Power Hour 2020: Emrill’s CEO, Stuart Harrison, moves up from 2019 to claim the 16th position | Emrill

Power Hour 2020: Emrill’s CEO, Stuart Harrison, moves up from 2019 to claim the 16th position

Stuart Harrison, Emrill’s CEO, has over 28 years’ experience in a range of technical, operations and senior business roles across of wide range of projects in facilities management, construction, and engineering, including management services in critical environments, such as international gateway airports, hospitals, and healthcare facilities.

Since his appointment to CEO in 2019, Stuart has continued to build on the strong foundations and core pillars Emrill works and lives by it. His open and transparent leadership style and achievements stand out among his FM peers. Responsible for the performance, health, and well-being of employees across every aspect of Emrill’s business, he ensures all employees work towards the shared goal of operational excellence, quality, and safety.

 

Stuart has inspired Emrill’s people to push the boundaries of delivery and innovation, creating a culture of continuous improvement. Every employee is accountable for ensuring customer satisfaction and continued growth. Stuart leads from the front – as an engineer that has worked his way up from an apprentice, he understands workforce dynamics at ground level. Joining Emrill in 2017 as Solutions Director, Stuart was responsible for technical delivery/excellence. He cemented his position as a critical member of Emrill’s leadership team.

Stuart has pioneered innovation, providing clients with the newest advances in technology and equipment as they are looking for more from service providers. However, the focus is not to innovate and implement new technologies for the sake of doing so – they must address a market need. Emrill has a proven track record in providing state-of-the-art/valuable solutions to enhance service delivery. Such a track record has helped Emrill to achieve a 73 percent client retention rate.

Emrill has also secured new contract wins and renewals over the past 12 months, including façade cleaning for Princess Tower, integrated facilities management (IFM) services for Kingfield Liv Residence, and hard and soft FM services Aramex and concierge services for Meraas City Walk. In 2020, Emrill was awarded a six-year contract renewal by Dubai Airports for the deployment of 1,000 cleaning staff at Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, concourse A, B, and C.

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Emrill Services has joined forces with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply MENA (CIPS MENA) to emphasise the importance of improving welfare standards in the MENA region’s supply chains. In an event held at Emrill’s Knowledge Theatre in Dubai, procurement professionals from a diverse range of sectors gathered to discuss the impact of welfare standards and the need to adopt global best practices.

Prior to the event, Sam Achampong, CIPS MENA’s regional head and general manager, explained the importance of the topic.

Achampong said: “Worker welfare should be high on the agenda for businesses regardless of the size of projects being implemented. I’m delighted our partners at Emrill see this as a focus of their work and that we have representation from Expo 2020 Dubai, who are taking the lead in keeping their workers safe. Not only is reputation at risk if companies do not look at safety and welfare for their own infrastructure projects, but of course, this is about saving lives and improving health throughout supply chains.”

 

In its January 2019 report, Fitch Solutions estimated the MENA construction industry will grow by 7.5% this year and will continue to expand at an average annual rate of 6.8 per cent until 2022. The report predicts the growth will be driven by the Arabian Gulf states diversifying away from oil and gas, instead focusing on building large-scale developments, such as Expo 2020 Dubai and the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the report surmised the increase in large infrastructure projects in the region has resulted in many companies more seriously considering current conditions and encouraging improved worker welfare rights.

Ahsan Sarwar, CIPS MENA’s country manager for Saudi Arabia, opened the event with a brief introduction to the organisation. He introduced CIPS’ presence globally and how the organisation is working with members to raise procurement standards.

Emrill’s commercial director, Suzie Razmjou, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on improving welfare standards in the supply chain, where she claimed companies in the region need to play their part in ensuring migrant workers are treated with dignity and respect. She stressed, procurement professionals can only affect real change when they work together and use their influence to encourage and support contractors and subcontractors to improve conditions. She went on to say that only when executive support is given to worker welfare initiatives and consequences are applied to non-compliant providers will welfare targets be met. Emrill has cancelled contracts with 40 suppliers, which were unable or unwilling to improve standards, since beginning the programme.

Razmjou also referred to the Dhaka Principles, which provide a roadmap tracing the journey of a migrant worker from recruitment, employment, to the end of a contract. The discussion focused on how companies in the region can ensure their employees and those employees within their supply chains are provided with living and working conditions that are both safe and decent.

Razmjou outlined the actions Emrill has taken to influence its subcontractor portfolio of over 500 suppliers in line with the Dhaka Principles, which were introduced in 2012 by the Institute for Human Rights and Business to improve health, safety and employee welfare. She said: “We have undertaken an ambitious ongoing project in which we have carried out welfare visits on our service providers’ labour accommodation to ensure living standards meet Emrill’s standards. In cases where suppliers are underperforming, we actively work with them to improve the welfare of their employees.

“We have used our influence in the market as a way of making a difference and improving the lives of thousands of workers. At Emrill, we feel we have a collective responsibility to ensure those individuals delivering services to our clients are looked after properly.”

As part of the initiative, inspectors from Emrill’s supply chain and senior management teams visit sites, inspecting hundreds of accommodations since the progamme’s launch. As a result, some companies have moved location and Emrill has provided recommendations to approximately one third of the suppliers visited.

