A strong focus on workforce productivity and talent development are essential to the goal of building an efficient organisation and sustainable economy, according to experts participating in the OER Finance and HR Summit, held at InterContinental Muscat, on Wednesday.
Comprised of two thought-provoking panel discussions interspersed with various presentations by industry experts, the Summit saw CEOs, CFOs, senior HR executives and international and GCC-based industry experts discuss the new imperatives on the interface between finance and HR.
Sayyid Salim bin Musallam al Busaidi, Under-Secretary for Administrative Development at the Ministry of Civil Services, was the chief guest at the second edition of the summit, while Dr Muna al Jardaniya, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Manpower for Technical Education and Vocational Training, and Shaikh Mohammed bin Ghalib al Hinai, Adviser to the Minister of Manpower for Human Resources Planning were the guests of honour.
The summit was followed by a workshop on the use of Psychometrics in learning and development by N Martis, Director, KornFerry Hay Group. Another highlight of the event was the presentation of OER’s Awards of Excellence in Finance and HR for the year 2018.
Reflecting on “New Economic Realities — one year later”, Khalid Ansari of KPMG said the oil price increase since last year did not reflect on the performance of the listed companies at MSM companies in 2017. He said while companies were able to hold their employment costs, they failed to keep their other costs at bay. “When the profit is under pressure, companies often resort to some quick reactions such as cost cutting. The focus on productivity and efficiency of the workforce as well as on cash and working capital management is essential to run a lean and efficient organisation”, he added.
In his presentation on “UAE’s experience in implementing VAT and learnings for Oman’, Deepak Agarwal, Director, PwC, UAE; touched upon the opportunities and practical challenges of implementing VAT. A presentation on “The Changing Insurance landscape” by A R Srinivasan, CEO, Arabian Falcon Insurance, highlighted the new trends and changing dynamics in the insurance sector such as automation, artificial intelligence, robotic call centres etc. In her presentation, Ghadeer Hassan, Portfolio Manager-Asset Management, United Securities spoke about the Initial Public Offerings-Contribution to Muscat Securities Market.
The Finance panel discussion brought together CFOs and finance experts from the various sectors to discuss “Financial preparedness for harnessing growth”.
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