Dubai Customs has introduced its Employee Assistance Program, TAWAZUN (balance), to improve staff welfare and happiness by offering them the necessary mental and psychological health care. The program comes amid the coronavirus pandemic to help alleviate the psychological and social impacts it has created for most employees due to lockdowns, social distancing and remote working circumstances.
Dubai Customs is the first government entity in Dubai to implement to a special program that cares for employees’ mental health by offering psychological assistance to help them cope with the coronavirus anxiety and stress. The program was kicked off online by Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs, in the presence of a host of senior executives and staff members.
The TAWAZUN program will be carried out in cooperation with LifeWorks, a mental health care firm specialized in offering psychological, emotional and social counselling support. Dubai Customs employees can reach out to the center to avail psychology, counselling and psychiatry support services. Free consultations and 30% discount on paid services are available for staff and their first-degree relatives.
Director General of Dubai Customs Ahmed Mahboob Musabih said: “Our employees’ welfare and happiness is a top priority for us, and ensuring their mental health through a dedicated program that provides psychological and counselling support is the main goal of the TAWAZUN initiative.”
“Under the current circumstances, it is crucial to look at staff’s mental and psychological needs and give them the necessary specialist assistance so they can regain their emotional balance and full readiness for work,” Musabih said.
“Dubai Customs decided to focus more on the psychological needs of its staff in light of the ongoing exceptional global situation marked by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Mohammed Al Ghaffari, Acting Executive Director of HR Division. “Hence the TAWAZUN program came to be. It particularly aims to help relieve the social and psychological effects of the pandemic on the organization’s workforce and their family members.”
Al Ghaffari added that Dubai Customs is committed to fostering physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing at work to sustain employee productivity and happiness.
Eman Taher, Manager, Corporate Culture, explained that the program focuses on promoting corporate awareness of the importance of employee mental and social health, enabling staff to find the right work-life balance while offering them the necessary mental and psychological assistance, and ensuring alignment between organizational and job objectives on the one hand and employee’s personal aspirations on the other.
She underlined that all consultations will be fully private and confidential between the employee and the center.