Razmjou added: “We have achieved real success with this initiative, and we want to pass on our learnings to other companies in the region. Emrill is delighted to be partnering with CIPS MENA, as events such as this are so important for raising awareness and creating a real shift in collective thinking.”

Dr Arafat El Mourad, VP and Head of Strategic Sourcing: Group Procurement and Realty Services Emirates NBD, closed the event with a presentation on innovation in procurement. He explained innovation is much more than technology. He explained: “Rather, it is the way procurement professionals manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders with a focus on implementing collaborative changes to digitise, resource capabilities, speaking the language of your stakeholders, and improve business processes.”

A recurring theme of the event was procurement professionals and companies within the region have a collective responsibility to do what is morally and ethically right to ensure worker welfare standards in the region are raised. By committing to not working with contractors who fall short and will not make improvements, a clear message is sent that sub-par conditions will not be tolerated and will result in consequences.

Emrill Services has joined forces with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply MENA (CIPS MENA) to emphasise the importance of improving welfare standards in the MENA region’s supply chains. In an event held at Emrill’s Knowledge Theatre in Dubai, procurement professionals from a diverse range of sectors gathered to discuss the impact of welfare standards and the need to adopt global best practices.

Prior to the event, Sam Achampong, CIPS MENA’s regional head and general manager, explained the importance of the topic.

Achampong said: “Worker welfare should be high on the agenda for businesses regardless of the size of projects being implemented. I’m delighted our partners at Emrill see this as a focus of their work and that we have representation from Expo 2020 Dubai, who are taking the lead in keeping their workers safe. Not only is reputation at risk if companies do not look at safety and welfare for their own infrastructure projects, but of course, this is about saving lives and improving health throughout supply chains.”

 

In its January 2019 report, Fitch Solutions estimated the MENA construction industry will grow by 7.5% this year and will continue to expand at an average annual rate of 6.8 per cent until 2022. The report predicts the growth will be driven by the Arabian Gulf states diversifying away from oil and gas, instead focusing on building large-scale developments, such as Expo 2020 Dubai and the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the report surmised the increase in large infrastructure projects in the region has resulted in many companies more seriously considering current conditions and encouraging improved worker welfare rights.

Ahsan Sarwar, CIPS MENA’s country manager for Saudi Arabia, opened the event with a brief introduction to the organisation. He introduced CIPS’ presence globally and how the organisation is working with members to raise procurement standards.

Emrill’s commercial director, Suzie Razmjou, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on improving welfare standards in the supply chain, where she claimed companies in the region need to play their part in ensuring migrant workers are treated with dignity and respect. She stressed, procurement professionals can only affect real change when they work together and use their influence to encourage and support contractors and subcontractors to improve conditions. She went on to say that only when executive support is given to worker welfare initiatives and consequences are applied to non-compliant providers will welfare targets be met. Emrill has cancelled contracts with 40 suppliers, which were unable or unwilling to improve standards, since beginning the programme.

Razmjou also referred to the Dhaka Principles, which provide a roadmap tracing the journey of a migrant worker from recruitment, employment, to the end of a contract. The discussion focused on how companies in the region can ensure their employees and those employees within their supply chains are provided with living and working conditions that are both safe and decent.

Razmjou outlined the actions Emrill has taken to influence its subcontractor portfolio of over 500 suppliers in line with the Dhaka Principles, which were introduced in 2012 by the Institute for Human Rights and Business to improve health, safety and employee welfare. She said: “We have undertaken an ambitious ongoing project in which we have carried out welfare visits on our service providers’ labour accommodation to ensure living standards meet Emrill’s standards. In cases where suppliers are underperforming, we actively work with them to improve the welfare of their employees.

“We have used our influence in the market as a way of making a difference and improving the lives of thousands of workers. At Emrill, we feel we have a collective responsibility to ensure those individuals delivering services to our clients are looked after properly.”

As part of the initiative, inspectors from Emrill’s supply chain and senior management teams visit sites, inspecting hundreds of accommodations since the progamme’s launch. As a result, some companies have moved location and Emrill has provided recommendations to approximately one third of the suppliers visited.

Razmjou added: “We have achieved real success with this initiative, and we want to pass on our learnings to other companies in the region. Emrill is delighted to be partnering with CIPS MENA, as events such as this are so important for raising awareness and creating a real shift in collective thinking.”

Dr Arafat El Mourad, VP and Head of Strategic Sourcing: Group Procurement and Realty Services Emirates NBD, closed the event with a presentation on innovation in procurement. He explained innovation is much more than technology. He explained: “Rather, it is the way procurement professionals manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders with a focus on implementing collaborative changes to digitise, resource capabilities, speaking the language of your stakeholders, and improve business processes.”

A recurring theme of the event was procurement professionals and companies within the region have a collective responsibility to do what is morally and ethically right to ensure worker welfare standards in the region are raised. By committing to not working with contractors who fall short and will not make improvements, a clear message is sent that sub-par conditions will not be tolerated and will result in consequences.