DUBAI: An Australian-listed employment firm says “market conditions” in the oil and gas sector are to blame after it laid off nearly its entire staff employed in Dubai.
Eleven out of 14 staff employed in Programmed’s offices in Dubai Knowledge Village have been made redundant, a company spokesperson told Gulf News by email on Wednesday. Programmed, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), made the layoffs “after a review of current market conditions within the oil and gas industry, as well as an enhanced focus on our core competencies in marine and drilling,” the spokesperson said.
Known as a “labour hire firm” in Australia, Programmed places staff with other companies on short and long-term basis in a variety of sectors, including oil and gas.
Gulf News understands that Programmed had been looking to expand its Dubai offices, which included recently hiring staff who were to develop new roles in the Middle East, and that the redundancies came as a surprise to staff.
The oil and gas industry is seeing a slowdown globally after the 2015 collapse in hydrocarbon prices. Prices this year have rebounded from a 12-year-low of $27.10 a barrel for Brent crude in January, though they are still less than half their mid-2014 value.
Recruiter Morgan and McKingley has said the oil and gas recruitment market in the UAE in 2016 would likely be the most difficult in over a decade.
Programmed employs about 20,000 staff in Australia and New Zealand and has international offices in the US, UK and Singapore, according to its website.
