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A report produced by the World Government Summit, in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, takes a close look at how and where essential new skills can be developed through all major stages of education, from early childhood to lifelong learning, at a time when technologies including automation and artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the nature of work. The report, titled “The Skills Revolution and the Future of Learning and Earning,” was released at the World Government Summit in Dubai, the global event where world leaders, experts and decision makers from around the world are convening to discuss tools, policies, and models that are essential in shaping future governments. McKinsey is one of the knowledge partners of the summit.

McKinsey Institute surveys 4,000 employees in four GCC countries to help improve understanding of employee health. The institute surveyed employees in Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar last year to understand the state of employee health in the region and published the results in January. The study showed 66 per cent of respondents reported symptoms of poor mental health or had a firm diagnosis. One in three of those surveyed also reported symptoms of burnout and the report found that three-quarters of participants were happy at work. The report highlighted the UAE as an "early adopter" in integrating well-being into its national agenda and said that further opportunities existed for similar and increased engagement between employers and employees across the region.

A recent survey by the McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) found two thirds of GCC residents experienced poor mental health and well-being. Residents of Saudi Arabia had the highest instances of distress compared with the three other countries surveyed — UAE, Qatar and Kuwait — as well as the highest number of people reporting depression, anxiety and burnout. Typical stress triggers for students, such as leaving home and losing contact with family and friends, were exacerbated by a medical degree, experts said.

According to the latest McKinsey Health Institute (MHI) survey, compared to the global average of one in four, one in three GCC citizens report having experienced burnout symptoms. Compared to employees internationally, the GCC respondents report an intention to leave their jobs more than twice as frequently (36%, compared with 16%). Although there is a significant attrition rate worldwide due to employees not feeling valued, several GCC-specific variables may escalate the desire to leave. The report states that the need for sponsorship or competition for local talent are two changeable elements that are region-specific.

Soaring distress, rising #toxicity & #anxiety & #burnout across GCC workplaces, confirmed in the latest research from the McKinsey Health Institute, which has called on employers to take action. Thousands surveyed across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, the top level result - two-thirds of GCC respondents reported symptoms of poor #mentalhealth and #wellbeing or had a mental health condition diagnosis. While the research looks at a sample of the working population (4,000 employees) if that ratio holds true for the mass (and of course at mentl we believe it does), that's millions of employees struggling across the region. The research recommends eight measures bosses can take. Click the link in the comments to read more from the report by Mona Hammami and Mischa Zielke of McKinsey & Company (and find out the eight measures you or your manager can take).

Middle East consumers have embraced digital channels, and their spending is expected to increase. Recent research shows how businesses can increase the value they derive from this market in the years to come. According to the McKinsey Digital Sentiment Survey, the adoption of digital channels and spending will increase over the next several years in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. In all industries, artificial intelligence (AI) is being used more frequently at the same time.

Coursera, a global online learning platform, recently hosted the first edition of its annual summit in MENA, which took place in Dubai under the theme “The Future of Learning and Work”. Stephen Hall, Partner at McKinsey & Company, said, “The demand for skills is only going to accelerate in the future and, to keep up, all of us engaged in education need to find ways to address this. There needs to be continued and stronger engagement between the education sector and employers. What makes us more optimistic is the innovative ways that we see educational institutions respond. It is a global issue – not unique to the Middle East – but for us here in the region, if we can get industries and education institutions to think in the same direction, we will be able to better meet the challenges facing the region's talent force today.”

Reforms to open banking are expected to have broad ramifications for the payments business, according to a recent survey from McKinsey, published in 23 August. When respondents to the survey were asked what government- or regulator-driven action would be most effective in steering customers to digital payments, 27 percent nominated regulatory approval for open banking. In 2018, Bahrain made a leap forward in the financial services sector, issuing open banking rules, followed by a framework with guidelines on data sharing and governance in 2020.

In a report published in August titled “Opportunity Youth: Imagining a bright future for the next generation,” McKinsey’s Middle East office outlined seven “game-changing opportunities and ideas” that could help create more than 100 million jobs and double the region’s economic output. “When we set out to write this report, we went into this knowing that there are many challenges in the region,” Tom Isherwood, senior partner at McKinsey, told Arab News. “There are so many issues that are affecting youth today and the youth that will enter the labor force in the next 20 years. However, there are also big opportunities for them and the region as a whole that have not been written about in the same way.”

The payments landscape in the Middle East is notorious for its reliance on cash. Despite the region’s digitally savvy population and their unorthodox ways, cash has a strong cultural hold and is backed by centuries of conformity, making it difficult for consumers to steer away. However, the landscape is evolving and various factors are paving the way for digital payments to dominate in the region. A recent McKinsey report, titled ‘The future of payments in the Middle East’, states that this movement is driven by industry pressures, disruptive forces, changing payment patterns, and the increasing prospects for banks and fintechs in a rapidly evolving environment.

