19

Our People

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Major Milestones

Respondents of the Employee Engagement Survey
0

Relaunched the annual group-wide employee engagement survey reaching a total of 5,018 respondents with an 86% response rate. Based on the results and feedback received, Zain will develop a set of initiatives to be implemented during 2023.

Generation
Z program
Z 0

The company continued developing its annual Generation Z program, geared towards enhancing the skills of fresh graduates. Rebranded as ZTwentyTwo, the program looks to cultivate internal entrepreneurs and innovators who already possess an entrepreneurial mindset to support Zain’s strategy.

Zain employees trained in sign language
0

Exceeded its target for sign language training by training 318 sale agents and employees across its footprint.

Operating in markets with young populations without the right skill sets poses challenges for the company as shifts in mindset and expectations are adding further pressure on talent acquisition. Shifts in priorities include greater emphasis in remuneration over career growth as well as seeking jobs that offer flexible working culture. To address the new changes in mindset, the company is exploring flexible contract-based employment and temporary remote employment allowing for Zain to be more agile in its talent acquisition practices.

Pre-pandemic skills used to rotate among the MNOs as the available opportunities were limited to the sector. However, the acceleration digital transformation has expanded employment opportunities to include other sectors such as banks, government institutions and private enterprises as well. This wider competitive landscape is putting further pressure on Zain. To address this, the company is focusing on the new generation of digital savvy well educated graduates to tap into this talent pool.

Employee Breakdown

In 2022 Zain’s workforce was stable and no significant changes were observed throughout the year. To proactively support Zain’s digital transformation journey, the company placed greater efforts in hiring women in STEM fields to embed digitally savvy talent. Bahrain, Sudan and South Sudan experienced some growth in the employee headcount, needed to respond to market demands and strategic direction.

BAHRAIN IRAQ JORDAN KUWAIT SAUDI ARABIA SUDAN SOUTH SUDAN Total Average

FuIl-Time Employees
194
1,174
1,335
1,742
1,743
780
122
7,090*

Part-Time and Temporary Employees
171
1,549
388
1
1,029
3,138

Employees (All Contract Types)
365
2,723
1,723
1,742
1,743
1,809
122
10,227

Full-Time Male Employees
143
845
937
1,461
1,406
429
101
5,322

Full-Time Female Employees
51
329
398
281
337
351
21
1,768

% Of Full-Time Male Employees
74%
72%
70%
84%
81%
55%
83%
74%

% Of Full-Time Female Employees
26%
28%
30%
16%
19%
45%
17%
26%

New Hires – Male Employees
12
91
150
338
216
44
31
882

New Hires % – Males
6%
8%
11%
19%
12%
6%
25%
13%

New Hires – Female Employees
6
74
152
98
152
65
5
552

New Hires % – Females
3%
6%
11%
6%
9%
8%
4%
7%

Total New Hires
18
165
302
436
368
109
36
1,434

Total New Hires – %
9%
14%
23%
25%
21%
14%
30%
19%

Employee Turnover – Males
6
174
198
273
323
37
9
1,016

Employee Turnover – Males %
3%
15%
15%
16%
19%
5%
7%
11%

Employee Turnover – Females
5
95
114
68
84
34
1
401

Employee Turnover – Females %
3%
8%
9%
4%
5%
4%
1%
5%

Total Turnover
8
269
312
341
407
71
10
1,418

Return to Work Rate After Parental Leave – Females
67%
100%
100%
92%
100%
100%
100%
94%

Return to Work Rate After Parental Leave – Males
100%
100%
100%
95%
99%
100%
100%
99%

Retention Rate After Still Working for Zain One Year After Return From Parental Leave – Females
100%
67%
33%
74%
78%
81%
100%
76%

Retention Rate After Stilt Working For bin One Year After Return From Parental Leave – Males
100%
84%
38%
80%
90%
71%
89%
79%

* New Hire % – Females is calculated by dividing No. of New Hire Females with Total No. of Full Time Employees
* Employee Turnover % – Males is calculated by dividing Employee Turnover – Males with Total No. of Full Time Employees
* Employee Turnover % – Females is calculated by dividing Employee Turnover – Females with Total No. of Full Time Employees
* Return to work rate is defined as employees returning to work after their respective maternity or paternity leave
* Full-time employees do not include 319 employees under Zain’s subsidiaries
* New Hire % – Males is calculated by dividing No. of New Hire Males with Total No. of Full Time Employees

