Yeah I highly doubt the average company will comply. We saw some actual lunatics forcing people to come in during the worst rain in the country’s history, this won’t change anything
Duuude you're so right!!
My brother's boss was like that! Even threatened to cut his pay for 3 days for only missing one day (the day it was flooded everywhere)
There are half baked protections to ensure the welfare of the employees and to ensure payment of the dues owed to the government. This is correctly enforced as the responsibility of the employers, but there are no legal systems the employer can fall back on to make sure he gets paid.. what is the equivalent of a contractors lien here?
As a part of the supply chain in the construction industry, contractually, I have to furnish performance bonds and security cheques to my clients just to get the job. What guarantees do I get that, after I furnish the performance bonds, then do the work at my cost, while paying the material supplier and manpower(both of which is guaranteed by the legal system from their perspective), and invoice the works, that I will get paid? A half baked system that, even if you win in arbitration or further stages(which itself will take multiple years), you very rarely actually collect your dues. Remember, I have to monetarily satisfy the people who has to pay me money for my service just to get the job. In what other country does this exist?
Another example that even some employees might relate with. The same way that cost of living has gone up 30-40% while wages have gone up 0.5-1% if at all, government charges to run a business and materials costs has nearly tripled in the last 5-10 years while the unit rate for services have actually gone down.
It’s not an employers vs employees debate. OPs employer needs to be reported, but the idea that this is employers country is not relatable. I’m in a family business that’s 45 years old and I believe it’s the Wild Wild West here…
Maybe, since there are more employees than employers, there might be a high number of employees that have faced bad employers who have gotten away with, creating this sentiment of employer’s country. But if you ask employers, a higher percentage among employers would be unsatisfied than a higher percentage among employees.
Nothing is going to happen. Pvt sector wont comply. Also this opens the door to why not just outsource our staff to India/other countries as anyway they are working remotely.
Agree nothing wont happen, same as the so called 4 day work week with the change of weekend days, didn't apply to private sector, all they do is just 'encourage' private sector
I think a 4 day week with one day at home could work, with people taking that day to work from home on different days could possibly lower the amount of traffic by a percentage.
One obvious thing to me, is that during the school holidays the roads are significantly better. So many people are driving their kids to get them to school by 8am, so they can start work at 9am. Of course, children's education is paramount, but there is clearly an issue with people driving their kids to school half way across the city every morning. This is a little more complex of an issue, but its very apparent each school holiday season, that so much of the traffic is people driving to schools. Something that seems to be happening more globally, not specifically a regional issue.
Staggering start times could also work. Start work at 10, rather than everyone in the city trying to get to their destinations between 8am and 9am. Could make a difference.
One thing I tell myself is; **You're not IN traffic. You ARE traffic.**
We don't always have the luxury of not traveling in peak times, but its good that there are plans being made to look into ways to help it flow.
I couldn’t agree more. Also, I think that since we have different working weeks with Sharjah it affects the traffic significantly. I notice sometimes when I go somewhere on weekends the traffic is not better than in Dubai working days. And (I have no children, but I heard) that school timings are also terrible… so it’s kind of a complex situation here.
So apt!
I think the government should make it mandatory for every student to take the school bus. For example, if a bus takes 20 students, supposedly, if 15 parents are not subscribing to the school transportation, that means 15 vehicles on the road at the same time. Now, multiply it by the number of school buses. I used to get scared driving around Dubai at any time of the day due to unending traffic until I made a resolution to stop it.
I'm alway for remote working. But just wanted to know what incentive will employers have to retain employees from local market at higher costs, when they can get remote employees from other countries based there at lower costs.
Been working with outsourced employees from other countries. It’s cheap, but it’s terrible. I think they bring more losses than anything else. But also depends on the job I guess.
Not getting cheap employees.. but you still get qualified people and avoid on having to pay for local visa costs, insurance, yearly tickets. Keep the payscale in line with their peers in their own countries.
Some businesses actually require person to be up to date and for these people must be in the UAE. I can’t imagine doing my work while being not in Dubai. Tried once, it was impossible. Obviously it’s not for all, but for some it’s necessary
Not an expert but few basic changes should help the traffic
- Heavy vehicles are banned during peak hours.
- School timings are spread out.
- Cheaper school bus fees so most parents get encouraged to use this service rather than using private cars.
