AERO

In its continued support to strengthen the People Development in the Kingdom of Bahrain, national carrier Gulf Air saw 102 of its Bahraini employees graduating from a yearlong professional development under Tamkeen’s Career Progression Programme (CPP).

In a ceremony held earlier this week, the employees received their certificates from Tamkeen and NeoVartis company in the presence of Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali, who congratulated them on their achievement.

Spread over a year, the development programme consisted of accredited courses and intensive development modules specially designed to address the employees’ professional and personal needs as well as the organizations’ business needs. This is the second phase of Tamkeen’s Career Progression Programme in which Gulf Air has joined, following the successful completion of the first phase.

Mr. Majali commented, “I am glad to the see the second batch of our national employees graduating with enhanced skills and professional development. This is very much a part of Gulf Air’s People Development objective whereby we provide opportunities for the Bahraini national workforce to upgrade their skills, abilities and professional knowledge that would help in their career progression. By doing this we are not only equipping them individually but also strengthening the people skills of the Kingdom of Bahrain collectively.”

He continued, “We joined hands with Tamkeen in 2008 when the CPP was launched and got 540 of our employees developed under this programme. Since then we have been working closely with Tamkeen on this important national initiative.”

Under Tamkeen’s CPP, around 1300 employees from across the company, who earn a monthly basic salary of above BD400, will be provided with professional development with accredited courses, specially designed to address their business and personal needs.

Implemented by BDO Consulting, the duration of the development programme may last up to 7 months for some of the accredited courses, where the employee is required to deliver a project and successfully pass the development courses. Some employees will be required to undergo soft skills development courses that are designed to boost their productivity and performance.

All the development programmes under this scheme are designed based on the success criteria and not just attendance, i.e. employees are requested to successfully pass all the courses. The objective is that the improved skills and productivity will equip staff members to understand and meet the customer demands and needs better and would eventually result in yielding higher profitability for the business.

Tamkeen’s Career Progression Programme was launched in 2008 and since then has provided development opportunities to participants in different roles and at different levels to expand their knowledge, acquire experience and apply new skills. The programme covers a wide range of sectors such as banking and finance, insurance, automobile, retail and wholesale, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, and hospitality and travel.