The year 2020 has forced industries around the world into new ways of working – and into new ways of thinking. It’s safe to say the pandemic has well and truly turned the globe on its head.
Global companies and businesses, including in the Middle East, have had no choice but to embrace the change and find new ways of working with employees going remote, many aspects of work going online, Zoom meetings being at the forefront and flexible working hours being implemented.
Over the last few months in the UAE, people have slowly begun to return to offices upon the announcement workplaces were able to begin to welcome employees back to the workplace.
However, despite things going back to normal, business giant Careem, who has their headquarters based in Dubai, is making a groundbreaking female-led move by going remote-first – and its the first company in the Middle East to do so.
can exclusively reveal the innovative move is being spearheaded by the company’s Director of Talent, Learning and Performance and acting VP People at Careem, Ella Fordham.
So, what exactly does going remote-first mean? Effective immediately as of today, Careem’s 1,300 employees will be able to work from any location within the business’ employment market which spreads across 36 offices in 13 different markets. As part of the move, employees will be able to work from any worldwide location for up to a month.
Meanwhile, their offices will be redesigned into collaborative working spaces.
Speaking on the new move, Fordham tells , that her team has been using data they have collected and they have seen a significant shift in the way the company works.
“We have defined remote-first at Careem to mean that working remotely is now our default way of working for all new and existing colleagues,” she tells exclusively. “All colleague processes and experiences will be designed for remote presence and, most importantly, all of our colleagues will have the same work experience regardless of where they choose to work from.
“With this new strategy, we believe we are simplifying the lives of our colleagues, whilst also being able to benefit from the increased productivity and engagement that we have seen whilst working remotely to date.”
In our exclusive interview with Fordham we spoke to her about what made her want to spearhead the decision, what a milestone it is for such a groundbreaking move it is to be female-led and how Careem continues to empower female employees.
What made you want to spearhead this decision?
I feel very passionately that the world of work has changed, including the expectations of our colleagues about their working environment. We need to embrace this new reality as an organisation and accelerate the adoption of digital behaviours.
In terms of attracting new talent, and to be able to realise our Superapp ambitions, I believe this will give us the ability to overcome geographic limits that have traditionally hindered our recruitment of awesome people who are excited by our purpose.
From a personal perspective, I have always looked for companies that promote flexibility. I have a young child and both myself and my husband work. Having the ability to structure my working day to be able to build in time for nursery drop-offs and bath-time is very important to me. Careem has always operated with a degree of flexibility but remote-first will allow us all to manage personal and professional life more easily and strike the right balance.
It’s especially notable this groundbreaking move is female-led which is definitely a win for this region and beyond. How do you feel about this?
This initiative is down to a team effort. The People Team at Careem is exceptionally strong and they champion many initiatives that benefit the business and our colleagues. For all People Teams across the globe, this pandemic has meant leading the business through uncharted waters.
The first step we took was to use data to help us make an informed decision. We measure the engagement levels of our colleagues on a monthly basis and ask a range of questions on a variety of topics. On average, 88% of our colleagues participate. We also ran weekly focus groups on working remotely. Bringing this data together, along with business performance metrics, allowed us to develop insights into what our colleagues were telling us and the business impact.
I stepped up into this role to cover my manager’s (VP) maternity leave in May 2020, and having the opportunity to drive this topic and create a profound change to the way we operate was an exceptional opportunity for which I am very grateful for.
Building relationships whilst being remote did, at first, feel odd. However, I honestly do not feel that I have been hindered by it. Time in meetings becomes more focused and one-to-one catch-ups have fewer distractions. I have super strong relationships with people I have never met face to face, which is not something I thought I would have said this time last year!
Leading a team in a remote setting requires a slightly different leadership style and what we have learnt as a company is that it is very important to set a team charter or an agreed way of working. A team charter is a set of principles/rules of the game that the team live by. It should be produced by the team, owned by the team, and be visible to all those who work with them.
It’s also an incredible move to make especially since you only joined the company in February – just before a pandemic! – what’s that been like?
