We are committed to supporting the region’s millennial and Gen Z population (16-40 years) through partnerships with universities, mentorships and traineeships. In 2022, more than 1020 of our people undertook 56 educational initiatives where they shared their knowledge and experience with students at career fairs, lectures and workshops, in partnership with leading educational and governmental institutions. Our Retail Internship Programme, providing an alternative route to quality employment, was our flagship initiative for 2022. We are also delighted to report that Chalhoub Retail Academy KSA was officially recognized as an accredited training center by the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC). These innovative partnerships and initiatives are empowering the youth population accounting for 78% of the workforce, and attracting the best young talent to our Group.

We foster the talent that the future prosperity of our Group depends on by attracting nationals from local communities, driving learning development and trainings, and supporting innovative mindsets. Highlights in 2022 included participation in Ru’ya Careers UAE where we interacted with over 800 students, and the re-launch of our National Graduate Programme across 3 countries in the GCC. We also focused on Bold and Servant Leadership to drive learning, development and training for our existing talent. Bold Leadership ensures we align quality leadership to our Group strategy, and Servant Leadership a serve-first mindset, with a determined focus on those being served and, in the process, keeping them first. 2022 was an exciting year for empowering innovative mindsets as well, by opening our IBTIKAR Programme to external entrepreneurs for the first time with the launch of our Startup Studio. All these initiatives are ensuring we sustain the viability of our business, and are securing our status as a ‘Great Place to Work’ across the region.

Diversity in our Group empowers us to deliver the extraordinary to our customers. In 2022, we focused our DE&I strategy on supporting women into leadership roles and making our infrastructure and culture more accessible and welcoming to People of Determination (PoDs). Our Women in Leadership Programme (WiL), consisting of learning, mentorship and coaching, addressed gender gaps in senior leadership roles. Two cohorts completed WiL training, and its effectiveness has enabled us to revise our pledge upwards to fill 30% of senior leadership roles with women by 2024 to 35%. Additionally, we celebrated the achievements of our female leaders with an event to mark Emirati Women’s Day. Also, to make our working environment more accessible to PoDs, we focused on redesigning our stores according to our PoD Playbook, our framework for inclusive space design. We complemented our accessibility enhancements by building a culture of inclusivity to PoDs through Group-wide awareness training on their lived experiences and American Sign Language courses. These contributions to creating the right environment of equitable opportunity are empowering us to inspire, exhilarate and delight all our customers.

We take a holistic approach to safeguarding our people’s health, safety and wellbeing. In 2022, we began the development of a Group-wide Health, Safety, Security and Environment Management Framework which covers all areas of our business, including logistics, store and back-office operations. We support our people’s emotional wellbeing through initiatives providing physical, mental, financial, social and professional support, which we promoted through our Wellbeing Week in 8 countries. Our approach has yielded low rates of health and safety incidents, and a wellbeing score of 7.92, which have encouraged a positive culture, improved our people experience and increased engagement in a healthy work ecosystem and community.