Employees at the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, one of the UAE’s biggest employers, logged more than 30 million minutes of video and audio meetings over two months of remote working during the Covid-19 outbreak, the company said, marking a seismic shift in culture for an otherwise traditional industry.
"This has been a rapid transformation that no-one saw coming, but we are encouraged by the very positive attitude of our employees in this remote working environment," Ali Al Sayegh, vice president of internal communications and employee engagement at Adnoc, told The National.
Mr Al Sayegh said the company's office workers adapted "surprisingly fast" to working from home, and productivity was unaffected. His team crunched the numbers from mid-March, when work from home orders took effect in Abu Dhabi, to mid-May. The company’s 50,000 employees clocked 1.2 million one-to-one and group calls and exchanged more than 10 million instant messages.
As millions of public and private sector workers around the world start taking steps to return to the office, boards and chief executives are mulling what a new normal will look like following their experience of remote working. Technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Twitter have told their employees they may never return to the office if they don't want to. But other major sectors like finance, oil and gas and propertty have not made such headlines. However, that does not mean some form of remote work for these industries is not possible in the longer term.
Four years ago, Adnoc began a technology transformation initiative, including a digital command centre that opened in early 2018. That work has paid off, Mr Al Sayegh said, and the benefits of expanding its technology resources are being felt across the company as 99 per cent of its office staff are working from home.
Panorama, located at Adnoc’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, is now being accessed remotely by employees through a secure connection, providing real-time information across the company’s 14 subsidiary and joint venture companies and using artificial intelligence and data analysis to anticipate disruptions and optimise production.
Hani Nehaid, a manager in the geoscience department for Adnoc upstream, has worked for the company for 14 years, and now leads a team of 18 geoscience experts to analyse oil and gas reservoirs. He also leads seismic operations to provide detailed images of the Earth’s subsurface and help identify new oil and gas resources.
These are jobs that require robust software and technical know-how, with the intention of maximising hydrocarbon's value and reducing operating costs. The work is also collaborative, and one may assume best done in a traditional office setting.
"We've found it very efficient to work from home", Mr Nehaid told The National. "As a technical team, we will always be frustrated if we can't access the tools to do our job, but since day one everyone had the software and technology they needed so their work isn't interrupted."
While productivity has not suffered, he acknowledged everyone has had a different work-from-home reality to adapt to, and they share tips with each other on regular team calls. Mr Nehaid also sees a silver lining.
“Everybody now, from a work-life balance perspective, is more efficient. You can see your kids or your family, but I don’t think … because we are all on a technical team and very focused by nature, even at home it’s not that different from working at the office," he said. “There are a lot of ways to work from home."
Some of these have been creative with team members that needed larger screens to look at 3D images below the ground or underwater, plugging into their televisions at home to get a larger view.
The team are also now accustomed to being called into remote meetings at a moment’s notice to solve problems or answer a question, something that was more difficult to achieve in an office setting, Mr Nehaid said.
“With just one click, a team member is in the meeting. There are a lot of lessons learnt from this that we will take back to the office with us,” he said.
But even then, he said he expects he will be a more flexible manager in the future now that he has seen how his team performs out of the office.
Q&A with Dash Berlin
Welcome back. What was it like to return to RAK and to play for fans out here again?
It’s an amazing feeling to be back in the passionate UAE again. Seeing the fans having a great time that is what it’s all about.
You're currently touring the globe as part of your Legends of the Feels Tour. How important is it to you to include the Middle East in the schedule?
The tour is doing really well and is extensive and intensive at the same time travelling all over the globe. My Middle Eastern fans are very dear to me, it’s good to be back.
You mix tracks that people know and love, but you also have a visually impressive set too (graphics etc). Is that the secret recipe to Dash Berlin's live gigs?
People enjoying the combination of the music and visuals are the key factor in the success of the Legends Of The Feel tour 2018.
Have you had some time to explore Ras al Khaimah too? If so, what have you been up to?
Coming fresh out of Las Vegas where I continue my 7th annual year DJ residency at Marquee, I decided it was a perfect moment to catch some sun rays and enjoy the warm hospitality of Bab Al Bahr.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
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Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
Army of the Dead
Director: Zack Snyder
Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera
Three stars
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
More about Middle East geopolitics
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
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Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
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Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
