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Fikrah HR

Pay As You Go HR, from small projects to data technology transformations, I can support you through it all.

Demystifying HR in the UAE

Working with you to implement HR Basics and infrastructure to enable your business to grow. I offer a hands on, real world, human resources support function with Pay As You Go HR, from small projects to data technology transformations, I can support you through it all. Managing Talent & Culture, Working with you on implementing HR Policy, Processes & Procedures meeting

the new UAE Labour Law requirements, Performance management, employee onboarding, , HR management training and support for disciplinary procedures, recruitment skills & Labour Law application in business. I offer HR Support, Guidance and advice for individuals and businesses. I am the founder of Fikrah HR, a UAE-based HR consultancy. With over 20 years of experience in operational Human Resources, I was named one of the top 101 global HR minds in the hotel industry at the World HR Congress in 2019 and 2020. I have and continue to advise a number of local and international organisations, such as Hope AMC, Maximus Gulf, Landmark Hospitality, First Group, Accor Group, Wyndham Hotel Group. I specialise in overseeing the full employee life-cycle, including recruitment, defining job descriptions, onboarding, policies and procedures, performance management and employee engagement. For more information:

http://www.fikrahhr.com,

[email protected]

DM or call on +971 (0) 552899973

04/06/2026

Pressure in the workplace doesn’t always show up loudly; many times it shows up in small shifts like indecisiveness, increased errors, etc.

People start holding back, second-guessing, and avoiding risks.

If you pay attention early, you can correct it; if you miss it, it turns into performance issues.

What shows up first in your experience when workplace pressure increases? Vote in the poll. I am curious to see the pattern.

Poll Question:

What shows up first when pressure increases in the workplace?

->Slow decision-making
->More errors
->Silence in teams
->Other (Share in comments)

03/06/2026

Layoffs are becoming more common globally, and the way organisations handle them defines workplace culture more than any employer branding campaigns.

I couldn’t stop thinking about this point from a recent HRMorning article, which said, “Layoffs don’t only impact the people leaving, they deeply impact the people staying too.”

And this is where many businesses underestimate the long-term damage. After layoffs, organisations often focus heavily on operational recovery:

=> Cost reduction

=> Team restructuring

=> Redistribution of work

=> Productivity pressure

But they forget the emotional aftermath inside the workplace. What remains afterwards is often the fear, distrust, survivor’s guilt, emotional exhaustion, lower engagement, and uncertainty around leadership decisions.

Employees quietly start asking themselves:

“Am I safe here?”

“Can leadership be trusted?”

“Am I next?”

And once psychological safety weakens, culture starts weakening too. One of the strongest recommendations in the article was around transparency, communication, transition support, and checking in with remaining employees after layoffs.

That matters enormously!

Because layoffs handled without empathy create long-term cultural damage that strategy alone cannot repair.

Businesses sometimes believe layoffs are purely financial decisions.

But they are also trust decisions.

Leadership decisions.

Culture decisions.

And employees remember how organisations made them feel during uncertainty long after the restructuring ends.

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I'm Sarah Brooks, and I help small businesses create workplaces where people thrive, and compliance isn't an afterthought. From crafting HR strategies to updating contracts, implementing policies, and building a culture of success, I make sure your people practices support your business goals.

If you want to avoid costly HR mistakes and set your business up for long-term success, let's talk.

03/06/2026

Most organisations think wellbeing requires a bigger budget.

Sometimes it just requires paying attention.

Improving employee wellbeing could be as easy as doing some very simple things:
• Cleaning and maintaining staff accommodation
• Reviewing transport schedules and travel times
• Improving the food options already being provided

None of these initiatives are revolutionary.

But they have a significant impact because they addressed the things employees experience every single day.

Too often, organisations look for the next big wellbeing initiative while overlooking the basics.

Before introducing a new wellbeing programme, ask yourself:

- What friction points are employees already experiencing?
- What frustrations have become "normal"?
- What everyday issues are quietly affecting wellbeing, morale, and productivity?

Sometimes the greatest wellbeing improvements come from fixing the things people have stopped complaining about.

02/06/2026

AI, ESG, and workforce complexity are no longer separate conversations for HR leaders. They are colliding at the same time.

AI is changing workflows, ESG is reshaping business expectations, and workforce complexity is increasing faster than many leadership teams are prepared for.

The mistake many organisations make is treating these as purely operational challenges, when they are also deeply human ones.

