Dubai: While the ministry of labour is cracking down on companies that fail to meet emiratisation requirements by stopping all their transactions, a majority of companies have not managed to employ the required number of UAE nationals.
Employers have expressed their despair at the blocking of their transactions, which they say hampers the companies' activities. According to ministry statistics, only 9.2 per cent of companies in the trade sector have been able meet their emiratisation quotas.
Officials at the ministry of labour as well as the National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority, Tanmia, have said that the private sector is not "committed enough" to hire nationals.
Human resources managers at companies complain that some national candidates have demands that are difficult to meet, such as wages that exceed the actual job value, shorter work hours and longer holidays.
Further, some employers say that the nature of the jobs they offer do not attract nationals and hence prevent them from meeting the requirements.
Ayesh Al Barghouthi, Director of the Employment and Skills Development Centre at Tanmia, said that such claims were not legitimate.
"Companies need to create an atmosphere that is attractive and favourable to nationals," he said.
Al Barghouthi also added that both the ministry of labour and Tanmia were taking a flexible approach to emiratisation that would take into consideration the needs of companies.
"We have started to revise the cases of companies that have proved that the majority of their employees are unskilled labour. They now have to meet the quota among their white collar workers," he said.
