October 25th 2016, Dubai, UAE: According to a new survey carried out by the women-only portal Hopscotch, there is a huge disparity between the support females need in order to make their journey back to work a smooth one, and what is currently on offer in the GCC region.
Of the types of skills women felt would be beneficial to learn, the survey showed that 67% would like to gain more confidence, just over half wanted to brush up on their social media skills and 64% wanted to improve their Personal Effectiveness.
Committed to changing the current state of options available to women in this region, Co-Founder and MD Helen McGuire, worked to set up the free “Hopscotch Workshops”. Building on the huge success of the first series back in May and June this year, a second Workshop, this time in partnership with Mastercard will take place on November 14th 2016, on the topic of Personal Effectiveness. MasterCard’s, Senior Vice President of HR, Scott Tierney, said: “We are excited to partner with Hopscotch on the Personal Effectiveness Workshop to support women in the UAE on their journey back into the workplace. Mastercard has a number of policies in place to support flexible working for employees to ensure they find a balance between their work and home life. Done well and with the right level of management buy-in across the company, we recognise that the benefits of having flexible working practices to businesses are substantial.”
In a further commitment to the cause, Hopscotch launched its One to One Training service offering personal coaching in August this year with free initial consultations. From December, the company will also be collaborating with another key sponsor to offer Skills Sessions once a month designed to inspire, educate and train attendees in key skills and will be a strategic partner of the Careers UAE event next April in Dubai.
Of the types of skills women felt would be beneficial to learn, the survey showed that 67% would like to gain more confidence, just over half wanted to brush up on their social media skills and 64% wanted to improve their Personal Effectiveness.
Hopscotch Co-Founder and MD Helen McGuire, said: “Our aim at Hopscotch is to support women in their quest for work. Our first Workshop Series was overwhelmingly popular with 98% of the women who attended recommending one of our Workshops to others. We are very pleased to be able to announce an ongoing commitment to the training concept. We know from our ongoing contact and feedback from women that there is a real desire to have that personal connect with a profession and through our Workshops, Power Sessions and One to One service, we are working to guide them in that process and, in turn, help them find their ideal job through us.”
Having launched in April 2016, Hopscotch was set up not only to help professional women find work that would fit around family life, but to support women on that journey. Their initial statistics revealed that 76% would go back to work if flexible options were available and since its launch the platform has seen huge success. Thousands of women and businesses from across the board are signing up through the site, www.hopscotch.ae, and hundreds have registered for its free skills Workshops.
For more information on Hopscotch, their Workshops and One to One service, please visit www.hopscotch.ae/training.
All statistics taken from Hopscotch Surveys between August and September 2015; and May and June, 2016 (sample of 380 women in the GCC).
Further statistics of note:
- 91% of Workshop attendees felt the sessions improved their skills and knowledge
- Almost half of women wanted to learn how to achieve better work/life balance at future Workshops
- 84% would like access to One to One coaching across a range of topics
- Over two thirds of women would use a Workshop to network or meet like minded women
ABOUT HOPSCOTCH: Hopscotch is the first support platform in the MENA region to launch an offering purely for female professionals looking for flexible working. Launched in 2016, the company is spearheaded by husband and wife team Helen and Justin McGuire. A division of the MCG Group, the company was launched in April 2016 and offers non-permanent and flexible working options, catering to professional women and forward thinking business. It also supports and encourages women back into the workplace by offering exclusive skills workshops and sessions to registered talent.
