Hundreds of Expat Etisalat Employees Laid Off During Past Two Years, FNC Told
ABU DHABI // Telecoms provider Etisalat laid off 806 expatriate staff and eight Emirati employees between 2014 and 2016, the company told the Federal National Council.
The Emiratis were let go for “misconduct, not obliging with the company’s rules and their job requirement,” said Saleh Al Abdouli, chief executive of Etisalat in a written response to questions by members about redundancies at the communications giant.
However, during the same period, 218 Emiratis and 435 expats were recruited “in specific fields that require certain types of skills and expertise” said Mr Al Abdouli.
“In order to keep up with the rapid growth of the telecommunications sector, it became necessary to designate a number of international foreign experts in this field.”
Nevertheless, the rate of Emiratis’ resigning from Etisalat was “acceptable” and lower than any other commercial company in the country, said Mr Al Abdouli, adding that they were replaced with compatriots who were fit for the job.
The resignations were the result of the high qualifications held by Etisalat staff, making it natural for other companies to offer them positions, said the chief executive.
FNC member Khaled bin Zayed raised questions about recent lay-offs “for some Emirati employees and designating expat workers to do their jobs” before Tuesday’s session.
The member asked about the number of Emirati and expat employees who had been recruited and fired in the last three years “in comparison with the Emiratisation plan by Etisalat”.
Last April, Etisalat told The National that 100 positions were made redundant in 2014. The telecommunications firm said that 30 of those employees were redeployed into operations within the Etisalat Group, but 70 staff were made redundant.
The lost positions were at a group level, which handled Etisalat operations outside the UAE. Etisalat has a presence in 18 markets, which included Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Etisalat said in 2015 that the trimming of its group level headcount was part of “operating efficiently”.
A former Etisalat employee whose job was cut in 2014 said the move came after Etisalat bought a €4.2 billion (Dh16.77bn) stake in Maroc Telecom, which was completed two years ago.
On March 28, Etisalat appointed Mr Al Abdouli as chief executive after Ahmad Julfar left the company for personal reasons on March 10.
Mr Al Abdouli had a four-year stint running its UAE operations before he became chief executive. His appointment came as the majority of Etisalat’s international operations are facing increasing competitive pressures, regulatory risks and pressure on domestic currency.
“The key challenge will be to safeguard and improve profitability, restructure operations and identify growth areas in each operation, especially in Africa, Egypt and Pakistan,” said Nishit Lakhotia, the head of research at Securities & Investment Company (Sico) in Bahrain on the day of the appointment.
Etisalat, the country’s biggest publicly-traded company, posted a Dh2.6 billion net profit for the fourth quarter in February. The operator’s net profit was at Dh2.14bn in the same quarter of 2015.
In June of 2015, the Government announced the opening up of Etisalat to overseas investors for the first time. Etisalat’s shares have rallied since then, and shares in du also received a boost.
(Source: TheNational.ae)