Culture & Education | Sunday 26 March, 2017 5:00 am |

As part of its mission and vision to oversee Sharjah’s happiness among all its citizens and government entities, Sharjah Department of eGovernment (DeG) has recently announced its final formation of the “Happiness Committee”, further reinforcing its commitment to develop its staff’s love for productivity and innovation, through happiness and overall satisfaction.

The “Happiness Committee” is one of DeG’s many pioneering solutions and efforts to achieving an ever-evolving organizational framework, as well as achieving a workforce supported with tools and an environment that stimulate creativity across all its departments. Through the Committee, DeG will deploy a team of happiness experts who are tasked on a focused happiness and positivity plan, and intergrate it with the organisation’s policies and servicing standards.

It will also introduce several tools to measure happiness levels of its employees and departments, as well as organise a series of workshops that highlight the corelation between innovation and happiness, and how they can both be achieved through working in a state of positivity and fulfilment.

“No organisation is immune, therefore we face our day to day challenges by ensuring that we actively invest in keeping our teams running smoothly, efficiently and happily, because they are the key to our success” said HE Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Qasimi, Director General at DeG suggesting that achieving complete happiness is the organisation’s end goal.

“Through the Happiness Committee, we will strongly communicate to all our employees that DeG takes their wellbeing and welfare at its outmost priority. We are certain that this decision will pay off not only through an increase in our quality of life and productivity, but it will also be a leading model for other Sharjah government entities to adopt and follow,” he added.

The UAE has been at the center of happiness efforts in the region after appointing a happiness minister and announcing a charter for happiness last year. As part of its Vision 2021, the country intends to make it into the top five of the Global Happiness Report. It was also mentioned as one of the happiest countries in the world in the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s World Happiness Report 2017. The recently published report ranked the UAE as the happiest country across the Arab region, and the 21st happiest in the world.

Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Qasimi explained: “Our strategy is in-line with the directions which Sharjah and the UAE has received over the years, allowing us to contribute to this exemplary countrywide movement of happiness. Moreover, since innovation and happiness go hand-hand, we felt it was our responsibility to ourselves, government entities and citizens across all of Sharjah, to implement a strategic approach that balances the material and non-material aspects of wellbeing, and improve qualities of both work and life.”

Established in 2009, DeG seeks to contribute to building a knowledge-based society through achieving excellence in digital and electronic transformation in the government sector, in addition to providing innovative electronic and digital services, employing highly skilled staff and utilising advanced operating procedures and technological systems that meet international standards.

DeG also seeks to support the growth of economic, social and cultural affairs in the emirate, which forms part of the comprehensive strategy to achieve sustainable development in the UAE. It works in collaboration with other government entities in the pursuit of transparency and corporate governance as benchmarks to elevate its functions through the use of modern programmes, notably, the ‘Information, Communication, Multimedia’ trilogy.