest to optimally leverage its initiatives and programs, especially in the current stage, to support the country’s efforts to keep pace with the world changes and to be ready for it by raising awareness of the most prominent new trends in various sectors of interest to the community.
“Our aim is to support the employees to face all challenges and changes in the work environment and encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles and healthy behaviors. The expansion in the remote work system, whether full-time or part-time, raises a lot of questions in terms of the scope and nature of work, and the future of vital sectors in light of these global health challenges, which is why we organized these webinars to raise the awareness of the employees about the remote work mechanisms and to develop solutions to all the challenges they face,”
The Director of the Health Promotion Department thanked all the partners for organizing this event, commending the efforts made by the Department teams and their rapid response in terms of launching many awareness-raising campaigns via the HPD’s smart platforms.
Remote work system … aspirations and prospects
Dr. Abdullah Al Darmaki, a member of the Sharjah Advisory Council, gave the first lecture entitled “Remote work system … aspirations and prospects”. He touched on the concept of the remote work system and its success factors and how the private sector can make use of this system.
Al Darmaki highlighted the remote work advantages, including business continuation in light of crises, reducing traffic congestion and environmental impacts due to the use of transportation, reducing production costs leading to lower prices, as well as contributing to family stability, and improving preparedness for disasters and emergencies.
On the other hand, the lecturer shed light on the remote work challenges, such as lack of direct contact between employees and subordinates, the difficulty of evaluating the employees by their companies, the absence of at-home places dedicated to working, and the emergence of health problems associated with the at-home lifestyle.
Remote work and employee productivity
Mohammed Al Shaer, Manager of the Human Resources Department at the Family Development Centres, presented the second lecture entitled “Remote work and employee productivity”. He touched on the success of the UAE in implementing the remote work system, thanks to the cutting-edge technological infrastructure and the rapid response of the UAE government to enhance the readiness of all institutions to work remotely, in addition to creating specialized committees, and developing guidelines for this system by the human resources departments.
Al Shaer explained how to deal with changing the work environment and conditions by obviating any negative mental image of remote work and exploring innovative and quick ways to perform tasks. He shed light on the mechanisms for achieving a balance between work requirements and family requirements, and good time management to achieve efficiency and effectiveness.
Invest in your health … your work pays off
Presented by Dr. Mansoor Anwar Habib, Family Medicine, and Occupational Health consultant, the third lecture was entitled “Invest in your health … your work pays off” and included ways to achieve health, psychological and social security in light of the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on employee productivity. Habib highlighted how to maintain physical health amid the remote work system by engaging in-home workouts, quitting smoking, following a healthy lifestyle, and getting enough sleep.
He pointed to the importance of the work to spread positive spirit among family members, avoid reading and following the news that causes anxiety and stress, seeking positive information and news about combating the virus to maintain a good level of mental health, thus raising employee productivity.