Employee Age Structure

* Includes only full time employees

Achieving results through Engagement

Employee Engagement Survey

Post-pandemic, Zain relaunched its annual employee engagement survey titled ‘I AM ZAIN’ to capture critical insights into employee wellbeing and employee outlook with respect to the company’s evolution. Maintaining motivation and inspiring our employees to give their best at all times is essential to transitionthe business and achieve the company’s objectives.

The theme for this year’s survey stems from Zain’s organizational brand values of ‘Radiance’, ‘Belonging’, and ‘Heart’. By combining these elements, Zain believes the survey aligns aspirations, inspires positive and sustainable change, and helps employees make better decisions.

Internal Innovation

As a component of Zain’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) agenda, the company’s internal innovation stream focuses on the following areas:

1

Established in 2017, the ZAINIAC platform aims to foster internal ideation and intrapreneurship for all Zain employees to support incubation and development of business ideas through sprints, exchange programs, speaker sessions, and competitions. In 2022, D&I launched the ZAINIAC Innovation Academy. The three-month leadership program is geared to senior leaders to spark creativity and innovation. During 2022, ZAINIAC’s progress materialized with:

  • 42 directors and senior managers committed to the program
  • Five teams consisting of eight members working on programs aligned to Zain’s 4Sight strategy
  • 90% satisfaction rate based on feedback survey

2

ZAINIAC sprints program established in 2020 with the goal of providing Zain employees access to the latest innovation tools, the art of customer testing, and unlocking new creative ideas. The themes covered:

  • Innovation, Infrastructure, Allyship, and Leadership, with a target to train 3,500 employees in 2022. In fact, a total of 3,692 employees ended up being trained during the course of the year. satisfaction rate based on feedback survey

Developing Our Talent

As part of Zain’s 4Sight digital transformation strategy, the company prioritizes the upskilling and reskilling of its employees to drive continuous learning and development. The company developed its ‘Workforce of the Future’ plan to diversify its talent and embed the required skills of the future. This plan focuses on training employees in the following areas:

Data Analytics
Data Literacy
Digital Enablement
Innovation and Creativity
Leadership
Digital Customer Experiences

The ‘Workforce of the Future’ plan was initiated in response to addressing the skill mismatch risk prominent in the company’s markets The region continues to face this challenge and is finding it difficult and costly to reskill the population and meet the anticipated demands of a green and digital future. Governments continue to place great importance on the need to reskill the local population through education reform and training.

Additionally, the pandemic highlighted the need for digital transformation across all sectors, increasing the demand for specialist skills in the area of digital products and services. According to Outsized, a platform for professional freelancers, independent consultants, skilled contractors and consulting firms, the fastest growing and prominent areas in the region include:

  • Payment and card skills due to the rise in e-wallets, payment gateways, and e-commerce
  • Digital transformation and market skills such as data science, data analytics, AI, and cyber security skills
  • Change management experts, including agile coaches, project, and business analysts

This context provides Zain the opportunity to accelerate the skills needed to execute the company’s strategy but to also address the needs of the communities it serves. In 2022, Zain leveraged online training platforms that focus on evolving technology-based skills. In countries such as Iraq and Sudan that exhibit higher than usual sociopolitical risk, it was a challenge to conduct in-person training sessions with external experts, therefore online courses were prevalent. However, some of the online training platforms used do not capture the data needed to record the hours of training, and as such, the pertaining data is not included in the below table. Zain continues to work on evolving the platforms used to be able to gather the necessary insights to better manage online training programs.

These online learning platforms have greater focus on workforce of the future skills, such as machine learning, digital marketing, working with big data, and overall elevating digital literacy across Zain’s footprint to enable this aspiration. Digital enablement development will build digital capacities within the workforce by bridging the gap between existing and future profiles and competency requirements.