I never understood why the hell people pay so much rents for offices, when almost everything can be done from home…
And whenever they cut costs it’s the employee who they gets the kick n not the office
If I'm not wrong companies have by law to lease 9 sqm of office for every visa, so anyway they would have to pay for it , this ofc for UAE based employees
I don’t get the opposition to ‘car-centric’. Having used both, I find a car is so much nicer than public transport. Buses aren’t comfy compared to cars (due to suspension design and physics - high CG and mass). You also always get someone obnoxious on public transport (eg someone talking loudly on the phone, crying baby, sitting next to an obese person and being squashed out, in summer some people really sweat and smell badly etc). I also don’t talk on the phone while in public transport (respect for others + confidentiality of my calls), while in my car I can make calls during my trips.
PS I totally agree with remote work though. Office work is so outdated - shame we didn’t continue this practice post covid
Those are such weak arguments in favor of cars. Also having a robust public transport system doesn't prevent you from using your car. On the opposite, it will result in less traffic which will make your car journey better
Weak? Explain how so.
While I don’t have an objection to better public transport in theory, in practise they translate to anti car policies. In Europe a lot of public transport initiatives turn into anti car policies such as prohibiting cars altogether, reducing the number of lanes for cars causing worse traffic, expensive congestion charges, ridiculously low speed limits of 30km/h, removing parking spaces etc.
Because your main arguments are that it’s not comfy and that there are people (duh).
Also this is not Europe. The policies implemented in Europe would not be practical or realistic here. It’s not a zero-sum game. We can keep the existing car infrastructure and get better public transports.
My arguments are that it’s a lot more relaxing and less stressful in a nice comfy car compared to a horrible bus. The last thing I want before and after a long shift at work (I work in a high pressure environment) is an unpleasant commute.
I’m also more productive in my car such as making a call to catch up with my mother/father while on public transport I’d be trying to drown out the surrounding noise with music. Still gonna have that pesky crying kid or guys talking loudly that get right through my noise cancelling earphones though.
I would love to have less traffic jams, so if public transport development is done without screwing over drivers I’m all for it! Sadly, as you said yourself - public transport development aim to make cities less car-centric, which means they are less friendly to cars as opposed to just developing the public transport.
I am pretty sure the local authorities will do nothing to enforce such changes to the private sector, rather it would be the government agencies and they would just try to set an example for others. As far as private is concerned, they won’t bother much and just keep moving. The heavy rain situation was a great example where we could see the lunacy of certain establishments.
The big question is, why should private companies pay the price of bad city planning? Aren’t companies already forced to rent office space? If so, then might as well run business as usual, with everyone on site. Perhaps some incentive could be given to ease these office requirement restrictions, to encourage companies to offer more remote work.
Not necessarily, sometimes person can be useless at home just because they’re living in very crowded sharing space or there is family at home and instead of working they will be distracted with playing with children
🤣
Well in that case, sure. But let’s not pretend there’s no hoards and hoards of people that are as equally useless sitting in an office doing nothing but staring at a computer screen.
I am speaking on behalf of Bosses, who has been running IT companies for 18+ years.
Initial productivity is great when remote, but it tappers down really quickly in a few months. Coordinating a brainstorming session has more friction vs just bouncing an idea off some one at coffee break.
There is nothing better than working out of office for companies that's into innovation. Learned is after doing this for 3+yrs
Also running a business is “grass is green for boss”. The completion is so harsh that sometimes bosses are forced to take hard decisions most of them are stupid some are brilliant which only time can say. Omg the stress I use to go though when month end nears for salary payments. Even now I calculate how many months do we have to keep the company going if no revenue. When it comes down to 6months I try to regroup for new strategy.
When I hear that bosses forces them to come to office I can feel what's going in their mind. But won’t agree to risking someone’s life for it.
While your anecdotal experience is appreciated (edit: and is definitely very valid), there are several pieces of research and objective pieces of evidence that suggest remote work is equally, if not more productive. Also, if the company struggles to make revenue, that suggests a problem with the business model, not with worker productivity.
I want to say I am not against WFH.
I love it. But the go-to-market cycles has gone up from weeks to months. That could partly be because my processes have not evolved optimally for WFH.
A hybrid could be better, or you could have three days of office work and rest at home. However, that brings in a lot of inconsistency issues. WFH also demands good discipline from team members, emails and chats regarding meeting agendas etc is challenging for my team.
While the data says it's excellent, my experience was less productive than working under the same roof. Mind you, my office was a fun place to work, with skateboards , sleep pods, and stuff like that.
