Mr. Khalifa Abu Jamhoor
Inline with the mutual cooperation and exchanging expertise among the different government departments, Dubai Customs received a delegation from Dubai Municipality to learn about the Department’s HR systems especially the employment procedures, the career performance assessment, planning manpower and the available training programs for the employees.
Mr. Khalifa Abu Jamhoor, HR Manager at Dubai Customs said that the visit comes as part of the HR Department’s keenness to exchange expertise with the different government departments and authorities through making mutual visits inline with the governmental directives towards reinforcing partnership and exchanging expertise among the government departments as well as the utmost implementation of the business practices.
Mr. Abu Jamhoor stated that the Department gives much attention to the Emirati human resources and attracting them to work in the different business domains. The nationalization rate amounted to 80% at the end of October 2010 of the total 3000 employees. It is also expected to reach 81% by the end of this year as opposed to the 78% in 2009. This rate is considered among the highest rates for the government departments in Dubai.
He also pointed out that the nationalization rate is currently 100% for the customs inspection cadre. This cadre carries out a very important national duty and constitutes the forefront in protecting the community from the dangers of smuggling narcotics and internationally illegal and prohibited items besides providing the necessary facilitations to accelerate trade and individuals movement inline with the compliance and facilitation policy.
Mrs. Amna Hmood Al Suwaidy, Senior Manager of Talent Management Section at the HR Department at Dubai Customs gave a detailed explanatory about the HR strategy at Dubai Customs as part of the general strategic vision that is stemmed from Dubai Government strategic plan. The vision of the HR strategy at Dubai Customs stands on “seeking to transform from managing human resources to managing human capital.” It also incorporates building and developing the national cadres among its objectives as well as fostering the culture of excellence and distinguished performance and developing HR systems and services.
Mrs. Al Suwaidy also introduced the Dubai Municipality delegation to the organizational structure of the HR Department which includes the Organizational Development Section, HR Support, Talent Management Section, Employee Relations Section and the Training and Development Section. She highlighted as well the responsibilities of the Talent Management Section which includes planning and specifying manpower, employment and nationalization, performance and behavioral skills assessment at the Assessment Center, career path and successive planning.
She also shed light on the Department’s employment methodology and the procedures of hiring inspectors starting from assessing the candidates and performing psychological and behavioral assessments based on the set standards including the communication ability, confronting challenges, teamwork, problem solving and other skills and educational levels.
At the end of the visit, the Dubai Municipality delegation expressed their satisfaction for the implemented HR systems at Dubai Customs. Mr. Mohammed Abdul Rahman Ahmad, Head of HR Employment Department said that the visit was very beneficial as both parties learnt about the HR systems and employment procedures at each. “the candidate assessment methodology psychologically and in terms of their behaviors and skills before they are hired is a very advanced methodology and is worth to be taken at the other government departments according to the nature of each one’s business.” He added.