Abu Dhabi - KT special coverage emiratisation push in private sector a step in the right direction
Published: Thu 9 Feb 2017, 7:50 AM
Last updated: Thu 9 Feb 2017, 4:37 PM
The UAE government on Tuesday made a big-bang push to Emiratisation in the private sector.
Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Cabinet Member and Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said on Tuesday that the ministry's aim is to employ 1,000 Emirati jobseekers within 75 days, targeting 250 private firms to begin with.
What does Article No (14) say?Article 14 of the UAE Labour Law states that the Labour Department may not give its approval to the employment of non-nationals until it is satisfied that there are no unemployed nationals registered with the employment section who are capable of performing the work required.
Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Cabinet Member and Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said the ministry stressed to put into force Article No (14) of the law on organising the labour relations, which entitles Emirati jobseekers and gives them priority to occupy vacant jobs in the private sector.
Ghobash said a mechanism has been laid down to put into effect Article No (14) to guarantee that the article will be well implemented. The minister said that as per the article, no work permit would be issued to any non-Emirati employee in the private sector if an Emirati jobseeker registered in the ministry's database was found and all the job roles are applied to him/her. Article (14) also takes into consideration the interests of all parties of employment.
The Emiratisation programme started a couple of years ago when federal and local governments in the UAE launched a number of initiatives such as the creation of several entities including Tanmia, the National Human Resources Employment Authority, Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council and the Emirates Nationals Development Program to promote Emiratisation.
The government however gave great importance to the subject of Emiratisation in 2013, having announced that was to be the year of Emiratisation along with launching the "Absher" initiative.
Absher is based on four main themes, namely the creation of job opportunities for nationals, vocational guidance and counselling, training and development, and the encouragement of nationals to work in the private sector with the aim to increase the current number of UAE nationals working in the private sector by tenfold by the year 2021.
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The new drive is a part of a pilot project launched late last year to incentivise private companies to hire more UAE Nationals. Ghobash said a mechanism has been laid down to put into effect Article No (14) to guarantee that the article will be well implemented, which would boots job opportunities to qualified Emirati jobseekers at targeted professions, and at the same time maintain the interests of employers.
He pointed out that the ministry had prepared a bundle of new policies and programmes that offer employers at the private sector many advantages in order to prompt employers, who are showing cooperation, to recruit Emirati jobseekers.
These advantages will have great positive effects on the institutions, establishments, and companies of the private sector, especially companies that are located in the remote areas and outskirts of the major cities, Ghobash clarified.
Many private sector industries have positively responded saying they are willing to throw their weight behind the government.
Sonya Wells, consultant at Robert Murray and Associates, said: "If large local private companies or multination organisations implement the government's quota system of employing UAE nationals or even start their own quota system and recruit at least one to two Emiratis in the respective departments, the government target can easily be achieved."
Sudhir Kumar Shetty, president of UAE Exchange, said private companies have an obligation to take in fresh graduates, train them and give them a starting point.
"Some companies have reservations to the fact that emiratis leave for government sector within a few years. Even if these people leave for better jobs, we are happy that we trained the local labour force. The vacancies they leave behind will get filled by fresh Emirati graduates again," said Shetty.
Many industry leaders also pointed out the shortage of well-qualified UAE nationals in certain industries like healthcare, as a main impediment to Emiratisation.
According to the ministry's website, the statistics of total labour force by skills until 2015 reveal more than 48 per cent of the local workers are low-skilled.
About 30 per cent are skilled, less than 10 per cent are professionals and just three per cent technical and up to nine per cent are specialists.
Other apparent challenges include high turnover, high salary expectations, longer working hours, the perception of harder tasks and lesser time for vacation in the private sector.
The Emiratisation initiative by the Ministry has been in place for years but the renewed focus on the private sector is believed to be a soothing balm for thousands of jobless nationals.
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