Dubai Airports ranked among best workplaces in 2025 – Here’s why

Dubai: Dubai Airports, the operator of the world’s busiest international airport, Dubai International (DXB) and Al Maktoum International (DWC), has been recognised with the 2025 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) for its approach to employee engagement.

The award from Gallup – an American multinational analytics and advisory company - highlights organisations that foster some of the most engaged workplace cultures globally.

Dubai Airports has reached the 75th percentile in employee engagement, placing it among Gallup's best practice companies. According to a Dubai Airport statement, this distinction is achieved only by organisations that “prioritise engagement as a core part of their business strategy.”

Meshari Al Bannai, Chief People Officer at Dubai Airports, said, “Engaged people drive success. This award reflects our ongoing efforts to create a workplace that empowers, supports, and inspires our teams to perform at their best.”

Al Bannai said, “By focusing on wellbeing, growth, and collaboration, we are shaping a dynamic culture where every individual can contribute meaningfully to the future of aviation.”

 Although Dubai Airports directly employs 1,787 people, representing over 61 nationalities, we work with 100,000 people across all our stakeholders, Bannai had said in a previous interview with Gulf News.

Jon Clifton, Gallup’s CEO, said the company’s research on team engagement and performance of the workplace study covers more than 3.3 million employees across 347 organisations, 53 industries, and 90 countries.

“Highly engaged organisations see stronger performance across key areas, including customer experience, profitability, productivity, employee retention, safety, absenteeism, and overall workplace wellbeing,” Gallup explained.

 “Your commitment to creating an environment where employees feel valued, heard and empowered to do their best work is remarkable. By prioritising both people and performance, you are shaping the future of work and proving that exceptional workplaces drive real results,” said Clifton.

As an integrator, Dubai Airports works to balance the interests of all stakeholders to maintain aviation growth.

In 2024, DXB welcomed 92.3 million guests, the highest annual traffic in its history.

DXB also ranked as the world’s number-one airport by international passenger numbers for 2023, as announced by the Airports Council International (ACI).

With expansion plans announced in May 2024, involving a record investment of US$35b, DWC is the future of Dubai Airports. Over the next decade, DWC will accommodate 150m passengers annually, eventually expanding to 260m passengers and 12m tonnes of cargo.