Sara Alfred

Led the Human Resources function across a diversified group of companies, providing strategic and operational HR leadership to support business growth, organizational effectiveness, and workforce excellence. Directed all aspects of the employee lifecycle across multiple business units, ensuring alignment between people strategies and organizational objectives.

Key Responsibilities & Achievements:

• Developed and implemented group-wide HR strategies, policies, and procedures, improving HR operational efficiency by 35% and ensuring 100% policy standardization across all entities.
• Partnered with executive leadership on workforce planning and organizational development initiatives, supporting business expansion and achieving 25% growth in headcount while maintaining workforce stability.
• Established and restructured HR functions across multiple companies, reducing HR processing time by 40% and improving service delivery standards.
• Led end-to-end talent acquisition efforts, reducing average time-to-hire by 50% and increasing offer acceptance rates by 30% through enhanced employer branding and recruitment practices.
• Implemented performance management frameworks and KPI systems, resulting in a 20% increase in employee productivity and stronger accountability across departments.
• Designed employee engagement and retention programs that reduced voluntary turnover by 25% and improved employee satisfaction scores by 30%.
• Introduced leadership development and training initiatives, increasing internal promotions by 35% and strengthening succession planning across key functions.
• Optimized compensation and benefits structures through market benchmarking, improving employee retention by 20% while maintaining cost efficiency.
• Managed complex employee relations matters and conflict resolution processes, reducing formal grievances by 40% and improving workplace harmony.
• Ensured full compliance with labor laws, company policies, and regulatory requirements, maintaining 100% compliance during internal and external audits.
• Led HR digital transformation projects and HRIS implementations, reducing manual administrative work and increasing reporting accuracy.
• Developed workforce analytics and HR dashboards, enabling data-driven decision-making and improving manpower forecasting accuracy by 30%.
• Successfully transitioned the company from relying on external recruitment agencies to a fully in-house talent acquisition model, leveraging strong headhunting, sourcing, and employer branding strategies. This resulted in a 100% reduction in agency dependency, generated annual recruitment cost savings of 30–50%, and improved hiring quality while reducing time-to-fill critical positions.

Key Results:

• Reduced employee turnover by 25%.
• Reduced time-to-hire by 50%.
• Improved employee engagement by 30%.
• Achieved 100% compliance across HR audits and labor law requirements.
• Eliminated dependency on external recruitment agencies, achieving a 100% reduction in agency recruitment spend and generating annual cost savings of up to 50% of the recruitment budget.
• Increased HR process efficiency by 35–40% through automation and process redesign.

• Developed and implemented recruitment strategies, successfully hiring 20+ employees across marketing, PR, events, media, and corporate functions.
• Managed end-to-end recruitment projects, including job postings, screening, interviews, and offer negotiations, reducing time-to-hire by 30%.
• Partnered with 15+ hiring managers and business owners to identify staffing needs, workforce gaps, and role priorities.
• Led onboarding programs for 100+ new hires, improving early retention rates and employee readiness within the first 90 days.
• Handled employee relations cases (grievances, conflicts, disciplinary matters), resolving 90% of issues internally without escalation.
• Drove employee engagement initiatives (town halls, feedback surveys, culture projects), increasing engagement scores by 20%.
• Designed and implemented performance appraisal systems for 150+ employees, aligned with business KPIs and agency deliverables.
• Provided ongoing coaching and performance feedback to employees, managers, and owners, supporting leadership capability and accountability.
• Led Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) projects, successfully improving performance outcomes for 70% of under performing employees.

• Lead end-to-end recruitment and strategic headhunting for full-time, freelance, and project-based roles across creative, production, and operations teams.
• Develop workforce planning strategies aligned with project demands and business growth.
• Oversee all HR operations, policies, and procedures while ensuring full compliance with UAE labor laws and internal standards.
• Manage performance management systems including KPIs, appraisals, goal setting, and performance improvement plans.
• Drive company culture initiatives, employee engagement programs, and retention strategies to maintain a motivated and high-performing team.
• Oversee onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure smooth employee lifecycle management.
• Administer medical insurance policies, employee benefits, and payroll coordination.
• Handle visa processing, renewals, cancellations, labor contracts, and government relations in coordination with PRO.
• Act as a strategic HR partner to leadership, advising on organizational development, structure, and talent optimization.

• Temporary - Full time