Agenda
Agenda
HR Tech Mena Summit
Home / Agenda
DAY 1: Wednesday, 13th May 2026
08:00 – 08:45
Registration, Networking and Welcome Refreshments
08:50 – 08:55
Opening Remarks by the Organiser
SESSION ONE:
BUILDING RESILIENT, HAPPY & PEOPLE-FIRST ORGANISATIONS
09:00 – 09:25
Opening Keynote
Happy Workforce as the Growth Driver for a Resilient Organisation
How wellbeing initiatives directly enhance productivity, profitability, and organizational performance.
- Proving the ROI of employee wellbeing on business performance.
- Embedding wellbeing into corporate culture and leadership strategy.
- Real-World case studies from purpose-driven organizations.
- Workplace wellbeing as a driver of sustainable growth, crucial for long-term competitiveness, and talent attraction for the organisation.
09:30 – 09:50
Expert Insight
Employee Benefits, Insurance & Financial Wellbeing: Reinventing the Total Rewards Experience
Align with the fast-growing demand for next-gen employee benefits, insurance innovation, and financial wellbeing solutions.
- Reinventing Rewards & Benefits for a Modern Workforce: total rewards and flexible benefit structures.
- Discover insurance as a holistic enabler for preventive health and protection and long-term employee security.
- Understanding the connection between financial wellness, holistic wellbeing, and employee performance.
- Personalized employee benefits as recognition and retention tools.
09:55 – 10:20
Case Insight
Predictive People Review for Talent Management
Understand how advanced HR analytics, AI-driven insights, and behavioural data can help leaders predict and prevent absenteeism, disengagement, and attrition.
- What are the new drivers of loyalty: purpose, belonging, and work-life balance.
- Real-time recognition, wellbeing, and performance-enablement.
- Leveraging people analytics to predict and prevent absenteeism.
- Creating emotionally intelligent and empathetic leadership, and human-centred cultures at workplaces.
10:25 – 10:45
Tech & Wellbeing Transformation Keynote
WellTech & Data-Driven Wellbeing: The New Digital Health Ecosystem
Understanding the monitoring, and digital wellbeing ecosystems, along with responsible frameworks for data privacy, security, and ethical AI, and examining the latest in wearables, and remote health.
- Using HR Tech to deliver personalized wellbeing and engagement programs.
- Predictive analytics and AI for workforce health insights.
- Wearables, digital health platforms, and data ethics.
- Integrating technology with human connection to enhance wellbeing.
10:50 – 11:20
Networking and Coffee Break
SESSION TWO:
THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE, CULTURE & INCLUSION FOR HOLISTIC WELLNESS
11:25 – 11:50
Fireside Chat
Emotional Wellbeing: Prioritizing the Human Experience
How organisations can build emotionally healthy workplaces by strengthening psychological safety and enabling supportive leadership that places human experience at the centre of performance.
- Breaking stigma and building psychologically safe workplaces.
- Leadership’s role in emotional health and empathy-driven management.
- Implementing proactive support initiatives.
- Building resilience and emotional intelligence in teams.
11:55 – 12:25
Leadership Panel
Culture, Purpose & Leadership for Sustainable Wellbeing
How leadership behaviour, organisational purpose, and cultural design shape long-term wellbeing outcomes, influence team cohesion, and enable high-performance environments rooted in care and trust.
- The role of leadership in creating caring, and high-performance cultures.
- Understanding diverse cultures for inclusive wellbeing strategies.
- Measuring the cultural and wellbeing impact of leadership behaviour.
- Moulding next-generation leaders with empathy and purpose.
12:30 – 13:00
Keynote
Diversity, Inclusion & Purpose-Driven Wellbeing: Empowering Every Employee
How inclusive wellbeing strategies elevate organisational performance by addressing diverse workforce needs, advancing gender equity, and ensuring every employee feels supported, represented, and empowered.
- Advancing gender-responsive workplaces; women’s perspective and men’s perspective.
- Inclusive benefits and wellness programs that serve diverse needs.
- Empowering women’s health, family wellbeing, and flexible work environments.
- Designing gender-responsive policies that support maternal health, and caregiving responsibilities.
