• HE Dr Ali bin Sebaa Al Marri: The launch of the Happiness Council is in line with the UAE's national strategies and goals towards promoting the happiness of individuals and society.
  • Dr. Hazza Al Nuaimi: Dubai Government Excellence Program studies the happiness of Dubai Government Employees through employee opinion surveys
  • Mohammed Al Khatib: The Happiness Council initiatives depend on 4 different pillars that ensure the sustainability of the Council’s work and contribute to achieving employee wellbeing and creating a happy work environment.

Dubai: The Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) announced the launch of the Happiness Council that aims to prioritize employee happiness and wellbeing, and enhance their sense of pride and belonging in line with the national goals of promoting the happiness of all members of the society. The Council has been launched under the theme, “Creating Happiness, Cultivating Unity”, and has 11 employees from MBRSG.

The Council has set several strategic goals to be implemented within a year, such as promoting positivity and happiness in the workplace, enhancing a culture of happiness and wellbeing, increasing employee productivity, strengthening employee engagement and communication, and reinforcing their loyalty and job commitment.

The Happiness Council was launched at an event organised by MBRSG at its headquarters, attended by HE Dr. Ali bin Sebaa Al Marri, Executive President of the MBRSG; Dr. Hazza Al Nuaimi, General Coordinator of the Dubai Government Excellence Program; and MBRSG employees.

HE Dr. Ali bin Sebaa Al Marri, Executive President of the MBRSG said “We launched the Happiness Council in line with the UAE's national strategies and goals towards promoting the happiness of all individuals and enhancing their wellbeing. This will enable our employees to work in a positive environment that improves productivity, and instills a sense of belonging and appreciation. Based on its specialization in teaching management strategies through innovative ways, the MBRSG is fully aware of the importance of supporting human resources, encouraging them to innovate and create, empowering them with new tools, and introducing them to new methodologies."

HE Dr. Hazza Khalfan Al Nuaimi, General Coordinator of the Dubai Government Excellence Program, said: “The Dubai Government Excellence Program studies the happiness of Dubai Government employees, which aims primarily to motivate government entities to ensure their wellbeing through an employee opinion survey. The results of all entities are announced by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in January every year.”

Al Nuaimi also spoke about the role of the Dubai Government Excellence Program in developing and growing human capital to drive governmental leadership and Dubai's global standing. He provided a detailed explanation of the tools used by the program to achieve human capital leadership in the Dubai government.

The Dubai Government Excellence Program has a key category called Human Capital and Emiratisation to determine the requirements in the field of professional talent management, future jobs, and Emiratisation. As a global knowledge & innovation Hub, the program offers a number of training and knowledge activities aimed at empowering and building the capabilities of Dubai Government employees in the areas of excellence and innovation.

He also mentioned the Dubai Excellence Medals, which provide standards for excellence of employees in various fields and is a strong incentive to encourage them to develop their capabilities to win one of the medals and to be honored by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum at the awards ceremony.

Mohammed Hasan Al Khatib, Senior Director of the Corporate Support Services Department and Chairman of the Happiness Council at the MBRSG, said the Council has developed a charter to organize its work, in addition to an integrated strategy and clear goals to achieve happiness in the MBRSG’s work environment, and will implement various initiatives and projects based on four pillars: community engagement, health and wellness, employee welfare, and lastly outreach and communication. These would strengthen relations and learn about best practices between the Happiness Council at the MBRSG and similar initiatives in various government entities.

Al Khatib said the Council will organize two major initiatives this year: the MBRSG Happiness Box , and the MBRSG Happiness Ambassador. The Happiness Box will be a monthly reward system whereas the Happiness Ambassador will be selected on a quarterly basis based on criteria related to positive behavior, communication, participation in work teams, the ability to adapt and contribute to solving problems and challenges. Al Khatib also stressed that building a happiness system in institutions is a shared responsibility between the institution and its employees to ensure the achievement of its goals and sustainability.