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Companies focus on re-building teams |
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09.18.2009 |
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With Ramadan coming to a close, the long UAE summer is almost at an end and businesses are beginning to return to normal.
And as the world slowly recovers from the recession, budgets are beginning to open up allowing managers to take advantage of corporate training and team building sessions once again.
Hazel Cowling, partner and consultant director of Biz-Ability, says: "Many companies have re-focused since the recession but we've had a lot of bookings for Q4 because people have not wanted to commit to training over the summer."
But this, Cowling adds, is following the trend of previous years as there is always a surge towards the end of the year as corporations scramble to spend their budgets.
"People have been holding onto budgets and if they don't spend them they might lose them," she says.
"But having said that, they are also shifting their budgets to spend specifically on leadership training.
Biz-Ability is not the only executive training company that is expecting a resurgence in business; Abami has seen an increase in interest over the past couple of weeks and Managing Director Graham Nugent expects this to increase further towards the end of the month.
"Ramadan has been quieter than normal but we have seen a pulse coming through in the past couple of days. We are bullish, positive and confident but we will have a more realistic indication in the next few weeks," he says.
Nevertheless, Abami has built two new learning centres, including its first in Abu Dhabi, after the emirate became the main driver of new business.
"There has been significant interest to the point the business is now 70/30 between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It's not just management training but team building and performance management across the board," says Nugent.
For some companies the renewed interest in training is being seen as a way of giving something back to staff who have stayed loyal despite widespread budget cuts this year.
"Training is a way of rewarding staff but also a good way to retain the talent a company already has. There isn't the same number of jobs there was a year ago and some people are still looking to leave the country and companies are taking note of this," says Cowling.
BurJuman mall regularly invests in training not only to motivate staff but to increase productivity and loyalty. Eisa Adam Ibrahim, General Manager says:
"A training budget may come across as a dent in the annual financial statement, however it most certainly has benefits that cannot be measured.
"We don't cut down on training budgets during a recessionary phase as at this time there is all the more reason to invest in employees to keep them motivated. Although it is a non financial gain for the employees, it is highly appreciated."
But employees want to ensure training leads to some kind of certification.
"If companies give people the chance to get a qualification employees will stay with them," explains Cowling.
"There is also a shift towards modular courses in which people have a short session every two weeks and work on one element at a time rather than having a two-day intensive course, the lessons of which will be implemented but do not tend to remain for as long."
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Source:www.business24-7.ae |
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