Public and private sectors report poor attendance

Dubai: Both the public and private sectors yesterday saw poor attendance of staff. Many of them had decided to take the day off after being subjected to severe traffic congestion heading back home from work on Tuesday evening.

Maher Al Oabed, head of the investigation unit at the Ministry of Labour, said that the ministry office in Dubai registered a 40 per cent absence rate among the employees as many living in the northern emirates could not make it to work.

"The work flow at the ministry was affected however the remaining 60 per cent of our employees were put under a lot of pressure to fill the gap and many employees did not leave the office until late in the evening to complete some of the pending procedures," said Al Oabed.

Raef Ghaleb, Chairman Office manager for Bonyan International Investment Group, said that approximately 50 per cent of their employees could not make it to work yesterday resulting in the slowdown of work.