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Middle East Edition
11th May 2021

THE HOT STORY

UAE government staff to return to offices on May 16th

All exemptions granted to federal government employees in the UAE due to emergency conditions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including permission to work remotely, are to end with effect from Sunday, 16th May, 2021. The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) also announced that unvaccinated employees will be required to undergo mandatory PCR testing every week, at the employee's own expense. Unvaccinated government workers will be expected to pay for tests themselves unless they present a medical report exempting them from taking the vaccine owing to an existing illness or health condition. The circular from the authority urges all federal government entities to adhere to all safety measures and follow the "The Guidelines for Office and Workplace Environment during Emergency Conditions" issued by the FAHR, and any other protocols related to occupational health and safety, with an emphasis on social distancing. The circular also exempts female employees who have children enrolled in distance learning until the end of the current school year.

Zawya

Khaleej Times Online

HIRING

Israeli employers make videos to hire skilled recruits

Employers in Israel who are experiencing a shortage of skilled programmers and engineers are using videos on TikTok and other social media networks in their hunt for talent. Herzliya and Haifa-based marketing analytics company AppsFlyer is just one of the companies that knew it had to do something different to attract new hires, reports The Jerusalem Post. "All the companies are competing for the same talent," observes Daniel Cohen, the company's talent marketing specialist. "Our pay is as good as everywhere, so we wanted to advertise the culture of the company and make videos of our developers and recruiters. We love using TikTok because it is a great platform for a funny, cool 15-second video that looks natural, not produced. We produce a lot of videos just showing the day-to-day vibe in the office."

The Jerusalem Post

LEGAL

Dubai Ruler issues law on HR policies for CEOs in government

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, has issued Law No. (8) of 2021 pertaining to the Dubai Government’s Human Resources Management for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). According to Law No. (8) of 2021, which is applicable to civil CEOs working in all departments, the CEO is appointed by a resolution issued by the Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai. The Law stipulates that the CEO does not hold any civil liability for any action or negligence related to the performance of his duties, and the department holds the sole civil liability for such action or negligence without prejudice to the department’s rights to file a case against the CEO if the actions or negligence have been committed intentionally or due to grave fault.

Trade Arabia

Saudi ministry staff arrested for alleged corruption

A total of 138 people, including employees of 11 Saudi ministries, have been arrested amid claims of involvement in corruption. The Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha), Saudi Arabia’s anti-graft authority, said the accused included employees of the ministries of defense, interior, national guard, health, justice, municipal and rural affairs and housing, education, transport, media, sport and human resources and social development, and also the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority. The charges include bribery, abuse of power and forgery.

Saudi Gazette

HEALTH & SAFETY

Sodexo's employee well-being challenge

Dubai-headquartered food services and catering company Sodexo Middle East has launched a 10-week walking challenge, called ‘10x10 Challenge,' to raise awareness of the importance of mental and physical wellbeing and encourage the organisation’s employees to follow a healthier work-life balanced lifestyle. The walking challenge has been widely received by Sodexo's employees, recording approximately 10,000 steps daily. “At Sodexo, we are committed to positively impacting our employees' daily lives, both professionally and personally,” said Rachid Noujeim, CEO of Sodexo Middle East.

Zawya

RISK

How Adobe's ethics committee helps manage AI risk

Adobe general counsel Dana Rao says that review committees can help companies mitigate some of the risks associated with using artificial intelligence, which include the perpetuation of harmful bias against certain demographics. “It takes a lot of people across your company to help figure this out,” he said. “Sometimes we might look at it and say there’s not an issue here,” he explained, but getting a diverse group of people together can help identify issues product developers might miss. A feature designed to detect unauthorized purchases of Abode software, for instance, could inadvertently learn to block customers of a certain demographic. Mr. Rao said the company’s AI ethics committee recently reviewed a fraud-detection feature that could potentially discriminate against certain groups. “[AI] can learn from last names and geographies and make a connection that . . . there’s a lot more credit card fraud coming from Brazil,” Mr. Rao said. “And it may not just stop people from Brazil coming in, which would be bad. It might stop people with Brazilian names from [purchasing] the software.”

Wall Street Journal

INTERNATIONAL

Amazon loses union tussle

Amazon has lost a tussle over whether it could learn the names of witnesses before they testify at a hearing investigating claims that the company illegally interfered with a vote on unionizing an Alabama facility. Amazon warehouse workers outside Birmingham, Alabama, voted against forming a union by a more than 2-to-1 margin in early April, a major win for the retailer. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union asked the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the vote because Amazon allegedly interfered by threatening layoffs or closure of the facility if the union won. Harry Johnson, a lawyer who spoke for Amazon at the first day of the hearing on Friday, said it would be a "trial by ambush" if his side did not know who would speak before each session. Richard Rouco, speaking for the union, opposed giving a witness list in advance. "Protecting and guarding the identity of witnesses, employee witnesses in particular, until the moment that they're prepared to testify is something that's very important," he said.

Reuters

KPMG UK gives staff extra time off amid shift to hybrid working

KPMG has told its 16,000 UK staff that they can take two and a half hours off each week until the end of August to help them to "re-energise" after enduring stressful working conditions during the pandemic. Employees will also get an extra day off on June 21st when Covid restrictions are lifted in the UK. The firm told staff on Wednesday that they will spend on average just two days a week in the office from June as part of a shift to permanent flexible working. Kevin Hogarth, KPMG's chief people officer, said: "We are trying to shift what we use our offices for and embrace hybrid ways of working. We think the activities that should take place when people come together are not sitting at a desk or sitting in front of a PC completing work on their own. We want to focus the time that people come into the office on those things where there's real value in bringing people together: collaboration; problem solving; project planning; innovation and training."

The Daily Telegraph

City AM

First-ever whistleblower reward in Continental Europe

A public health official in Slovakia is the first person in Continental Europe to receive a monetary reward for whistleblowing, reports Romania's Business Review. Dr. Rastislav Šaling reportedly received the €3,000 reward from Slovakia’s Justice Department. Dr. Šaling, an employee at the Regional Public Health Office in Poprad, revealed that health records were being falsified for new businesses. “I would not change anything I did and how I did it. I consider this to be such a landmark – not only for myself, but also for society and for people who have similar mindsets and principles. I believe that the [anti-corruption] process will be kick-started. Igniting others for such a cause is necessary,” Dr. Šaling told the newspaper Noviny. Slovakia’s whistleblower protection law was passed in 2014 and further strengthened in 2019.

Business Review

PSYCHOLOGY

Bankers suffer decision fatigue

A study by the University of Cambridge in the UK suggests people applying for home loans should avoid going to banks at lunchtime or just before closing because credit officers are likely to reject their requests because of “decision fatigue.” The research also showed that if credit officers had based all their decisions on similar criteria to that used in the early morning, they would have collected an extra £360,000 ($510,000) in loan repayments and increased the home loan application rate to 42%. “Credit officers were more willing to make the difficult decision of granting a customer more lenient loan repayment terms in the morning, but by midday they showed decision fatigue and were less likely to agree to a loan restructuring request,” said Professor Simone Schnall from the University of Cambridge's Department of Psychology, and senior author of the report.

The Daily Telegraph

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