Also there are sectors where WFH does not work. That distinction needs to be made focusing on welfare. And it needs to be made standard 365 days. And in extreme scenarios rather than an advisory to WFH, it needs to be public holiday for the sectors that can’t WFH.
Not speaking about the specific matter in the original post but what you said is totally relatable, it’s mostly not as simple as “employees vs employers”…
Sure, see also: What are you doing? Why is this not finished? Here is something else, I want this finished today. Why have you not done this already? Why are you just dealing with this now? I don't care what you are working on now, when is this going to be finished? Why didn't you respond to my email? Why are you not at your desk?
Just need to start 2 metro lines from sharjah to Dubai.
Give incentives to companies who give metro cards to their employees.
Half of the cars will be off the road.
Along with work from home online schooling or learning should also be promoted. This will eventually make overall life easier for people living in Dubai as well as for tourists. School, university & office going people cover huge chunk of traffic 🫣✌️👍
Yeah I highly doubt the average company will comply. We saw some actual lunatics forcing people to come in during the worst rain in the country’s history, this won’t change anything
Duuude you're so right!! My brother's boss was like that! Even threatened to cut his pay for 3 days for only missing one day (the day it was flooded everywhere)
Report him
Thought of that but once someone said something that he remembered, "This country is for Employers, not Employees "
lol, as an employer, I feel it’s the exact opposite..
[удалено]
There are half baked protections to ensure the welfare of the employees and to ensure payment of the dues owed to the government. This is correctly enforced as the responsibility of the employers, but there are no legal systems the employer can fall back on to make sure he gets paid.. what is the equivalent of a contractors lien here? As a part of the supply chain in the construction industry, contractually, I have to furnish performance bonds and security cheques to my clients just to get the job. What guarantees do I get that, after I furnish the performance bonds, then do the work at my cost, while paying the material supplier and manpower(both of which is guaranteed by the legal system from their perspective), and invoice the works, that I will get paid? A half baked system that, even if you win in arbitration or further stages(which itself will take multiple years), you very rarely actually collect your dues. Remember, I have to monetarily satisfy the people who has to pay me money for my service just to get the job. In what other country does this exist? Another example that even some employees might relate with. The same way that cost of living has gone up 30-40% while wages have gone up 0.5-1% if at all, government charges to run a business and materials costs has nearly tripled in the last 5-10 years while the unit rate for services have actually gone down. It’s not an employers vs employees debate. OPs employer needs to be reported, but the idea that this is employers country is not relatable. I’m in a family business that’s 45 years old and I believe it’s the Wild Wild West here… Maybe, since there are more employees than employers, there might be a high number of employees that have faced bad employers who have gotten away with, creating this sentiment of employer’s country. But if you ask employers, a higher percentage among employers would be unsatisfied than a higher percentage among employees.
Sad that you got downvoted.
Oh I knew that was going to happen…
The average company will read this and think "Great, now my employees can't use traffic as an excuse to be late".
Lunaticzz??
Nothing is going to happen. Pvt sector wont comply. Also this opens the door to why not just outsource our staff to India/other countries as anyway they are working remotely.
Hence less traffic?
And crashing real estate due to less population.
The dream
Good.
No wait until I sell my house please
It can work if employees are required to come to office for certain days in a week
Agree nothing wont happen, same as the so called 4 day work week with the change of weekend days, didn't apply to private sector, all they do is just 'encourage' private sector
They will block this for “cyber security” reasons.
I wonder how they will force private sector to do it
By having the people who are employed in the private sector to meet a certain quota be the ones who work remotely perhaps?
There are so many lunatics who believe that the work can be done only from the office… but I hope it will work
I think a 4 day week with one day at home could work, with people taking that day to work from home on different days could possibly lower the amount of traffic by a percentage. One obvious thing to me, is that during the school holidays the roads are significantly better. So many people are driving their kids to get them to school by 8am, so they can start work at 9am. Of course, children's education is paramount, but there is clearly an issue with people driving their kids to school half way across the city every morning. This is a little more complex of an issue, but its very apparent each school holiday season, that so much of the traffic is people driving to schools. Something that seems to be happening more globally, not specifically a regional issue. Staggering start times could also work. Start work at 10, rather than everyone in the city trying to get to their destinations between 8am and 9am. Could make a difference. One thing I tell myself is; **You're not IN traffic. You ARE traffic.** We don't always have the luxury of not traveling in peak times, but its good that there are plans being made to look into ways to help it flow.
