When it comes to corporate wellness, most people think of team-building games and sports as effective ways to encourage bonding and promote a healthy lifestyle. But there’s another activity catching on in the business world that ticks those all boxes – corporate choirs.
One UAE company joining the trend is the Dubai office of the engineering and design company Atkins.
Helen Robinson, the firm’s regional head of talent management, learning and development, launched weekly office singing sessions, led by voice coach Kim A Page, this year to help the staff feel “healthier and more energetic”.
“It’s about getting people together from different parts of the organisation,” Ms Robinson explains.
Ms Robinson admits that by the end of a hard day at work, Atkins staff aren’t always in the mood for communal singing. “They might be thinking: ‘I don’t really want to go to choir.’ But they get an email from me telling them to buck their ideas up and come along. Then they go home smiling.”
The Atkins choir member and travel administrator, Charmaine Bucud, from the Philippines, says the singing sessions give off “positive vibes”.
“It’s nice to make acquaintance with people from different nationalities and departments too,” she adds.
Other UAE companies embracing the trend include Emirates with EKlectic, which won the Best Corporate Choir accolade at Dubai’s ChoirFest Middle East 2016 in March. Other entrants to the annual contest this year included Deutsche Bank and Dubai Duty Free.
Ms Robinson, who is now planning a Christmas show for her 12-member singing group, says the corporate choir movement is also catching on in her native UK, thanks in part to the popularity of the TV choirmaster Gareth Malone's BBC series The Choir: Sing While You Work.
Companies such as Deloitte, The Telegraph newspaper, John Lewis and Citigroup all have their own choirs.
One of the first global companies to lead the way, however, was Zappos, the US online shoe and clothing company headquartered in Las Vegas. Its a cappella group, formed in 2011, has morphed into the current 20-person ZChoir.
Group singing fits in well with Zappos’ notorious happiness culture, as Ryan Zsun, the company’s culture maestro, explains. “Zchoir is a wonderful way to build camaraderie and engagement ... All these qualities resonate with our core values, especially core value No 7: build a positive team and family spirit.”
Q&A:
Michael McLean, a cabin supervisor with Emirates and a member of the company’s corporate choir EKlectic, tells Jessica Hill more about the singing group:
How long has the choir been running?
The choir was put together in February, two weeks before we won at ChoirFest Middle East 2016.
What jobs at Emirates do your members have?
All of our members are Emirates cabin crew. Some have been at the company for a year and others for seven or eight years. We’ve never been able to fly together but would love an impromptu performance on board for our customers.
Is it called EKlectic because you have an eclectic repertoire?
EKlectic represents our music style as well as our nationalities. We are 10 members from eight different countries and have very different performing backgrounds. When we put our styles together it creates something very special.
Where else has the choir performed?
The choir performed at the Emirates financial ball several months ago, which was another great night for us. We have not performed together for a while now, but are still very eager and looking forward to getting another gig soon.
Do you have any tactics for warming people up to public singing?
Nerves are good. Adrenalin is great for your voice, so embrace the nerves and the more you do it the more comfortable you become. And have fun. The more fun you have on stage the more your audience will have fun with you.
business@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
