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Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Happiness, has unveiled a Customer Happiness Formula to provide an effective tool for government employees to achieve the happiness goals under the UAE’s National Programme for Happiness and Positivity initiative.

Addressing an introductory seminar organised by the Emirates Government Services Excellence Programme on the formula for federal bodies, Al Roumi said, "The UAE government under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is keen to transform all government ministries and institutions to happiness destinations by issuing happiness policies and programmes and creating a happy work environment. The launch of the Customer Happiness Formula highlights the government’s commitment to provide services that achieve customer happiness and ensure the happiness of the entire community."

The minister said the Customer Happiness Formula is one of the comprehensive initiatives to develop government services and build effective partnerships between employees and customers by scientifically measuring the level of customer happiness.

Observing that the National Programme for Happiness and Positivity makes the UAE one of the first countries to launch specific initiatives to please customers, Al Roumi explained that the programme is based on three themes: happiness and positivity in government work, happiness and positivity in lifestyle, and measuring happiness and positivity.

The seminar was attended by deputy ministers, directors-general and a number of officials from federal entities highlighted the role of the senior management in government entities in creating a work environment that fosters innovative ideas and translates them into services that deliver happiness and positivity.

Hessa Essa Buhumaid, Assistant Director-General for Government Services in the Prime Minister's Office, said as one of the major initiatives of the National Programme for Happiness and Positivity, the Customer Happiness Formula is an important tool in achieving happiness and positivity in the government work.

She said that the formula consists of three main components: employees who take pride in providing excellent government services, government entities that are dedicated to making customers happy, and positive and proactive customers who are willing to provide suggestions and contribute to the development of innovative services that creates happiness.

Addressing a lecture on ‘Common Services Design for Happier Customers’, Marc Stickdorn, an expert in service design, described how services can be innovated by involving the customer to make customer possible. He described the Customer Happiness Formula as the translation of the UAE government’s approach to achieve happiness for all. Stickdorn explained that the current and future global trends are focused on customer experiences to offer service that meet needs and aspirations of customers, and engage them effectively in designing services that achieve their happiness.

Stickdorn is a lecturer and consultant in the field of services design at Management Centre Innsbruck in Austria, and a global expert in strategic management, marketing and design services in areas based on customer experiences. He is also the author of ‘This is Service Design Thinking’.

Highlighting the leadership of the UAE in the field of happiness, the participants in the seminar pointed out that the government is making every effort to spread happiness in all sectors through programmes and initiatives aimed at providing the best services based on international best practices.

Dr. Mohammed Mattar Al Kaabi, Chairman of the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, commended the UAE's efforts to adopt initiatives to offer happiness to the community within a national framework. "The concept of happiness has been inherited from the founding father of the UAE, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who worked hard to make the UAE an incubator for happiness and created an environment of happiness for all citizens and residents," he said.

Mohamed Ali bin Zayed Al Falasi, Deputy Governor of the UAE Central Bank, said that the bank is working to develop the mechanisms to ensure happiness for all customers. Al Falasi added that the mechanisms will be based on a set of standards to measure quality, efficiency, regulations and legislation that ensure a better experience to banking customers.

Saif Ahmed Al Suwaidi, Assistant Under-Secretary for Institutional and Support Services in the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said that the Customer Happiness Formula offers an integrated tool to achieve the desired goals in customer happiness. Saying that a happy work environment reflects positively on employees and brings happiness to customers, Al Suwaidi said that the UAE government, under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has been working to provide happiness for all segments of society. He went on to commend government entities for adopting the visions and directives of His Highness and turning them into reality in a short period of time.