Year-on-year average hours of training per employee

Training and Development

1. ZY

Established in 2018, Zain Youth (ZY) focuses on providing youth employees with the knowledge and resources to perform their best in the workplace. ZY launched multiple programs to enhance the younger people’s skillset, including Reverse Mentoring, Generation Z and CODE 7.

ZY Leadership

ZY Leadership is a year-long program that incorporates four main streams:

  • Achievement of personal objectives: Each ZY member outlined personal objectives by working towards establishing a carefully crafted development plan.
  • Achieved Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (Firo B) goals: Firo B assessment allows individuals to assess workplace interactions.
  • Created a ZY community: 19 members of the ZY Leadership program started a ZY Leader Community that aims to foster collaboration, team building, and cross-country teamwork.
  • Certification: ZY participants were awarded certifications on leadership skills, which helped enhance each member’s leadership style and role.

Generation Z

In 2022, Zain reconceptualized its CODE 7 program from the previous year to ZTwentyTwo (Z22) to align with the transformational aspects of the workplace. The progression of the program supports Zain’s 4Sight digital transformation strategy and the skills required to achieve the company’s goals and objectives. Through this program, Zain aims to build a strong capable team that contributes to the organization’s innovation-oriented business units.

Zainers 2.0, 2016

Focused on a rotation in different departments throughout Zain Group with a focus on conducting research of various digital verticals

Generation Z, 2017

Centered on establishing a business, gaining entrepreneurial skills and studying innovative trends in the market

Generation Z, 2018

The theme for this cycle was to enhance digital skills such as coding and agile project management in addition to a focus on self-growth and development

Generation Z, 2019

Enhancing corporate culture and teamwork when managing projects were the main focus of this edition

Generation Z, 2020

This cycle incorporated three themes: corporate culture, leadership styles and future trends

CODE 7

2021 Focused on developing digital skills for future data analysts, this cycle addressed topics that included big data, artificial intelligence and sustainable innovation

ZTwentyTwo

2022 Geared towards cultivating internal entrepreneurs, innovators, and new thinkers who already possess a mindset capable of supporting Zain’s strategic goals

2. Supporting Local Talent

Investing in local talent is crucial to stabilizing the workforce and aligning to governments’ labor national policies. Zain places great efforts in developing its local talents as it leads to societal benefits across Zain communities. The company is firmly committed to providing a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace, reaffirmed in Zain’s Code of Conduct, to provide a workplace free from discrimination of any type, including gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, disability, or age (according to the national labor law).

In 2022, the percentage of locals in senior management increased in most of our markets. The following tables demonstrate the year-on-year percentages of senior management (defined as the top two management levels) comprised by locals in each operation.

The table below represents the percentage of total local employees in each of our operating markets:

Percentage of Locals/Foreign Employees

Local Foreign
Bahrain
87%
13%
Iraq
97%
3%
Jordan
99.6%
0.4%
Kuwait
36%
64%
Saudi Arabia
84%
16%
Sudan
99.9%
0.1%
South Sudan
98%
2%

Supporting Local Human Capital:
Percentage of Locals in Senior Management

Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Culture

WE ABLE

Zain’s disability inclusion initiative, WE ABLE, launched in 2019 to embed disability inclusive practices in the company by 2025. The four main targets include:

  1. Increase the employment of people with disabilities across operations
  2. Ensure all training programs provided to employees are disability inclusive
  3. Ensure all Zain operating premises are disability inclusive
  4. Identify and implement assistive technologies that will enable employees with disabilities to perform independently

 

The below efforts were conducted throughout the year, aiming to achieve the targets set above:

  • Under WE ABLE, Zain continued to provide sale agents and employees with sign language training. The group wide target was to train 150 employees and the company exceeded the target, reaching 318 employees.
  • 34 awareness sessions were provided throughout the year, targeting people with disabilities Over 630 attendees participated. The awareness sessions covered topics such as:
    • Microsoft Digital Accessibility
    • Gobal Accessbility Awareness
    • Sign Language
    • Interviewing and Sales Skills
    • Technical Accessibility Session
    • Disability Etiquette
    • International Day of People with Disabilities
  • With respect to Global Entrepreneurship Week, Zain hosted a Group-wide virtual hackathon that aimed to create assistive technology solutions. The week-long event provided workshops that supported employees to develop a fully-fledged pitch, where the top five teams were given the opportunity to win a share of a KWD 2,250 prize pool.
  • In 2022, Zain has 73 employees with disabilities across its markets. The breakdown is as follows:

