Judges selected for Taqdeer labour excellence award

Dubai: The highly-anticipated Taqdeer Award for excellence in labour welfare has announced the formation of its Judging Committee comprising of leaders from the government sector.

The award was launched last year under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council.

Its newly-formed committee will review the shortlisted nominated applications received from the assessment team, decide potential winners and also hold a final meeting to approve the results to be submitted to the Chairman of the Award, to be further presented to the office of Shaikh Hamdan, patron of the award, for approval.

Winners of 5 and 4-star ratings will receive a certificate, enjoy priority in government projects, and will be honoured at an award ceremony. These top ratings will give companies a competitive advantage in bidding for international contracts.

The award ceremony is scheduled to take place in October.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General, Dubai Municipality, has been nominated as the president of the judging committee.

The committee members also include Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Marri, Director-General, General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai; Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman, Dubai Aviation City Corporation; Humaid Bin Deemas, Assistant Undersecretary, Labour Affairs. Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation; and Aida Abdul Rahim Al Harmoodi, Head of Consultants and Contractors Qualification Section, Buildings Department, Dubai Municipality.

The award, which means ‘recognition’ in Arabic, describes itself as the world’s first points-based award programme for recognising excellence in labour welfare practices and seeks to promote international best practices in labour welfare among construction companies.

The points will be based on three criteria: culture and work environment (250 points), essential fundamentals such as labour security, recruitment and wages (250 points) and labour results, which will include labour perceptions (500 points).

There are around 282 companies in this sector in Dubai, providing jobs for more than 500,000 workers. The award will target those companies employing more than 100 workers.

In its first cycle 2016, the award is focusing on construction sector companies and will be expanded in its future cycles to include both the free zones and manufacturing companies.

Major General Obaid Muhair Bin Surour, Deputy Director-General, GDRFA, who is the chairman of the award, said the committee will play a crucial role in facilitating the achievement of the goals of the award by guiding the assessment teams to ensure that the selection criteria are met. The committee will be responsible for the final approval of the award winners.

The launch of the award comes at a time when Dubai’s construction sector stays strong, as stated by latest Deloitte and MEED Projects report that the projects under construction or in the pipeline in Dubai are estimated at over $390.8 billion (around Dh1.43 trillion).

Box: Taqdeer award points system

Total points: 1,000

Essential fundamentals: 250 points

Labour policies, Facilities and infrastructure, health and safety, labour security, recruitment and wages.

Culture and work environment: 250 points

Labour relations, Communication and feedback, justice and transparency, creativity and innovation, admin resolutions and instructions

Labour results: 500 points

Labour perceptions, Performance indicators

Box: Award eligibility

Must be licensed in Dubai and hold a valid business licence.

Must be categorised as a ‘Building and Construction’ organisation, and perform engineering works such as civil, electrical and mechanical

Factories are not permitted to participate in the award at this stage

Organisations established less than two years are not permitted to participate

New organisations must have executed a minimum of two projects at least during the past two years

Organisations that employ subcontractor labour are not permitted to participate

Organisations licensed in Dubai but having labour accommodation in a different emirate are permitted to participate