8.31 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

UAE job cuts: Banking on escaping the pain

Published
By Shuchita Kapoor

As global financial companies cut thousands of banking and trading jobs across the world, UAE employees escaped major pain in the first half of this year.

According to experts in the country, job cuts did not happen in a big way, but there are some in the industry who believe there were rounds of lay-offs, especially in the banking industry. 

“There were certainly a significant number of redundancies in many companies, but the motives for them this year seem to be more about restructuring organisations for growth, or Emiratisation, rather than purely to cut salary costs,” Toby Simpson, Managing Director at The Gulf Recruitment Group told Emirates 24|7.

Hasnain Qazi, Middle East Business Manager at Huxley Associates believes banks have hired and fired at the same time depending on their circumstances.

“Yes, several international and local commercial banks trimmed their workforce in Dubai.

“[This was] across back office and retail banking.

“However, these banks have also been spot hiring to replace outgoing staff with higher calibre or cheaper resource, depending on circumstances.”

Many in the industry say that job cuts, if they happened, were limited to specific companies as there was no nationwide trend that was witnessed in the first half of this year.

Konstantina Sakellariou, Partner, Marketing & Operations Director at Stanton Chase refutes any major job cuts so far in the year.

“Not really. Job cuts [happened] mainly at company level, depending on the strategic plans and potential restructuring of each company. 

“There was no job cut trend in the UAE,” she said while commenting on the trend so far.

Agrees Cliff Single, Commercial Manager at BAC Middle East.

“We have not seen any major rounds of redundancies on the scale of 2008/2009, although some companies have restructured as part of normal ongoing business changes,” he said.

However, in a survey run by Bayt.com, many in the UAE believe there are now fewer people in their organisation.

“Compared to last year, 34 per cent of UAE professionals believe their organisation has now fewer employees, while 28 per cent say number has remained the same and 30 per cent state there are now more employees,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Sales at Bayt.com.

ALSO READ:

Apple’s launch ‘gaffe’: Popstar ‘accidentally’ leaks iPhone 5 pics



UAE video debate: Parents' essential back-to-school survival kit



'Dead dummy' triggers panic on Saudi road