13:00 – 13:30
Networking and Coffee Break
SESSION THREE:
WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION FOR EMPLOYEE WELLBEING & PERFORMANCE
13:35 – 13:55
Regional Outlook Keynote
The Future of Work & Wellbeing in the Middle East: 2026 and Beyond
An exploration of the region’s evolving wellbeing landscape, emerging human capital priorities, and the strategic role of cross-sector collaborations in shaping future-ready, wellbeing-centered organisations.
- Workforce wellbeing and human capital trends in the region.
- The role of policy, regulation, and public-private collaboration.
- Cross-sector partnerships for healthier workforces.
- Building purpose-led, wellbeing-centered organizations of the future.
14:00 – 14:20
Real Talk
Corporate Wellness & Workforce Transformation: Designing Healthier Workplaces
How modern wellness ecosystems can transform organisational productivity by enabling healthy behaviours, reducing burnout, and embedding health-conscious design across the employee lifecycle.
- Creating holistic wellness ecosystems for the modern workforce.
- Reimagining workplaces for inclusive and health-conscious environments.
- Addressing workplace burnout and emotional fatigue.
- Integrating healthy food habits and nutrition tracking.
14:25 – 14:30
Closing Remarks – Day One
14:30 – 15:30
Five Star Networking Luncheon
08:50 – 08:55
WELCOME REMARKS FROM THE ORGANISER
Sidh NC
Director,
QNA International
10:20 – 11:00
CxO PANEL: BALANCE STRIKED FOR HUMAN AND TECH
Strategic HR Leadership in the Age of AI
- Skill development for technical and financial acumen for HR leaders.
- Real Life Examples for AI in HR Implementation.
- Strategies for driving value through human resources.
Speakers
Ali Talahi
Senior Advisor, Enterprise business,
Coursera, UAE
Larissa Murmann
Digital Chief Human Resources Officer,
Unilever, Singapore
Najib Makarem
Group Chief Human Resources Officer,
National Holding, UAE
Moderator
Sarah Al Bakeri
Director, Human Resources - Generation,
TAQA Generation Business, UAE
DAY 2: Thursday, 14th May 2026
08:30 – 08:55
Registration, Networking and Welcome Refreshments
SESSION FOUR:
LONGEVITY, WELLBEING, PERFORMANCE & CRISIS RESILIENCE
09:00 – 09:40
Panel Discussion
Workforce Longevity & Preparing for Multi-Generational Teams
How organisations can optimise workforce longevity by supporting older employees, enabling intergenerational collaboration, and building structures that ensure long-term capability, relevance, and resilience.
- Supporting older employees through proactive health, energy, and capability planning.
- Designing age-inclusive roles, ergonomics, and policies.
- Leveraging intergenerational knowledge transfer for organisational resilience.
- Ensuring long-term employability through continuous upskilling.
09:45 – 10:05
Leadership Dialogue
Managerial Wellbeing & the New Leadership Burden
A deep dive into the rising pressures faced by frontline and middle managers, the impact on organisational health, and frameworks that enable sustainable leadership without burnout.
- How are CEOs in the Middle East going to deal with Burnout in 2026.
- Building capable frontline leaders who can balance performance and care.
- Tools, training, and behavioural frameworks to support managers’ wellbeing.
- Transitioning from command-driven to care-driven supervisory models.
10:10 – 10:30
Risk & Resilience Keynote
Crisis Preparedness, Workforce Safety & Organisational Continuity
How resilience-focused wellbeing frameworks strengthen safety, decision-making, and continuity planning when organisations face crisis, uncertainty, or high-stress operational environments.
- Workforce wellbeing frameworks for crisis response and high-stress environments.
- Creating psychologically prepared teams in unpredictable times.
- Integrating wellbeing into business continuity and risk management.
- Case insights on safety-first organisational cultures.
10:35 – 10:55
Interactive Debate
Sleep Health, Cognitive Performance & Productivity at Work
How sleep science and recovery-based policies can enhance decision-making, reduce operational risk, and elevate daily performance across high-pressure or round-the-clock work settings.
- Understanding the impact of sleep and recovery on decision-making.
- Designing policies and routines that promote rest and mental clarity.
- Fatigue management for shift-intensive or 24/7 operations.
- Building a culture that values recovery as a performance driver.