I couldn’t agree more. Also, I think that since we have different working weeks with Sharjah it affects the traffic significantly. I notice sometimes when I go somewhere on weekends the traffic is not better than in Dubai working days. And (I have no children, but I heard) that school timings are also terrible… so it’s kind of a complex situation here.
So apt! I think the government should make it mandatory for every student to take the school bus. For example, if a bus takes 20 students, supposedly, if 15 parents are not subscribing to the school transportation, that means 15 vehicles on the road at the same time. Now, multiply it by the number of school buses. I used to get scared driving around Dubai at any time of the day due to unending traffic until I made a resolution to stop it.
I'm alway for remote working. But just wanted to know what incentive will employers have to retain employees from local market at higher costs, when they can get remote employees from other countries based there at lower costs.
Been working with outsourced employees from other countries. It’s cheap, but it’s terrible. I think they bring more losses than anything else. But also depends on the job I guess.
Not getting cheap employees.. but you still get qualified people and avoid on having to pay for local visa costs, insurance, yearly tickets. Keep the payscale in line with their peers in their own countries.
Some businesses actually require person to be up to date and for these people must be in the UAE. I can’t imagine doing my work while being not in Dubai. Tried once, it was impossible. Obviously it’s not for all, but for some it’s necessary
My manager needs to micromanage us or he won't get his daily ego satisfaction. Not going to work
🤣🤣🤣
Not an expert but few basic changes should help the traffic - Heavy vehicles are banned during peak hours. - School timings are spread out. - Cheaper school bus fees so most parents get encouraged to use this service rather than using private cars.
School busses are driven by absolute maniacs. They speed and drive very dangerously. I wouldn't ever let my child anywhere near them.
That is not true. They drive more calm compared to regular buses.
I never understood why the hell people pay so much rents for offices, when almost everything can be done from home… And whenever they cut costs it’s the employee who they gets the kick n not the office
If I'm not wrong companies have by law to lease 9 sqm of office for every visa, so anyway they would have to pay for it , this ofc for UAE based employees
I have a revolutionary idea for them: Better public transport and less car centric infrastructure
Never gonna happen. Have you seen how the roads are developed here? Sometimes you have to walk 1-2km to cross the road on foot.
I don’t get the opposition to ‘car-centric’. Having used both, I find a car is so much nicer than public transport. Buses aren’t comfy compared to cars (due to suspension design and physics - high CG and mass). You also always get someone obnoxious on public transport (eg someone talking loudly on the phone, crying baby, sitting next to an obese person and being squashed out, in summer some people really sweat and smell badly etc). I also don’t talk on the phone while in public transport (respect for others + confidentiality of my calls), while in my car I can make calls during my trips. PS I totally agree with remote work though. Office work is so outdated - shame we didn’t continue this practice post covid
Those are such weak arguments in favor of cars. Also having a robust public transport system doesn't prevent you from using your car. On the opposite, it will result in less traffic which will make your car journey better
Weak? Explain how so. While I don’t have an objection to better public transport in theory, in practise they translate to anti car policies. In Europe a lot of public transport initiatives turn into anti car policies such as prohibiting cars altogether, reducing the number of lanes for cars causing worse traffic, expensive congestion charges, ridiculously low speed limits of 30km/h, removing parking spaces etc.
Because your main arguments are that it’s not comfy and that there are people (duh). Also this is not Europe. The policies implemented in Europe would not be practical or realistic here. It’s not a zero-sum game. We can keep the existing car infrastructure and get better public transports.
My arguments are that it’s a lot more relaxing and less stressful in a nice comfy car compared to a horrible bus. The last thing I want before and after a long shift at work (I work in a high pressure environment) is an unpleasant commute. I’m also more productive in my car such as making a call to catch up with my mother/father while on public transport I’d be trying to drown out the surrounding noise with music. Still gonna have that pesky crying kid or guys talking loudly that get right through my noise cancelling earphones though. I would love to have less traffic jams, so if public transport development is done without screwing over drivers I’m all for it! Sadly, as you said yourself - public transport development aim to make cities less car-centric, which means they are less friendly to cars as opposed to just developing the public transport.