Employees today are asking:

=> Will AI replace my role?

=> Does leadership communicate transparently?

=> Is this workplace psychologically safe?

=> Are managers equipped to lead through uncertainty?

=> Does this company genuinely care about employee wellbeing?

This is why HR’s role is becoming far more strategic.

The future of HR is not just about policies, hiring, or compliance; it is about helping businesses balance tech with humanity, performance with well-being, flexibility with accountability, and growth with a sustainable culture.

Some practical shifts HR leaders should focus on now:

=> Start small with AI integration instead of overwhelming teams with large transformation projects.

=> Train managers on emotional intelligence, change communication, and coaching, not just operations.

=> Audit ESG side of workplace culture, especially psychological safety, workload sustainability, and leadership trust.

=> Simplify priorities instead of chasing every trend at once.

Your business doesn’t need the most advanced systems to thrive; it needs a system where teams can adapt, trust leadership, and grow through change together.

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I'm Sarah Brooks, and I help small businesses create workplaces where people thrive, and compliance isn't an afterthought. From crafting HR strategies to updating contracts, implementing policies, and building a culture of success, I make sure your people practices support your business goals.

If you want to avoid costly HR mistakes and set your business up for long-term success, let's talk.

02/06/2026

It’s been a while, so a re-introduction is in order 👋

I’m Sarah, founder of Fikrah HR and an HR consultant based here in the UAE. I partner with businesses to design practical, people-first HR that actually supports growth – not just policies on paper.

Over the last few years I’ve been helping business owners with HR projects, audits, start-up frameworks, and day-to-day HR support, so they can focus on running the business while I handle the people stuff.

If you’re a business owner or leader in the UAE and you’re:
- Scaling and need HR structure
- Dealing with tricky people issues
- Or just not sure where to start with HR

…you’re in the right place.

Going forward, you’ll see more content here about HR in the UAE, real-life people challenges, and simple tools you can use in your business right away.

If we haven’t connected properly yet, say hi in the comments and tell me a bit about your business – I’d love to get to know you. 🤍

01/06/2026

One of the biggest workplace risks today is that skills are evolving faster than most training models can keep up. And many organisations still treat learning as an occasional HR initiative instead of an operational necessity.

The IT Talent Trends 2025 report highlights that IT workers’ core responsibilities are now shifting roughly every 18 months.

Let’s think about that for a moment.

By the time some training programs are designed, approved, and rolled out, parts of the skill requirements may already be outdated.

This is no longer just a learning problem; it is becoming a business adaptability problem.

Organisations today are operating in environments shaped by AI acceleration and rapid technology shifts. Constant workflow changes and evolving customer expectations are the new normal.

Employees need to understand the new communication dynamics faster, but many learning systems still operate slowly, separately, and reactively.

They are often expected to adapt rapidly, without being given structured time, systems, leadership support, or embedded learning opportunities to actually evolve with the work itself.

This makes us rethink the future of learning. Now, learning needs to be continuous instead of episodic, and embedded instead of isolated.

Moreover, skills-based training should be prioritised over role-based learning.

Organisations that understand this early will have a major advantage, because the future of a business depends on a workforce capable of continuously learning, adapting, and applying new skills fast enough to move with change.

In the modern workplace, learning is no longer just employee development.

It is business survival.

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I'm Sarah Brooks, and I help small businesses create workplaces where people thrive, and compliance isn't an afterthought. From crafting HR strategies to updating contracts, implementing policies, and building a culture of success, I make sure your people practices support your business goals.

If you want to avoid costly HR mistakes and set your business up for long-term success, let's talk.

28/05/2026

Employee disengagement rarely happens overnight. Most employees do not suddenly wake up disconnected from their work.

It usually happens gradually, through repeated experiences that make people feel unseen, unheard, unsupported, or emotionally exhausted.

And the dangerous part is that disengagement often becomes visible only after motivation, trust, and emotional connection have already started fading.

Employees may still attend meetings, complete tasks, and hit deadlines, but emotionally, they begin checking out long before organisations realise it.
Curious to hear your perspective:

What makes employees emotionally disconnect from work fastest?

Poll Question:

What makes employees emotionally disconnect from work fastest?

->Feeling unheard
->Lack of purpose
->Constant pressure
->Other (Share in comments)

28/05/2026

🎙️ Episode 19 of The HR & CQ Show is now live!

