Aldar is Going to Recruit Its Own Foreign Labour

Hidden behind the glitz of the shopping malls and fancy resorts of the UAE are innumerable unskilled South Asian workers who toil their heart out with a hope that all their labour and sacrifices would benefit their family and home.
Aldar Properties, an Abu Dhabi-based developer, is planning to streamline the recruitment of foreign construction workers and thereby cut out the greedy overseas agencies that often cheat or exploit these expats.
Carrying Aldar’s name a new company will recruit manpower directly from various countries that supply its workers and then subcontract them to various companies or employers for building projects throughout the capital. This company would establish offices across subcontinent and in Southeast Asia to hire and train the manpower and also finance their trip to the beautiful region of Abu Dhabi. According to Ronald Barrott, the Chief Executive of Aldar, this project would smoothen the recruitment process and make it easier for the labourers to travel to the UAE and obtain their visas. Ronald Barrott also confirmed Aldar that the company would pay for various expenses like workers’ visas, travel expenses, medical examinations and training.
Samir Khosla, the Vice-Chairman of Dynamic Staffing Services, which recruits workers in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka for employment in 24 countries, was cautious about the venture’s prospects. He said firms had tried to recruit directly from such countries in the past, but with limited success. “It’s an approach that has a good intent; its achievability is what I wonder about. Clients have the resources to get into the business, and some have tried in the past, but without much success. It’s a different area of business for them and it’s tougher than what meets the eye. India is a big country and the ‘build it and they will come’ mentality doesn’t work. If you set up your recruitment centre in Mumbai, people will not be streaming through the doors because Mumbai is largely composed of transient workers who come from elsewhere in the country.” Mr. Khosla said. According to him most of the workers entering Abu Dhabi did not come from big towns or cities in India, where wages would have been only 20 to 30 per cent less than they could expect to earn in the UAE. Instead, they tend to come from remote areas from which developers would find it difficult to recruit directly.
The Recruitment analysts on the other hand comments that most of the UAE’s construction labourers are hired on third party agency agreements, where a local company gets in touch with an agency in a labour supply country and asks for a certain number of workers. This process leaves workers burdened with huge debts of up to $4,000 to meet the general cost of migration to UAE.
“These guys are paying two to three per cent a month in terms of financing the interest on the money they raise to come to the UAE. The interest is a killer consideration for the folks who are coming here. Layer upon layer of partnerships and relationships had been created in efforts to reach workers in their home countries and bring them to Abu Dhabi. Even though the recruiting agent dealing with the client may have good intentions, that company does not have full control over the supply chain”, said Mr. Khosla.
Although local construction companies may at first contact a reputed recruitment agent, the very nature of the worker supply chain leaves the door open to enormous abuse.