I had not been in the region long before I started at Careem and then Covid-19 hit. I quickly had to adapt to a new country and a new role whilst also being under lockdown.
It was not easy but what helped me settle into life at Careem was a solid onboarding plan. Ensuring our onboarding plan is right in a remote setting will be a big focus of ours going forward.
2020 has been an interesting and challenging year for all of us but I feel very fortunate to have joined Careem, whose mission is to simplify and improve the lives of people across our region. That really resonates with me.
What is the plan for office spaces?
Our offices will remain open as we still believe that face to face interactions are very important. We will look to reconfigure the offices to facilitate collaboration and team building. They will be compelling spaces that will allow our colleagues to innovate from.
How has the work culture in Careem changed throughout the pandemic? It’s been a major shift for a lot of companies…
Our purpose, values and our shared vision is core to our culture, and that has not changed in a remote setting. From our monthly surveys, we have actually seen an increase in overall engagement of our colleagues and this in part is down to us recommending to adopt common ways of working. Remote working requires being intentional about adopting remote-first practices, even if some interactions occur in a shared physical space. It also required us to be more thoughtful about social interactions. We have already seen this come to life through virtual coffee breaks, games nights, and remote lunches.
During Covid-19, we have opened offices when we could to provide space for people to collaborate and socialize. Going forwards, and in a post-COVID-19 world, teams are recommended to come to the office at least one day a week to have face-to-face interactions for these reasons. We have set key performance metrics related to our organisational health and culture and we will continuously monitor them and make improvements as we go.
In the new working model, is there a certain number of days that must be worked from office/home, etc?
Remote-first at Careem means that working remotely is now our default for all colleagues (both new and existing). All colleague processes and experiences will be designed for remote presence. Everyone will have the same work experience regardless of where they are and choose to work from.
We have agreed on a set of 5 working principles which we will all abide by:
- Own Zoom: Dial-in through an individual Zoom tile whether at home or in the office. Cameras on for most of the time
- Meetings zone: No meetings scheduled before 8am and after 8pm (local time) to allow time to disconnect
- Meetings excellence: Set clear objectives, send pre-read materials 24 hours in advance, check-in with everyone before starting, and document meeting outcomes
- Virtual social: Make time for remote lunches, game nights and coffee breaks to have fun together regardless of location
- Office days: Spend some time, one day in the week, in the office to meet your team and socialize with other colleagues
How do you think this will change the working environment for Careem?
Our offices will remain open to provide comfortable spaces for our colleagues to be able to collaborate and socialise. They are also there for people who prefer working from the office.
How do you hope to continue to empower female employees in Careem?
There are some unique challenges women face, such as returning to work after maternity leave. By working in a remote-first way, two of my team members have been able to return to work on their terms in a way that fits the commitments they have after becoming mothers. I believe that operating in this way has empowered these individuals to make a choice rather than a sacrifice and, in return, it has helped us retain talent that we might not have been able to in other circumstances.
What we have seen and what our colleagues have been telling us is that by sharing the same virtual space we have levelled the playing field for our colleagues. All of our processes, including promotions, are now geared towards being delivered remotely because of the wide geography we operate in.
Right now we are doing more internal communications events, such as Ask Me Anything, and are actively championing senior women to share about their reality at Careem and beyond. I think by lifting each other up we can continue to build on developing the next level of senior women for the region.
What has the feedback from employees been about the new initiative?
Over the last six months, we have learnt a lot about ourselves. Colleague feedback has shown us that 90 per cent feel they are able to be more productive and effective at home and almost all of our colleagues have expressed a desire for more flexibility, with around 60 per cent telling us they would prefer a 2-3 day split between home and the office. Colleagues want to use office time for collaboration and socialising.
Our internal metrics show that overall engagement has gone up during this time and key topics in our survey, such as autonomy accomplishment, manager support, and peer relationships have actually increased whilst being remote.
For our colleagues, remote-first delivers real savings on daily commute times and gives people significant flexibility in how they manage their life. Careem’s culture is one of ownership and trust and this is also reflected in our unlimited vacation policy, which was announced in October 2018.
