Coverage & Photography: Mahmoud Mansi
“JOBMASTER brings such valuable people, material and ideas to the Egyptian business world.”
This was a quote from one of the attendees of Robert Mosley’s workshop in Egypt on Job Analysis, Job Descriptions, Job Evaluation and Grade Structure (11 Jan 2016 – 14 Jan 2016).
As HRians we always thought about HR as a purely theoretical and behavioral subject. This is true, to some extent. After attending Robert Mosley’s workshop with JOBMASTER (www.jobmastergroup.com) – one of the leading Egyptian companies in the field of development, human capital solutions, recruitment and consultation – people thought different, entirely different about HR, especially when you add Mathematics to theory.
Robert Mosley the international HR consultant and trainer has his Master’s degree in Mathematics, which as he says helped him “to think more logically” And here comes the magic.
One learnt how HR could be very meaningful when we use statistics, when we “calculate” out of the box, and how to use these calculations to evaluate each job in our organisations. It surely needs a mathematician to invent such calculations, but it doesn’t need one to implement it. This is one of the things that made the workshop easy to implement.
On the other hand, many organisations are not having the appropriate job descriptions, and they would rather invest their money in something that brings them a quicker and short-run outcome.
HR professionals from B-Tech, Orascom, one of the major national Egyptian banks, The Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, and the Egyptian NGO Misr El Khier Foundation, have attended the workshop. Therefore, this workshop was purely an indication that many of the major Egyptian organisations are thinking smart, and thinking in long-terms.
Some organisations had sent several HR employees to attend the workshop (up to four). As Mohamed ELMeligy – Site HR Manager in Orascom explains, “Some organisations are just huge, and it will be a mistake to send only one person to attend the workshop and try to solely implement these concepts. It’s better to send a team so that they can always work together with more efficient results.”
Meligy goes on, “In HR, workshops help us learn something that might be slightly different from our direct field and knowledge that we will not learn through our routine, that it enriches our career. I’ve attended with JOBMASTER several workshops before. When I apply to one of their workshops I don’t feel any risk. I think they are very selective when it comes to designing a workshop or choosing an instructor, they know what they are doing.”
Some of the attendees have already attended a similar workshop before, and they have their own reasons to attend it again with Robert, “I took a similar workshop before but having it with Robert showed me how to implement rather than only focusing on the theoretical part. Many people can transfer the know-how but transferring the application is a totally different talent. My mission will be making sure that the organisation chart would match the modified grades and job descriptions, and with a more accurate system we will be providing fairness and satisfaction to our employees.” OD Manager – Bank.
The Deputy General Manager of HR in the bank had an addition, it was her first time to attend such a workshop, “I think what makes the instructor great is his will to not only transfer his knowledge but his experience as well. He goes into full details and he teaches us how to avoid falling into common mistakes, how to audit your work, and what are the short-cuts to end-results. In the bank we have been working on several developments and we achieved a lot of effective results, however this workshop will make our bank more distinguished, not only for our customers but for our employees as well. We will be well-branded among the employment market and people will want to work with us.”
There were 2 coffee breaks and a lunch break for the delegates. This gave them time to refresh their minds and explore the area around. “Positivity” is one of the rooms in JOBMASTER’s office. They have all kinds of rooms: happiness, innovation, intelligence, confidence…etc. They don’t have rooms like “punishment” though.
In the “Innovation” room the delegates spent their breaks enjoying delighted healthy food and fresh juices as they all brainstormed together and shared case studies while giving consultations to each other, while lunch time they were taken to the roof where they had longer conversations of this sort and further bonding with the instructor. The breaks were set in times that cope with the prayers times, and here came the role of the “Happiness” room.
One of the side talks in a break was very interesting, it was about how most HR professionals know what a job description is, yet they are they all attending this workshop? One of the attendees was saying, “As someone who has been practicing and working in the field of HR for a while I know what are the components of a job description, but in this workshop we were given the best practice and the most updated steps to write a professional one. As for the job evaluation, it was a complete new addition to me. Robert knows how to give too much information in a very easy way.” HR Senior, Bank.
There are different job evaluation systems worldwide yet when companies try to analyse the market they find difficulties in using the scales for acute comparison. Emad Elhami, HR Team Leader at Orascom, elaborates, “When it comes to grading and job evaluation we will now know how to communicate with international organisations as we have learnt how to speak their “language” thus we will easily benchmark ourselves with the international market. We can also use it in succession planning and guarantee a better career path to our employees.”
According to Gamal Moustafa, Compensation Manager at Misr El Kheir Foundation, there is a false stereotype in Egypt that NGOs do not guarantee a stable and promising career path same as profitable organisations does. He explains further, “Through implementing this workshop we will be able to further empower our system and grant our employees a clear career path that will be stronger than any stereotype. I also think that the clearer the job descriptions are, the higher the performance rate of each employee. The most powerful thing about Robert is that he always has a solution for everything. His experience is so vast. He travelled around the world and worked here and there knowing how multinationals and how local companies function. Therefore he knows very well how to give a non-academic practical solution to any of the questions asked to him.”
But what other reasons that make job descriptions and job evaluations so important? Apparently they help the employee become his or her own boss. Robert Mosley enriches us with details stating that job descriptions are important “to motivate the employees, to say to the employees this is what you are expected to do, these are your goals, this is what we require – so that you empower your employees to self-manage themselves to know if they are on target, and to self-motivate themselves towards achieving what required of them.”
Many Egyptians do not know how to progress their careers in HR and what to read. Mahmoud Mansi, a Senior HR Specialist in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, shares his opinion too, “As an HRian who has been studying and working in the field for more than 7 years, I was overwhelmed by the content of the material and the intelligence of the instructor. I found out that having a Master’s Degree, a Ph.D. Degree, or an HR Diploma is something totally different than having a specific workshop that is conducted by a widely experience consultant. Theory makes a solid background and understanding but practicing and workshops will make a turning point in your organisation and in your personal career. No matter what kind of leader you are at your work or life, it feels outstanding being a student.”
Robert Mosley who was Exclusively in Egypt with JOBMASTER conducted his second workshop on Compensation and Reward Management (16th to 19th January 2016).
Robert is returning back to give his third workshop on the 27th until the 30th of November, called Performance Management & Performance Appraisal, and there is a discount rate for the members of Global HR Forum.
To register for attending any of the workshops please visit:
http://www.jobmastergroup.com/contact/
Robert Mosley is a global remuneration expert, an HR consultant and he is the CEO of Lemon Pip Consulting Limited, UK. He has nearly 30 years of experience in HR and C&B. He did HR consulting work in over 20 countries. Robert spends most of his time working in and around the Middle-East and Asia, and now he revisits Egypt through JOBMASTER to offer this vital workshop to the Egyptian business environment, giving a chance to entrepreneurs, business-people, and HR professionals to celebrate the beginning of a successful 2016 with risks measured, managed and well prepared for.
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