Unemployed – from Europe to the Arab world, a personal story

Sharing my experience of being unemployed 3 times, in context of the situation in the Arab world nowadays.

My C&B Christmas wish list

I was at my friends’ home recently, and the children were busy preparing their letters for Santa Claus. They behaved well during the year (well, most of the time anyway…) so were writing their  wish list for Christmas. Of course, I don’t believe in Santa Claus any longer, but it got me thinking about what…

How do I create a housing allowance policy from scratch ?

“We don’t have a housing allowance policy in place. My company has around 50 employees, and we currently negotiate on a case-by-case basis. The negotiation is based on the person, not the position, so 2 employees in similar roles may have different housing payments, based on how they negotiated. How do I create a housing…

The UAE National Day and the Compensation manager

Today the United Arab Emirates is turning 44. I enjoy living here, and wanted to celebrate some of the country’s achievements and recognise some of its challenges. In 44 short years, the country has moved from having very few (mostly poor) residents and very little infrastructure, to being a symbol of economic and social success…

HR Summit and Expo 2015 : a recap

Beware : long read ! The HR Summit and Expo 2015 organised by informa took place last week in Dubai from November 16 to 18. I was honoured to be invited again to present a session in the free learning track, and delivered some tips on how to use numbers and words to get better…

The value of the independent advisor to the Remuneration Committee

Remuneration Committees (RemCos) are a topic which seems “far away” for many of the C&B professionals in the field, even the most senior ones, and especially in the Gulf countries, the region where I’m currently based. Yet, sooner or later, we are all confronted by requests coming from “The Board”, or documents to prepare for…

Reader Question – Should I pay a prorated bonus to an employee who resigned ?

Marta one of my readers just wrote to me asking me for advice on the following situation : “I’m HR Manager for a small Oil & Gas Contractor. Recently,  I’ve been facing quite difficult situation and need second opinion. We have a Project Manager leaving the company in June (resignation) and here comes the issue –…