11:00 – 11:30
Networking Break & Visit to the Wellbeing Exhibition Lounge
SESSION FIVE:
UNDERSTANDING THE WELLBEING ECONOMICS
11:35 – 12:10
Strategic Panel Discussion
Community, Social Wellbeing & the Power of Human Connection at Work
How social capital and meaningful connection strengthen engagement, trust, and belonging, and why community-driven models are critical for organisational loyalty and long-term cohesion.
- Strengthening social capital within teams.
- Building community-driven engagement models.
- The role of peer networks, employee resource groups, and social bonding.
- Social wellbeing as a predictor of retention and loyalty.
12:15 – 13:15
Interactive Roundtables
The Economics of Wellbeing: Quantifying the Value of a Healthy Workforce
How financial modelling, productivity metrics, and evidence-based measurement frameworks can demonstrate the economic value of wellbeing to boards, executives, and key decision-makers.
- Financial modelling and ROI measurement for wellbeing strategies.
- Linking wellbeing to productivity, retention, and employer brand equity.
- Data-driven economic cases for leadership and board buy-in.
- Industry benchmarks and comparative wellbeing indices.
The Psychology of a Resilient Workforce: Embedding Emotional Wellbeing into Organisational Performance
How emotional intelligence, behavioural science, and systemic wellbeing frameworks can strengthen resilience, reduce burnout, and cultivate psychologically safe workplaces.
- Emotional resilience models and their impact on performance and decision-making.
- Integrating emotional wellbeing into leadership capability and culture design.
- Behavioural indicators, burnout risk mapping, and early-warning systems.
- Evidence-based interventions that measurably improve morale, motivation, and team cohesion.
Designing Holistic Employee Experience: Turning Every Interaction Into a Driver of Performance and Retention
How human-centred design, EX analytics, and culture engineering can create employee journeys that elevate engagement, strengthen belonging, and drive measurable organisational outcomes.
- Mapping employee journeys using behavioural and experience science.
- Using EX data to diagnose friction points and build high-impact interventions.
- Linking employee experience to retention, employer brand, and productivity outcomes.
- Case examples of organisations using EX transformation to drive performance.
Digital Wellbeing Ecosystems: Leveraging Technology to Personalise, Predict, and Scale Workforce Wellness
How AI, data analytics, and digital platforms can enable personalised wellbeing pathways, proactive risk identification, and scalable, cost-efficient wellbeing delivery.
- AI-powered wellbeing insights and predictive risk analytics.
- Personalised wellbeing pathways through digital platforms and wearables.
- Integrating tech-enabled wellbeing solutions with HR systems and EX platforms.
- Data governance, privacy, and responsible tech use in holistic wellbeing strategies.
13:15 – 13:45
Networking Break & Visit to the Wellbeing Exhibition Lounge
SESSION SIX:
EXPERIENCE LAB – THE SCIENCE OF HEALTH & HIGH PERFORMANCE
13:50 – 14:20
Experience Lab
The Science of Reset — A Multisensory Journey into Meditation, Stress Recovery, and Peak Productivity
An immersive, facilitator-led experience lab that blends guided meditation, breathwork, micro-recovery techniques, and evidence-based self-care tools to help participants reset their mind–body state and optimise daily performance.
- Guided meditation and breathwork sessions designed to calm the nervous system.
- Stress-reduction practices backed by neuroscience and behavioural psychology.
- Rejuvenation techniques including microbreaks, grounding methods, and sensory resets.
- Self-care frameworks for sustaining personal wellbeing amid high-pressure roles.
- Productivity optimisation through attention management and mental clarity exercises.
14:25 – 14:30
Closing Remarks – Day Two
14:30 – 15:30
Five Star Networking Luncheon
08:50 – 08:55
WELCOME REMARKS FROM THE ORGANISER
Sidh NC
Director,
QNA International
10:20 – 11:00
CxO PANEL: BALANCE STRIKED FOR HUMAN AND TECH
Strategic HR Leadership in the Age of AI
- Skill development for technical and financial acumen for HR leaders.
- Real Life Examples for AI in HR Implementation.
- Strategies for driving value through human resources.
Speakers
Ali Talahi
Senior Advisor, Enterprise business,
Coursera, UAE
Larissa Murmann
Digital Chief Human Resources Officer,
Unilever, Singapore
Najib Makarem
Group Chief Human Resources Officer,
National Holding, UAE
Moderator
Sarah Al Bakeri
Director, Human Resources - Generation,
TAQA Generation Business, UAE