Rules of engagement always pay dividends

The Life: Dream Samir, with the pharmaceutical company Merck Serono, talks about how he keeps his workforce properly trained and engaged with their jobs.

Dream Samir believes training is key. Mike Young / The National

Dream Samir oversees the Middle Eastern operations for the global pharmaceutical firm, Merck Serono. Here the managing director reveals one of his toughest responsibilities: ensuring his workforce in the region is properly trained and engaged with their jobs.

Merck Serono was named one of the top 10 companies to work for in the UAE earlier this year. How do you keep your employees happy?

We believe that an engaged and happy workforce is a key for success. That's why we don't spare any investment in empowering people and engaging them because we're sure this will have consequences and the company is, at the end of the day, the people who work for it. Keeping them happy is done by empowering them, training them, making them part of the decision-making process and giving them credit for their successes.

Your employees hail from all over the world. Is it challenging managing such a diverse workforce?

I would say the diversity brings another way of looking at things. But I have seen organisations that are struggling with diversity. But each country has different professional standards.

How do you make sure all those employees meet Merck Sorono's benchmarks?

We have an excellent training programme. The number of training hours per year is double to triple the standard of the industry. We have tailored training programmes for different aspects, some for technical, some for behavioural and some for cultural aspects.

How do employees get matched with the right training programme?

Everyone has different ways to be assigned to training. Either they choose it, or his manager can nominate him for one or more of the training programmes. Based on his yearly performance he may be assigned something else, so it's a combination of factors that assign a person into three, four, five or seven training sessions a year. All of this is being done according to the Merck Serono culture, and everyone blends into this.

How do you keep a handle on employees in 12 different countries?

We have very talented teams that take care of different parts of the region and they report to me. The ability to have high-performance teams is a key to success. Having engaged teams that are talented and willing to go the extra mile, willing to put in the effort to take care of the region is key. Motivated, capable teams can do wonders.

Is being a leading pharmaceutical firm in the UAE different from elsewhere in the world?

The Middle East is one of the fastest-growing regions, so we are under the spotlight generally. There's a very big interest in our region and from the ministries of health. If you take the example of the Ministry of Health of the Emirates, they have a great vision of becoming leaders as well. They want to have the best healthcare service, and that's why they provide the maximum support that they can to pharmaceutical companies.