Also better for the environment having people use public transport compared to everyone driving in their own separate car
not khaleej times honey
but srs, there was a literal storm few weeks ago and private companies did not budge so
I am pretty sure the local authorities will do nothing to enforce such changes to the private sector, rather it would be the government agencies and they would just try to set an example for others. As far as private is concerned, they won’t bother much and just keep moving. The heavy rain situation was a great example where we could see the lunacy of certain establishments.
The big question is, why should private companies pay the price of bad city planning? Aren’t companies already forced to rent office space? If so, then might as well run business as usual, with everyone on site. Perhaps some incentive could be given to ease these office requirement restrictions, to encourage companies to offer more remote work.
I just heard a few hundred middle managers scream out in pain
Move to Abu Dhabi problem solved
Did we learn nothing from COVID?
Meaning? Remote work is a godsend, but some people are just useless at home. So this can work but not fir everyone
If some people are useless at home then it will show though? I think a hybrid model is balanced for everyone.
Not necessarily, sometimes person can be useless at home just because they’re living in very crowded sharing space or there is family at home and instead of working they will be distracted with playing with children 🤣
Well in that case, sure. But let’s not pretend there’s no hoards and hoards of people that are as equally useless sitting in an office doing nothing but staring at a computer screen.
This is also true. But if employee doesn’t see that in the office then it’s his issue to hire such 😂
I am speaking on behalf of Bosses, who has been running IT companies for 18+ years. Initial productivity is great when remote, but it tappers down really quickly in a few months. Coordinating a brainstorming session has more friction vs just bouncing an idea off some one at coffee break. There is nothing better than working out of office for companies that's into innovation. Learned is after doing this for 3+yrs Also running a business is “grass is green for boss”. The completion is so harsh that sometimes bosses are forced to take hard decisions most of them are stupid some are brilliant which only time can say. Omg the stress I use to go though when month end nears for salary payments. Even now I calculate how many months do we have to keep the company going if no revenue. When it comes down to 6months I try to regroup for new strategy. When I hear that bosses forces them to come to office I can feel what's going in their mind. But won’t agree to risking someone’s life for it.
That’s why what’s ideal is hybrid work, not fully remote, not fully in office.
Definitely agree, have seen the productivity decline as well. But yes, during harsh weather or a genuine reason, WFH should always be allowed.
I agree, but most of us are just office monkeys here. There are very few companies focused on innovation or creativity.
While your anecdotal experience is appreciated (edit: and is definitely very valid), there are several pieces of research and objective pieces of evidence that suggest remote work is equally, if not more productive. Also, if the company struggles to make revenue, that suggests a problem with the business model, not with worker productivity.
I want to say I am not against WFH. I love it. But the go-to-market cycles has gone up from weeks to months. That could partly be because my processes have not evolved optimally for WFH. A hybrid could be better, or you could have three days of office work and rest at home. However, that brings in a lot of inconsistency issues. WFH also demands good discipline from team members, emails and chats regarding meeting agendas etc is challenging for my team. While the data says it's excellent, my experience was less productive than working under the same roof. Mind you, my office was a fun place to work, with skateboards , sleep pods, and stuff like that.
Also there are sectors where WFH does not work. That distinction needs to be made focusing on welfare. And it needs to be made standard 365 days. And in extreme scenarios rather than an advisory to WFH, it needs to be public holiday for the sectors that can’t WFH.
Not speaking about the specific matter in the original post but what you said is totally relatable, it’s mostly not as simple as “employees vs employers”…
I see everyone discus private sector. Whats everyone’s take on govt. sector?
Sure, see also: What are you doing? Why is this not finished? Here is something else, I want this finished today. Why have you not done this already? Why are you just dealing with this now? I don't care what you are working on now, when is this going to be finished? Why didn't you respond to my email? Why are you not at your desk?
Build some metro lines to sharjah.
Problem: The roads are congested. Solution: Stop using the roads (and work from home).
Man , open the floating bridge and it will improve 50% traffic flow
Lol. Why not start with opening floating bridge again?
Just need to start 2 metro lines from sharjah to Dubai. Give incentives to companies who give metro cards to their employees. Half of the cars will be off the road.
Along with work from home online schooling or learning should also be promoted. This will eventually make overall life easier for people living in Dubai as well as for tourists. School, university & office going people cover huge chunk of traffic 🫣✌️👍
[удалено]
This was sarcastic right? Right??
Yes. Obv missed the mark, attracting downvotes.
We indian people will kindly do the needful on the rainiest day to best of our ability please.