Skip to content

Property industry in Dubai loses more jobs as developers re-assess staffing levels

It is positions in sales and marketing departments that are being hit first. Damac, Dubai's largest private property developer has already confirmed it is cutting 200 jobs.

Now in the face of lower investor confidence and the global property slump Omniyat Properties announced that 60 staff face losing their jobs as it re-thinks the timing of new project launches.

And property giant Emaar Properties, the developer behind the world's tallest tower, said it was reviewing its jobs policy in light of the global financial crisis.

'It is now crucial that we use efficiency and maximise productivity, which includes revisiting our recruitment policies and optimising human resources,' Emaar said in a statement.

Alex Andarakis, managing director of sales and marketing at Omniyat, said jobs would be lost across the company's development, sales and marketing divisions.

'From what is happening globally, regionally and locally, investor confidence has taken a psychological blow. We have a number of projects in the pipeline, which will be brought to the market when conditions can cope with them. Considering this, there are likely to be some redundancies, given the fact that we are not yet launching projects which are still under development. So the intensity of the resources requirement is not there yet,' he added.

Omniyat is the developer behind unusually designed projects such as the iPod- shaped The Pad and the cube-shaped The Opus. Both of these are under construction. Other projects including One Business Bay, Bayswater and The Square which are expected to be delivered early next year.

Andarakis added that the company's international plans were still on track.

The latest wave of redundancies follows the decision by Damac Properties earlier this week to axe 200 jobs across its sales, marketing, recruitment and administration divisions. The chief executive at Damac, Peter Riddoch, said the job losses were 'inevitable' in light of a severe slowdown in the global property market.

Meraas Holding, a recently established Dubai Government owned developer that announced its $ 95.2 billion Jumeirah Gardens development at Dubai's Cityscape last month, has also recently made some members of staff redundant, although it said the move was not related to the company's performance.

A source close to the company said the jobs had been lost across the sales, marketing, legal and human resources departments. 'Meraas Holding can confirm the departure of a few members of staff during this month. This is not an unusual occurrence for a company of its size or stature, most corporations face staff turnover as they seek to introduce new practices and standards in a growing market. The departures were in the wake of a recent organisational review, and are not related to the fortunes of the business or its performance,' the company said in a statement.

Other developers are reviewing their staffing needs. Define Properties chief executive Tarek Kandil said it is currently evaluating its workforce's performance.

Related