Recorded live at our The HR & CQ Show Summit 2026 with R Stotter-Brooks MBA Chartered FCIPD Fellow FIoL.

We explored what truly creates The Human Advantage in today’s workplace.
And a few things stood out immediately:

👉 People are not “just” anything
they are the experience your customers remember

👉 “Soft skills” are not soft
they are the power skills that protect your future

👉 Performance doesn’t come from control
it comes from listening, trust, and psychological safety

👉 And trust?
It should be given from day one

In a world where AI is accelerating and organisations are focused on systems, process, and efficiency…

This was a reminder of something much simpler:
It’s people that drive performance.

And in regions like the UAE, where we’re leading across cultures every single day, that human element becomes even more critical.

If you’re leading teams, working in HR, or thinking about the future of leadership…

This is a conversation worth listening to.

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hr-cq-show/id1765356598

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7G4TpUfJftdH1udN5rg4qL?si=c195cff23fd9405d

27/05/2026

Only 20% of employees globally are engaged at work, and it is alarming.

This means 80% of employees worldwide are physically present but mentally absent.

They are doing the work, but disconnected from the purpose behind it, showing up every day without energy, ownership, or emotional investment.

These people are working because they have to, not because they feel motivated, valued, or inspired.

And according to Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, manager engagement itself has dropped significantly, too.

This is no longer just an HR problem. It’s a leadership and business sustainability problem.

Because disengagement doesn’t stay invisible for long.

It shows up as low ownership, quiet quitting, resistance to change, burnout, poor collaboration, and high turnover.

The report also suggests that employees whose managers actively support AI adoption are 8.7x more likely to say AI has positively transformed their work.

This reinforces something many businesses still underestimate: technology alone does not transform workplaces; leadership does.

The same tool can create fear in one company, and innovation in another.

The difference is usually how leaders communicate, guide, support, and build trust during change.

Another interesting shift is that remote-capable workers are reportedly losing optimism faster than fully onsite workers.

Which tells us that flexibility alone is not culture. People still need connection, clarity, recognition, purpose and human leadership.

The future of work conversation cannot only revolve around systems, AI, and productivity.

It also needs to focus on emotional well-being, leadership capability, workplace trust, and sustainable performance.

Because businesses don’t grow through strategy decks alone. They grow through people who still care enough to bring their best energy into the work they do every day.

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I'm Sarah Brooks, and I help small businesses create workplaces where people thrive, and compliance isn't an afterthought. From crafting HR strategies to updating contracts, implementing policies, and building a culture of success, I make sure your people practices support your business goals.

If you want to avoid costly HR mistakes and set your business up for long-term success, let's talk.

26/05/2026

One of the most expensive mistakes businesses make is promoting high performers into management before they are ready to lead people.

Being excellent at ex*****on does not automatically translate into leadership capability, and yet, this happens every day.

Someone performs well individually, i.e hits targets, works hard, and delivers results.

Now this person gets promoted to manage humans without training, coaching skills, and emotional intelligence development. He/She doesn’t have the tools and resources to understand conflict management, feedback delivery, or team dynamics.

And then businesses wonder why the team morale is dropping, or good employees are leaving.

The impact goes far beyond the visibly disengaged employees and good talent leaving. Increased burnout and disappearing trust erode the culture.

Having worked with various businesses over the past 20 years, I can confidently tell you that a poorly prepared manager can damage employee experience more than outdated systems ever could.

People don’t experience workplace culture through company values written on walls.

They experience it through:

=> Conversations with managers

=> Feedback during difficult moments

=> How mistakes are handled

=> Whether they feel psychologically safe

=> Whether leadership creates growth or fear

The problem is not promoting people; it is promoting them without preparing them for leadership.

Management is not just a title upgrade; it is a complete shift in responsibility. From managing tasks to managing humans, emotions, performance, motivation, conflict, communication, and trust.

The businesses that thrive long term are not necessarily the ones with the most advanced tech and innovation. They are the ones who invest in building capable leaders before handing them authority over people.

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I'm Sarah Brooks, and I help small businesses create workplaces where people thrive, and compliance isn't an afterthought. From crafting HR strategies to updating contracts, implementing policies, and building a culture of success, I make sure your people practices support your business goals.

If you want to avoid costly HR mistakes and set your business up for long-term success, let's talk.

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+971552899973

Website

http://www.fikrahhr.com/

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