Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) launched the second edition of the Emirates Labour Market Award.

The award is the first-of-its-kind in the UAE to honour distinguished private sector companies and workforce across the country, aiming to strengthen the UAE’s position as an ideal destination to live, work and invest.

The second edition of the award introduces two new categories – Labour Accommodations and Special Recognition – expanding the award categories from three to five.

Due to the high turnout of the first edition of the award and the distinguished practices in the labour market, it was decided to increase the number of winners from 66 to 90, while the total value of the award is now around AED37 million compared to AED9 million in the first edition.

The award criteria have been developed to align with sustainability and innovation standards, reflecting its prominent status and role in enhancing the labour market.

The Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of the Emirates Labour Market Award, His Excellency Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar, expressed appreciation for His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, for his continuous support of the award since its inception last year.
“His Highness Sheikh Mansour’s patronage has played a crucial role in the success of the award’s first edition, leading to exceptional outcomes at every stage and laying the groundwork for the launch of a developed second edition. The award aims to boost competitiveness across all sectors of the labour market and upholds excellence by implementing effective governance criteria for all categories, ensuring transparency and integrity in the results.”

The Minister was addressing a media briefing hosted by the Ministry in Dubai to unveil the details of the second edition of the Emirates Labour Market Award.

Al Awar said: “The launch of the second edition of the award is in line with the UAE’s commitment to promoting leadership and excellence as integral aspects of the labour market in the UAE, guided by the visionary leadership of the UAE.”

He added: “This edition of the award marks the beginning of a renewed phase in recognising distinguished contributions and highlighting the importance of honouring outstanding work in various fields of the UAE labour market. It aims to showcase innovative experiences, foster competitiveness, and leverage partnerships between the government and the private sectors. This collaboration has contributed to elevating the standards of the country’s labour market and enhanced its appeal to top talent with advanced knowledge and skills. “This supports the UAE’s ambitious goals and progression towards a knowledge-based economy and foster sustainable development.”

Al Awar encouraged private sector companies and workforce to participate in the award, which supports the principle of promoting the ease-of-doing business, stimulating the business sector and encouraging the exchange of innovative practices to develop the country’s labour market.

Categories and criteria

In its current edition, the award includes five categories: The Companies category, which recognises companies that have adopted best practices in their human resources, based on criteria such as recruitment, empowerment, skills attraction, workplace environment, quality of life, innovation and readiness for the future. It also includes the highest level of commitment to

the workplace environment and standards in various economic sectors. 33 companies will be selected to win in this category.

The second category is the Outstanding Workforce, encompassing three distinct sub-categories: The first is Skilled Labour, which recognises high-level professional workforce. Its criteria include achievement, learning, continuous development, and social responsibility.

The second and third sub-categories are Other Professional Workforce and Domestic Workers where winners are evaluated based on social responsibility and achievement. They are nominated by companies, community, employers, and families. 48 winners will be selected to win in this category.

The third category is Labour Accommodations, in which an award is given for the best investments in labour accommodations and applying the best standards in facilities, additional services provided to workers, the adoption and implementation of sustainability initiatives, and workforce well-being.

The fourth category, Business Services Partners, honours companies that have contributed to the development of leading labour market practices. This category has three sub-categories: Domestic worker recruitment agencies – awarded to agencies that apply best practices in supporting their workforce and enabling clients to access the services they need. The second sub-category is Employment Agencies – awarded to agencies that excel in attracting and motivating qualified human resources within the framework of empowerment and development to increase productivity and efficiency. The third sub-category is Business Services Centers – awarded to leading business services centres in the UAE that have implemented best practices in enabling human resources to provide outstanding services to the business sector, in addition to encouraging and motivating them.

In the Business Service Partners category, feedback from service beneficiaries will be considered. Thus, involving the public in the evaluation process.

The fifth category, Special Recognition, honours the following categories: Pioneering Company, which is awarded to a company that has applied outstanding practices and positive impact on the UAE labour market; Personality of the Year for an exceptional individual contributing to the development of the UAE labour market; Leading Initiative for excellence in work relationships and developing best practices in skill acquisition and workforce empowerment; and Social Influencer for a social media influence excelling in promoting labour market regulations, policies, and raising awareness about them.

The companies winning the first place will receive the following benefits: Their classification in the first category within the classifications of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. The winners will receive discounts on Ministry’s services with monetary saving of up to AED1.5

million. Companies that win the second place will receive the same benefits with a monetary saving of up to AED1 million. The company that wins third place will receive the same benefits with a monetary saving of up to AED500,000. All winning companies will also be included in the Diamond tier of the Ministry, which includes benefits such as prioritised transaction processing, addressing technical challenges, and exceptional phone service.

In individual awards, the first-place winners will receive a cash prize of AED100,000, the second-place winners will receive a cash prize of AED75,000, while the third-place winners will receive a cash prize of AED50,000.

The first edition of the award received more than 3500 nominations and 66 workers and companies were honoured, with media coverage of the award reaching over 24 million globally.

The nominations for the award are accepted through the website Riyada.mohre.gov.ae until 31 August, 2024.