UAE companies urged to give mothers flexible working hours

ABU DHABI // Mothers have called for their employers to be more flexible about the hours they work.

The answer, they say, is flexitime, the work systems that allows employees to spend an agreed number of hours per week in their workplace.

Recently, authorities have expressed concerns that, because of work constraints, Emirati mothers are giving up child-rearing duties to their nannies.

Noura, 25, mother of twins and a full-time financial accounts specialist, said having flexitime would allow her to spend more time with her children.

“I will be able to manage, control and balance between my home and work responsibilities,” said the Emirati.

“I will be more able to do activities that I couldn’t do after work because of longer working hours.

“I will be more satisfied and productive at work and it will avoid stress. It will reduce my absence days as well.”

Another mother, Mahra Al Suwaidi, 24, who works in recruitment, said having to work a full day means she sometimes worries about her child.

“I will be more comfortable knowing I can leave work to provide for my baby’s need,” she said.

“Especially when the baby has appointments or had a hard time falling asleep, if a mother can come a few hours late and be excused by her manager without salary cuts then we will be more relaxed.”

She also said certain jobs that are not confidential could be done at home, with the support of the managers.

As a recruiter, Ms Al Suwaidi said mothers can also show proof of doctor’s appointments and evidence of work away from the office if needed.

Abdulmuttalib Hashim, managing director of Talib Bin Hashim Consultancy in Dubai, said companies would lose out if they did not adopt more flexible working hours for mothers.

He said some companies were offering flexible timings, but many were rigid in the number of hours that needed to be worked.

The companies “could potentially lose out on their best female talents to competitors who offer such perks”, he said.

“Working mothers are normally confronted with the dilemma of pursuing their careers or focusing on being a mother.”

This, the mother will either “have to sacrifice a degree of her commitment to her career which in turn affects her productivity and even climbing the career ladder” or she chooses to “commit to become a full-time mother all together.

“Flexitiming in fact can be positive for companies who think on the long term, the reasons being that working mothers who lead a sustainable work-life system can potentially be happier, more productive and stand a higher chance of being retained,” said Mr Hashim.

aalkhoori@thenational.ae

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Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush

Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
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A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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