Rising temperatures and extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change are making farming conditions increasingly challenging and disrupting food distribution. But scientists in some of the world's driest places are coming up with solutions to boost local food production by introducing plants that thrive with less-fertile soil and seawater. The work of ICBA is part of a global effort to find alternate ways to produce food. But with the effects of climate change already being felt around the world, Joshua Katz, partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Company, believes that more than one system will be needed to provide food security in the future.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake in digital payments across the Middle East, with digital wallets and contactless payment methods set to dominate and shape how transactions take place in the future, according to McKinsey. “Even before the pandemic, digital payments were growing rapidly … [the] impressive growth rates have been boosted further by the pandemic,” said McKinsey.

The numbers are striking: Over the next 20 years, 127 million young people will enter the labour force in the Middle East and North Africa, but face an unemployment rate of 23 per cent. At the same time, nearly 29 million jobs are at risk of being displaced by 2030 because of automation. McKinsey lays out solutions to address the issue of youth unemployment amid a changing labour market in a new report.

Tom Isherwood, a senior partner at the consultancy, joins co-hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner this week to discuss how to give dignity and purpose to this rising generation.

Developing emerging technology while retooling education for the modern labor market, among other strategies, has the potential to reverse decades of youth unemployment in the Middle East, creating millions of new jobs and doubling the region’s economic output, according to a new report from McKinsey. “Even though many countries in the region, both through private and public initiatives, are undergoing impressive transformations today to broaden economic opportunities available to their youth, there is still much to be done,” said Khalid AlJihrish, a co-author of the report.

A discussion on the essential role of PR in a post-pandemic world, in partnership with ASDA’A BCW.

Comms teams swiftly adopted whatever technology worked to get the job done, video-conferencing being the obvious primary method. Prudencio describes this as “15 years of digitalisation happening in 15 months”, with the pandemic serving to accelerate changes that were only just on the rise at the beginning of 2020.

Dr Shamma Hamdoon Al Naqbi, Program Chair - Rabdan Academy, shares a personal journey of leadership, and finds that balance, especially in one’s self, is key.

“I remember when I was accepted into McKinsey’s Qiyada emerging leaders program – a one-year immersive leadership journey for early-stage professionals. I thought to myself, prepare. Prepare for rigour, for reading, for analytics and for a framework driven approach to leadership.”

COVID-19 has caused a short-term dip in global energy demand, while a long-term shift away from oil and other fossil fuels takes on a new pace in the backdrop. A new McKinsey & Company report explores the future of global energy consumption. McKinsey surveyed over 2,000 executives globally, presenting them with four scenarios on how the economy will emerge from the crisis – each with a varying level of virus containment and policy effectiveness. Based on their responses, the broad expectation is that the virus will be contained and growth with resume in the short term.

McKinsey & Company has launched the second edition of the Qiyada Emerging Leaders programme – a one-year journey that aims to maximise the potential of top Emirati talent.

Rima Assi, Senior Partner, and Head of McKinsey’s Abu Dhabi office, said: “Abu Dhabi is going through an ambitious transformation that requires the support of young, driven leaders. Through this year-long development journey of self-discovery, we hope to unlock both the personal and professional potential that will better equip participants to drive this transformation.”

“Adventure travel, which has been a booming industry, remains one of the resilient categories,” Alex Dichter, a Partner at McKinsey and Company, said during the virtual Future Hospitality Summit on Monday.

The UAE consumers' optimism reflects their overall confidence in the government and system in terms of their interventions and management of the current situation,” Abdellah Iftahy, a partner and leader of McKinsey’s consumer and retail practice in the Middle East, told The National.

More UAE consumers are sanguine about the recovery of the economy now compared to four months ago and they see the economy rebounding faster in the next couple of months, says a new survey. As many as 61 per cent of UAE residents believe now that the economy will rebound within two to three months and grow just as strongly as or stronger than before Covid-19 against 57 per cent at the end of June, according to a McKinsey & Co survey.

More UAE consumers are sanguine about the recovery of the economy now compared to four months ago and they see the economy rebounding faster in the next couple of months, says a new survey. As many as 61 per cent of UAE residents believe now that the economy will rebound within two to three months and grow just as strongly as or stronger than before Covid-19 against 57 per cent at the end of June, according to a McKinsey & Co survey.

The GCC Board Directors Institute (GCC BDI), a non-profit organisation for board members, concluded the 7th annual GCC BDI Chairman Summit with a strong message to corporate boards in the region: “Corporate governance matters enormously to the nature of our economies and the kind of growth we want to see.”

For his part, Conor Kehoe, guest speaker and Senior Partner Emeritus and Special Adviser at McKinsey & Company, said: “How can directors add more value – for shareholders – and also well beyond?”

Even though many businesses in the Gulf region are interested in digitization, only a few of them have moved aggressively while many companies are testing the waters and wondering how to move from strategy to action. Digital transformation is all about deploying technology to solve business problems.

“Talent is the number one challenge in digital transformations, globally and locally. Culture is an essential factor in attracting, developing and retaining digital talent,” Abdulkader Lamaa, Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, told TechRadar Middle East.