Total number of employees with disabilities
Zain Bahrain
4
Zain Iraq
18
Zain Jordan
17
Zain Kuwait
6
Zain Saudi Arabia
21
Zain Sudan
6
Zain South Sudan
1
TOTAL
73

Full-time employees with disabilities
Zain Bahrain
Zain Iraq
2
Zain Jordan
6
Zain Kuwait
6
Zain Saudi Arabia
21
Zain Sudan
6
Zain South Sudan
1
TOTAL
42

Part-time employees with disabilities
Zain Bahrain
4
Zain Iraq
16
Zain Jordan
11
Zain Kuwait
Zain Saudi Arabia
Zain Sudan
Zain South Sudan
TOTAL
31

BE WELL

Launched In 2021, BE WELL is one of the first programs to be offered by a private organization in the MENA region focused on mental health. The initiative seeks to cultivate a holistic approach to D&I by considering the well-being of Zain employees who may have been impacted by the pandemic or other issues.

Through the initiative, a wellness strategy was developed that included creating wellness zones, meditation, speaker sessions, creative mindfulness, policy change, and events. Activities conducted in 2022 included:

  • Expansion of established partnership with the Kuwait Counseling Center (KCC) with the aim of assisting and educating employees on de-stressing techniques, mindfulness, and ways to create a calmer, more productive working environment. To date, 178 employees reached out to KCC resulting in 539 sessions conducted.
  • 39 awareness sessions on mental health and well-being were provided to employees with over 1,000 attendees attending the sessions.
  • To ensure Zain remains inclusive, the company established a new partnership with Tuhoon, the first Arabic self-help application, which offers tools that help maintain mental health, increase productivity, reduce stress, and enhance and empower workplace well-being. Through this partnership, Zain employees receive free access to a variety of content provided via the application including meditation, sleep stories, masterclasses and relaxation tips, and deep focus music. To date, 693 Zain employees have registered for the application.
  • Launched BE WELL Champions, a three-month long competition that focused on raising awareness of mental wellness in the workplace. The role of the champions is to use their influence at work to inspire others to engage in healthier, more mindful behaviors. The winner of the competition received a week-long trip to a mindfulness retreat. 34 champions were appointed across Zain.

WE

The WE initiative aims to achieve a gender parity target of 25% female representation in leadership roles by 2025 across all Zain markets.

Three focus areas were established under this stream:

  • Women in STEM: Aims to increase the number of women working in STEM fields within the organization.
  • WE Disrupt: focuses on leave time for caregivers and addresses implicit bias.
  • Women in Leadership: Working to achieve the WE Leadership targets through middle management succession planning and promotions.

Number of promotions

Men
63%
Women
37%

Groupwide depiction of total promotions by gender in Q3

Number of Zainers in STEM

Men
81%
Women
19%

Groupwide depiction of total Zainers in STEM divisions by gender in Q3

Number of Zainers in Revenue Generating

Men
70%
Women
30%

Groupwide depiction of total Zainers in RG divisions by gender in Q3

Zain Headcount

Men
0%
Women
0%

Groupwide Leadership

Men Leaders
0%
Women Leaders
0%

Women Leadership Target by 2025

Women Leaders
0%

Gender Pay Gap

The company continues to measure remuneration ratios across its markers based on hierarchy levels. Zain places great emphasis on ensuring that it improves the gap by measuring the ratios on an annual basis.

Average Remuneration Ratio Females to Males by Employee Category

Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Saudi Arabia Sudan South Sudan
Level 1

Executive Management
71%
104%
NA
93%
68%
103%
NA
Level 2

Senior Management
81%
NA
50%
88%
77%
86%
NA
Level 3

Middle Management
88%
126%
85%
102%
91%
93%
69%
Level 4

Team Leaders
NA
91%
70%
91%
93%
95%
80%
Level 5

Professional
NA
81%
91%
NA
91%
NA
95%
Level 6

Team Members
101%
100%
102%
NA
80%
86%
NA