Ultimate HR Solutions was established in 2001 with the main goal of assisting the corporate world with top of the line recruitment and HR-outsourcing, Managing Director UHRS Amena Baig explains.
AMENA BAIG, MANAGING DIRECTOR
1. Tell us about the company and its journey to success?
Ultimate HR Solutions is a specialised HR service provider that focuses on two main areas – recruitment and outsourcing. Fifteen years down the line, we are proud to say that we have over 2.500 active outsourced employees all over the UAE across various clients and industries. Our employees are professionals from over 50 different nationalities and work in over 40 business functions. Due to our
client-centric culture, transparent pricing structure, and professionalism, we have achieved a bottom line growth of over 85 per cent in the past five years.
2.What have been some of the most significant challenges the
company has encountered so far?
The biggest challenge Ultimate HR Solutions encountered was during the 2008 recession. After many years of constant growth, the uncertainty in UAE’s market was visible as the banking industry was severely hit and many HR consultancies went under. Naturally, during a recession, companies start to lay off employees and pause all recruitment. At Ultimate HR Solutions, however, we took this as an
opportunity to diversify into other non-banking industries and became more competitive. The recession actually served as a learning experience and has taught us to cope with business fluctuations quickly and efficiently. Even though the economy has slowed down since the last quarter of 2015, we are still on target to achieve a growth of 25 per cent in 2016.
3. Being an HR solutions firm, how can companies like yours empower women for sustainable development?
Some of Ultimate HR Solutions’ best employees are women. The only way that women like myself or other female employees at our firm can empower women and commit to their development is by making them realise that their dreams and ambitions can be turned into reality. The notion that a woman cannot be a successful part of the workforce and a successful mother must be dispelled.By virtue of being a HR company, we are in a very powerful position to inform and educate women – be it during interviews or training programmes – about the importance of the woman in the workplace. It is very important that women support each other and provide mentorship whenever possible in order to help women grow in their respective careers.
4. What trend do you see in the GCC corporate landscape as far as gender parity is
concerned?
There is an observably upward trend in the GCC corporate landscape regarding gender parity. We have
come a very long way. The UAE is a leader in the Arab World in general in terms of female educational and economic empowerment as well as any social or health benefits. There is no doubt that women do still have a long way to go especially in terms of female representation in the workforce. There are more women than men in government educational institutions in most of the Arab world, but we see the opposite in the workforce. This means that women themselves must let go of cultural norms that discourage them from entering the workforce and realise that it is possible to be a successful working mother.
5. Do you think empowering women can subsequently empower societies? How?
I am a big believer in female empowerment. It has been said that when you educate a man you educate
an individual but when you educate a woman you educate an entire nation. This has been said because a woman traditionally raises children. Additional research has shown that the longer a girl stays in school, the healthier children she will have and the higher her family income will eventually be. It is absolutely essential for women to believe in themselves and prioritise education. Education leads them to be self confident and ultimately make the difference they want to see in their societies.
