Dubai: Expatriate secretaries will be able to continue working for their employers as long as the title and nature of their positions are adjusted, said a senior labour official.
Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Undersecretary of Labour, said that although secretarial positions were to be emiratised, employers were being given the option to keep their former expatriate secretaries as long as they were given alternative positions.
"There is a need for flexibility in implementing the rules. The idea is to encourage companies to employ UAE nationals," he said.
However, he added that secretarial positions were exclusively reserved for UAE nationals.
A ministerial decision which came into effect on June 24 requires all secretarial positions to be emiratised.
The Ministry of Labour issued a circular last week setting the rules and regulations for the implementation of the decision.
The circular allowed companies to renew the labour cards of their expatriate secretaries provided that they would employ or train a national for the job for a year.
Arvind Kashyapa, general manager of an India-based insurance company welcomed the move saying he would like to keep his Indian secretary employed if he were given the chance, but added that his company would continue to look for a national secretary to take the position.
He also expressed frustration at difficulties faced in trying to find an appropriate UAE national candidate for the position.
"We are desperately looking for UAE nationals. We called sixty-nine people from a list of potential candidates provided by Tanmia [National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority] but not a single one was interested. We're even willing to pay UAE nationals more," he said.
Kashyapa said he had contacted Tanmia about the difficulties faced in recruiting UAE nationals but received no response, attributing the lack of interest to the abundance of attractive government sector jobs for UAE nationals.
Sebastian Joseph, administrative manager at an advertising agency, was not as enthusiastic.
"It wouldn't be practical to create a new position for the former secretary. We have to consider costs and cannot exceed staff budgets," he said.
He added that such a decision would depend on the capability of the expatriate secretary. "We won't do it just for the sake of it," he said.
