Leading UAE firms lauded for corporate wellness success

Mashreq and Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry were recently honoured for their corporate wellness success.

One of the leading private banking institutions in the region, Mashreq was awarded the Daman Award for Corporate Health and Wellness Organisation. It launched Sahtak, a wellbeing initiative, in early 2015 to instil a healthy living culture in its employees. Sahtak, an Arabic term for “Your Wellbeing” was initiated to help Mashreq become the employer of choice by creating a healthy, happy, dynamic environment.  

Meanwhile, the Daman Award for Corporate Health and Wellness Initiative was given to the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry for taking up the challenge to improve health and wellness amongst their staff. Sehhati, meaning ‘’My Health’’ in Arabic, is as an innovative 10-week wellness programme, which was designed and run in-house to help staff build sustainable good habits and create a healthy culture. The excellent results, including a 56% drop in absenteeism, shows the positive business impact of Dubai Chamber’s initiative. 

“I would like to extend my congratulations to this year’s winners on their impressive achievements. The awards recognise the immense efforts of these highly respected organisations in championing the cause of workplace wellness.  We hope that others will see the incredible business benefits that arise from actively encouraging employees to make important changes to their lifestyles. Healthier employees are more engaged and productive and this translates to better performance – at both an individual and organisational level.

“We at Daman, hope that winners from current and past years continue to inspire other organisations to adopt corporate wellness practices and share our goal to create healthier communities across the UAE,” says Dr. Michael Bitzer, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Insurance Company – Daman, headline sponsor of the awards.

Other top employers implementing corporate wellness programmes were revealed at the third edition of the Daman Corporate Health Awards, organised by MEED to honour companies and organisations for their success in ensuring employee wellbeing at the workplace.

Among them were Atlantis, The Palm (CSR Employee Engagement of the Year Award), CH2M (Communications Campaign of the Year Award), TECOM (The Corporate Wellness Team of the Year Award) ABB UAE (Health & Safety Initiative of the Year Award) Tawam Hospital (Innovation in Work Culture Award) and Lamprell Energy (Daman Award for Improved Corporate Health and Wellness Performance).

Nabil Al Alawi, Chief Executive Officer at Al Mansoori Specialised Engineering was honoured with the Corporate Wellness Leader of the Year Award. He was recognised for his outstanding leadership as a senior professional, who has inspired colleagues and peers with corporate wellness initiatives. Mr Al Alawi developed the company’s Health Monitoring Management System. A sample of 350 current employees was taken and the data showed that 34% have reduced their weight, 35% have improved their blood sugar levels, and 57% have decreased their cholesterol levels.