Dubai Chamber HR Director wins 'Best Director of the year 2008' award

The award distinguishes the leader who has made most effective contribution towards the success of a team or organization. Azzah's award honors her distinguished efforts which were evident in the success of the HR department in implementing the best practices that turned the work environment at Dubai Chamber into a model for the business community in Dubai and GCC.

Al-Sharhan, who has a MSc certificate in Strategic leadership from Cranfield School of Management in the UK and a Bachelors in English language & Literature; managed in her first 6 months to restructure and reestablish the HR department in the Chamber and contribute to a major employee satisfaction; increasing the overall satisfaction from 60% to 82% according to the Employee Satisfaction Survey.

Al-Sharhan achieved this success through a major review of key policies such as leave policy, maternity leave and educational allowance.

The HR Executive Director also introduced a club membership benefit to promote healthy lifestyles for employees, believing that healthy lifestyles lead to more productivity. Al-Sharhan Also facilitated the introduction of new benefits, new salary scale and changed the management strategies. She launched also the "Kunooz Committee which focuses on enhancing the work environment in the Chamber through cultural and CSR activities.

Al-Sharhan reintroduced the staff monthly gatherings which provided the platform for employees to meet and communicate under the umbrella of Dubai Chamber. Dubai Chamber's HR Executive Director also introduced Employee benefits and Discount Cards as well as Medical benefits.

Al-Sharhan stressed that the award honors her continuous efforts in enhancing the work environment at the Chamber, pointing out that her determination and desire to succeed led her to achieve the distinguished results. Al-Sharhan stated that her work at Dubai Chamber motivated her to develop her ideas and intensify her efforts to achieve positive results especially with the rise of HR as one of the main pillars of the success of the firms and organizations in the world.

Al-Sharhan added:

"Dubai Chamber provided me with all the facilities to contribute to creating a favorable work environment at the Chamber that goes in line with the Chamber's objective of creating a favorable business environment in Dubai. The award today is an additional incentive to me to contribute to our overall objective of promoting Dubai internationally."

Before joining the Chamber, Al-Sharhan was the Director of Emirates Nationals Development Programme which was launched in Nov 2005 by H.H Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai. The programme aims to facilitate the employment of UAE Nationals in the private sector and during her tenure; she successfully trained and employed over 3250 candidates. Her previous experience was with Shell EP International where she was the Regional Skillpool Manager for Non Technical Disciplines - Middle East, Russia and CIS. Before that she was the HR Planning & Development Manager in HSBC Bank Middle East and previous to that, she was also the Recruitment Manager in Emirates Petroleum Products Company.

Besides her role in the Chamber as the HR Executive Director and the Acting Director of the Excellence department, Azzah is also a Board Member of the Dubai Women Establishment, a Board Member of the Emirates Academy, a member of the Tawteen Advisory and Executive Committee and a graduate of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development.