Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has celebrated the International Day of Happiness with of HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA, Executive Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, and a large number of staff and customers. Al Tayer inaugurated the celebrations at the Happiness Garden at DEWA’s main office. The garden features different activities and events that promote the happiness of customers and employees. These include the Happiness Reading Corner, the Happiness Café, the Happiness Lounge Seating, and the Happiness Station. Gifts and roses were given to customers and staff. These was also a raffle draw where winners received valuable prizes. Those who entered the draw were the customers who paid their bills using DEWA’s website or smart app in 2015.
Al Tayer started the celebrations by signing the Happiness Pledge to ‘create more happiness in the environment around me.’ He noted that positivity, optimism, and ambition are key pillars for achieving individuals’ happiness and they should a part of everyone’s lives. This spreads joy and smiles among our families, colleagues, and friends. This contributes to promoting happiness in society as a whole and further driving the UAE into new levels of, development, growth, and prosperity.
“At DEWA, we take priority in achieving the happiness of all stakeholders, including customers, partners, staff, and society in general. This is done to support the directives of our wise government, and our efforts to achieve the Dubai Plan 2021 for Dubai to be a city of happy, creative, and empowered people and DEWA’s vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai observed that, “The government's policies, programmes, and services should contribute towards building a positive and happy community.” His Highness emphasised that the government's main task is to ensure that conditions are conducive to delivering happiness to individuals, families and employees and promoting positivity as a core value in the local community,” he said.
Al Tayer added that DEWA has taken practical steps to make society happier and adopted a strategic objective in its 2021 strategy that focuses on the happiness of stakeholders and providing a happy work environment. DEWA was the first government organisation to implement the Happiness Meter, in support of the Happiness Meter initiative, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It provides tools that enable customers to decide how happy they are with the services provided, right after receiving them, and record them on smart devices at the counters. These devices are connected to special digital screens where senior management and the relative departments at DEWA monitor customers’ happiness and take immediate improvement procedures. The Happiness Meter results support DEWA’s vision and the aspirations of its management and staff. The overall happiness meter, as per Dubai Smart Government Establishment’s formula, achieved excellent results, with 98% registered in February 2016.
He also noted that DEWA has changed the name of its Customer Relations division to the Customer Happiness division and changed the name of its Customer Relations department to Customer Happiness department. The names of DEWA’s Customer Service Centres have been changed to Happiness Centres. DEWA has also renamed the Employee Relations department to Employee Happiness department to enhance communication with staff through specific and effective channels, measure their satisfaction in different areas, and implement improvement initiatives based on the results. DEWA has also established the Happiness Majlis at its main office to provide an innovative work environment. It is equipped with all manner of comforts and amenities that promote optimism and positive energy, which are key elements for achievement and success. DEWA also launched the Al Saada (Arabic for ‘happiness’) initiative, to build smart fitness parks that turn people’s kinetic energy into electricity, using specially-designed equipment. Al Saada combines the concepts of sports and sustainability, both of which are important elements for achieving happiness.
“On the International Day of Happiness, we reiterate our commitment to achieving happiness for all, guided by our wise leadership who put people’s happiness as their priority. This is achieved according to well thought-out plans, strategies, and initiatives. This resulted in the UAE ranking first in the Arab World according to the World Happiness Report 2016, issued by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the Earth Institute at Columbia University. The UAE is ahead of countries such as France, Spain, and Japan. The UAE has ranked first in the world in public trust in government and business and government's ability to promote innovation, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. For the fourth year in a row, the UAE has been named as the country in which most young Arabs would like to live, as well as the country they would most like their own nation to emulate,” concluded Al Tayer.
“At DEWA, we do our best to provide excellent services that exceed customers’ expectations and make them happier. This supports the Customer Happiness Charter through which, we are committed to providing the best services to our customers through a helpful and knowledgeable team that is understanding and capable of answering their queries. We look at the satisfaction and happiness of our customers as the parameters to gauge performance and continuous advancement at DEWA,” said Abdullah Al Hajri, Executive Vice President of Customer Happiness at DEWA.
“At DEWA, we work to promote positive energy among our staff by providing a happy and positive work environment that motivates creativity and innovation, and improves work in general. By observing the Day of Happiness, we underline DEWA’s mission to commit to the happiness of our stakeholders including our staff” said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support & Human Resources at DEWA.
DEWA has launched several initiatives to bring happiness to all stakeholders, including customers and staff. For example, DEWA has 3 care centres for the children of female staff that can accommodate a total of 167 children. Recently, DEWA launched an initiative that allows female staff who are married to soldiers on National Service, to leave half an hour earlier. These efforts support DEWA’s strategy to provide a positive working environment that provides social and psychological care for mothers in their presence near their children. This in turn, is reflected positively in the performance of employees.
The International Day of Happiness, which takes place on 20 March each year, was adopted by the United Nations in recognition of the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world. The UN’s resolution states that, “The pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal.”
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