Dubai, 17 October 2016: Aon Hewitt, the global talent, retirement and health solutions business of Aon plc (NYSE: AON), announced the winners of the Best Employers Middle East awards 2016. Winners were selected based on achieving high levels of employee engagement, a culture of high performance, effective leadership and a compelling employer brand and included: DHL Express, Marriott International, McDonald’s UAE and Procter & Gamble Near East.

Achieving the award across multiple geographies, Marriott International was recognized as a Global Best Employer and DHL Express was awarded the accolade of Middle East Best Employer. New entrant McDonald’s took home a Best Employer UAE award while Procter & Gamble was recognized as Best Employer for the Near East – Egypt region.

Participating organizations were benchmarked against Aon Hewitt’s regional database consisting of more than 375 organizations and 130,000 employees, making Best Employers Middle East the most comprehensive study of its kind and placing Aon Hewitt at the forefront of employer benchmarking.

“The winning organizations have created a culture of engagement in which it is possible to identify a clear correlation between employee engagement levels and actual business performance including customer satisfaction, sales, operating margins and total shareholder returns. They have successfully created a workplace experience that does not just revolve around pay, but rather around a robust and comprehensive employee value proposition” said Elias Dib, Partner and Study Director from Aon Hewitt Middle East.

Key insights from this year’s study reveal that the average employee engagement for a Best Employer Middle East organization is 85%, significantly higher than the market average of 61%. A further 89% of employees from Best Employers believe their organization shows clear accountability for strategic goals, making employees aware of how they contribute to business success and recognizing employees for their performance compared to the market average of 56%. A further 86% of those surveyed from Best Employer organizations believe that their leadership has a clear vision of the future, values the people and strives for business excellence compared to the market average of 65%.

“At Aon Hewitt, we know that becoming a Best Employer is a journey in an organization's development and they do not get there overnight; but it is a journey that is worth the effort. Countless organizations are now investing in analytic tools to map talent indicators, and topics of employee engagement and organizational culture seem to weigh heavy on the minds of business leaders in the boardrooms. Best Employers in the Middle East fill in more job openings internally (49%) when compared to the rest of the market (37%). In addition, employees at Best Employer organizations (88%) are definitely motivated to contribute more than is normally required to do their job in comparison to the market average (60%).”

“We are seeing Middle East organizations increasingly identifying the Best Employer recognition award as a key indicator to business success and we take the research findings to offer a comprehensive roadmap for participants looking to improve their performance. Testament to how seriously regional organizations are taking such studies is the fact that we have already started receiving entries for Best Employers Middle East 2017,” Ray Everett, CEO Aon Hewitt Middle East.

Karim Yehia Kamel, Vice President of P&G Near East, said: We are honored to be recognized as one of the Best Employers in the Middle East for the fifth consecutive time. We believe that our people are our main competitive asset and have built robust systems to invest and continue developing P&G leaders across the globe. We stay true to our principle that it is the power of one and value for all that has distinguished us as a global leader in the industry and will drive to continue setting the benchmark in creating a collaborative and inclusive work environment to bring out the best in our team.”

Echoing a similar sentiment, first time winners McDonald’s UAE said that receiving such a prestigious award validates their leadership position as one of the best employers in the Middle East. “Through our ongoing commitment to our people, we look forward to continue forging great relationships and maintaining the trust and loyalty of our employees,” Walid Fakih, General Manager at McDonald’s UAE.

Henry Fares, Human Resources Vice President of repeat winners DHL Express Middle East added that “it is always great when hard work and dedication is recognized. Our values are built on a culture that promotes engaging our people, and creating a healthy environment that encourages recognition and transparency. We put our employees at the heart of everything we do because they are the centre of our business, it is our culture to support our people, and if that happens to result in an award, we are more than grateful for that. We are proud of our workforce, and of all the efforts they put into making DHL an employer of choice, and truly one that is considered a Best Employer.”

The winning organizations were presented with the prestigious Best Employer title during a high profile networking event held at The Oberoi Dubai on October 17. The event was attended by CEOs and HR leaders who gathered to celebrate the winners’ success. The occasion also provided a valuable platform to highlight the key attributes exemplified by the region’s Best Employers in helping other organizations identify areas in which they can develop their own people practices for the future.

Aon Hewitt’s Best Employers study is based on a wealth of data from an independent employee opinion survey and a detailed audit of people practices. The complete view of the organization’s employees, its leaders and HR practices ensured a contextual, unbiased and credible outcome of the study in line with Aon Hewitt’s global standards.

Launched globally 15 years ago, Aon Hewitt’s Best Employer Award has become an international benchmark for businesses, reflecting the opinions of an unprecedented number of employees and providing companies with a unique opportunity to assess and understand what needs to be done to accelerate people to the extraordinary.

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About Best Employers Middle East

Best Employers Middle East 2016, conducted by Aon Hewitt and now in its fifth edition, was based on inputs from organizations across the Middle East who have been operational for more than two years and employ more than 50 full-time members of staff. The research identifies best-in-class people practices and how they enable business performance, particularly focusing on high levels of employee engagement, a culture of high performance, effective leadership and a compelling employer brand. The Aon Hewitt Best Employers 2017 study is already open for registration.

For more information, visit www.bestemployersme.com

About Aon Hewitt

Aon Hewitt empowers organizations and individuals to secure a better future through innovative talent, retirement and health solutions. We advise, design and execute a wide range of solutions that enable clients to cultivate talent to drive organizational and personal performance and growth, navigate retirement risk while providing new levels of financial security, and redefine health solutions for greater choice, affordability and wellness. Aon Hewitt is the global leader in human resource solutions, with over 30,000 professionals in 90 countries serving more than 20,000 clients worldwide.

For more information on Aon Hewitt, please visit www.aonhewitt.com

About Aon

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is the leading global provider of risk management, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human resources solutions and outsourcing services. Through its more than 61,000 colleagues worldwide, Aon unites to empower results for clients in over 120 countries via innovative and effective risk and people solutions and through industry-leading global resources and technical expertise. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world’s best broker, best insurance intermediary, reinsurance intermediary, captives manager and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources.

Visit www.aon.com for more information on Aon and www.aon.com/manchesterunited to learn about Aon’s global partnership and shirt sponsorship with Manchester United.