Earlier this month, I decided for the first time, to visit the Human Resources Summit & Expo (HRSE) 2021 in Dubai. Historically, the HRSE conference in Dubai has been regularly held every year, with the exception of last year in 2020 where many international conferences were either cancelled or held virtually. The thrill of being in a large live event after the year of the pandemic where everyone was under lockdowns across the globe gave HRSE 2021 the extra kick for me.

As a first-time visitor, I was very impressed for many reasons. Firstly, I was impressed with the caliber of speakers that were invited, not just in the main stage but also in the two smaller stages called ‘Hives’, where speakers are lined up back-to-back and time is strictly managed by the event ushers. There is also an opportunity given for everyone to ask questions at the end of every session if there is some time available. Out of all the speakers that were there, of special interest to me were the presentations given by:

• Mihai Popoaca – President of WorldatWork, who spoke about ‘Total Rewards 2022 Agenda’ and was one of the very few speakers who touched on the subject of the ‘Great Resignation’.
• Suhair Abu Salem – Human Capital and Communication Director at A3 Cement, who spoke about ‘The Role of Human Capital in Business Transformation’ and reviewed five different models of transformation created by top consulting firms in the world.
• Pam Jackson, PhD – Course Leader at Informa Middle East, who spoke about ‘Nurturing a Sense of Inclusion, Belonging, and Psychological Safety in your Organization’

No matter how educated or experienced you are in Human Resources, there’s always something new you learn from other practitioners in attending conferences like HRSE in Dubai.

SHUJA RABBANI – SHRM-SCP, SPHRI, EXECUTIVE COACH – JOHN MAXWELL TEAM

After speaking to a number of attendees, they mentioned that this year’s event was smaller in size and usually the HR Summit and Expo is a much bigger event. That was expected since many people are still not comfortable being in large crowds and travel restrictions are still at large, making international travel difficult. As of the last few days with the discovery of the new Omicron strain of the virus, people’s comfort level in attendance of such live events is likely to continue for longer than expected.

Nevertheless, I found much value in attending the HRSE 2021. After his presentation was done, I asked the President of WorldatWork (WAW) whether there was any study conducted on the ‘Great Resignation’ here in the Middle East and since WAW has only just opened up their Middle East offices, they are conducting a study to specifically look into this. This was important for me to know because I know personally a considerable number of my ex-colleagues from my past life in a multinational corporation who had voluntarily resigned right at the peak of the pandemic lockdown because of their mismatch in personal values versus those of the corporation or the leadership who were using the management teams to aggressively conclude reduction in force once the Titanic started sinking.

If you attended HRSE 2021 and have your own input, I would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, listen to the season 1 of Pod Your Heart Out podcast below. I will start recording the second season soon and I look forward to bringing you the best and the latest of all hot topics in Human Resources and Leadership. If you are an HR practitioner or business leader reading this in 2021, I am sure by now you know that so much more has happened since the work has attempted to return ‘back to normal’.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the sister site of this podcast under STIX Consulting by visiting www.stixconsulting.com