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Middle East Edition
1st June 2022
 
THE HOT STORY
Difficult workplace culture drives talent from Saudi
Saudi Arabia wants to attract the world’s talent to work on gigaprojects such as Neom, a group of futuristic technology-driven communities, but a difficult workplace culture is driving many away, reports the Wall Street Journal. Many recruits are fleeing a management culture that former executives say can belittle expatriates, makes unrealistic demands and ignores discrimination. Neom CEO Nadhmi al-Nasr, who was handpicked by Prince Mohammed to lead the project, often berates and scares his employees, current and former staffers say, and Neom has lost dozens of expat executives from its 1,500-member workforce. “I drive everybody like a slave,” Mr. Nasr said in a meeting, according to a recording heard by the Journal. “When they drop down dead, I celebrate. That’s how I do my projects.”
MANAGEMENT
Can HR executives make good CEOs?
The higher value now placed on people skills is raising the profile of HR leaders, and with it their ambition levels, as a growing number aspire to running a business.
LEGAL
Saudi's Nazaha arrests 41 employees on corruption charges
Saudi Arabia's Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) has arrested 41 government officials and employees on charges of bribery, abuse of power, and forgery. Those arrested include officials and employees of the ministries of defense, interior, health and municipal, rural affairs and housing. The arrests follow 3,835 inspection rounds that the authority carried out during the month of Shawwal
EY sued over NMC Health audit
Alvarez & Marsal, the administrators of collapsed healthcare group NMC Health, are suing EY for $2.7bn claiming audit negligence in relation to work carried out by the accountant from 2012 to 2018. The High Court lawsuit claims EY failed to spot NMC Health’s accounts had been fraudulently misstated, that the Abu Dhabi firm had not been keeping proper accounting records, and that it did not have proper controls in place to prevent fraud. The Big Four auditor said it will “defend the claim vigorously.”
HIRING
Reforms needed to attract ground handling talent, IATA says
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged reform to stabilise the talent pool for the aviation industry’s ground handling sector. Thousands of ground handling staff left the industry during the pandemic. “The peak northern summer travel season is fast-approaching, and passengers are already experiencing the effects of bottlenecks in getting security clearances for staff at the airport. Additional resources are needed to accelerate the processing times for employment security clearances which can be as much as six months in some markets. The shortages we are experiencing today are a symptom of the longer-term challenges to achieve a stable talent base in ground handling,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for the Operations, Safety and Security.
REMOTE WORKING
Return to office 'avoids staff conflicts'
The chief executive of real estate group JLL claims workers are “being treated like pop stars” as competition in the labour market persists. Christian Ulbrich said employees feel like they can do whatever they want because of high demand, and claimed that working from home is poisoning workplace relations because conflicts are much easier to resolve in person. Mr Ulbrich told Bloomberg: “The idea of flexibility is not to offer people a four-day weekend and three-day work week, it’s to tie that flexibility to your private life.” He said that the main advantage of the office environment is that “it is much more productive when you need others” to do your job, adding: “You get a better outcome if you are in a room together.”
CORPORATE
Dubai investment firm returns to profit
Investment Corp. of Dubai, Dubai's main state-owned investment firm, has reported a profit of 5.5 billion dirhams ($1.5bn) after a loss of 18.9 billion dirhams a year earlier, rebounding from a pandemic-induced $5.15bn loss. Revenue climbed about 25% to 169 billion dirhams. “Our portfolio companies reaped the benefits of the steps taken earlier during the pandemic to protect their businesses, adapt their models, and enhance cost-effectiveness,” Managing Director Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani said in a statement.
CYBERSECURITY
Special Report: Navigating Cyber Risk
A series of FT reports includes a look at how companies can protect themselves against an increased hacking threat by improving cyber-hygiene — and adopting disruption, as well as prevention, tactics.
INTERNATIONAL
Google Maps workers want the right to work from home
Google Maps workers have clashed with management over remote work policy. Contractors say they can’t bear the financial cost and health risks of returning to the office - but they don’t have the same leverage as full employees to seek exceptions. Google Maps in the Bothell, Washington, office are employed not by Google itself, but through its vendor, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. Bloomberg details the response from the vendor’s human resources department after one contractor emailed to ask if he could have a medical exemption from an edict requesting that Google’s labor vendors return to in-person office work by June 6th. He’d had four lung surgeries, and didn’t feel comfortable sitting in a maskless office after two years of working from home. “If you would like to explore other possibilities with other clients,” an HR representative wrote in an email seen by Bloomberg, “I will be happy to help you connect with the recruitment team and hiring managers.” More than 120 Google Maps contract workers in the Bothell office have now signed a letter to Cognizant, urging the vendor’s management to allow them to continue working from home.
Significant number of Deutsche Telekom employees remain in Russia
German daily Handelsblatt, citing several sources, reports that Deutsche Telekom still has a significant number of staff in Russia. A company spokesperson did not say when a withdrawal would be completed but said the majority of services were now being provided from outside Russia. Deutsche Telekom had announced on Twitter on March 24th that all of its development activities in Russia had been discontinued, and it had offered employees the opportunity to work outside of the country. Deutsche Telekom had said that it had about 2,000 people working in Russia, mainly in St Petersburg.
National security probe launched into takeover of UK microchip producer
Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK Business Secretary, has announced a national security probe into a Chinese-led takeover of Britain’s largest semiconductor plant, Newport Wafer Fab. Netherlands-headquartered Nexperia, which is owned by China’s Wingtech Technology Company, completed the purchase in July last year for a reported £63m. Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, had described the acquisition as posing a greater threat to British interests than Huawei's involvement in the 5G network. The chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Tugendhat, welcomed the move, stating: "We need to maintain a base to build on to ensure the UK is resilient. This isn't just about security today but independence tomorrow.”
EY’s US boss quit after clashing with global chief of Big Four firm
EY US boss Kelly Grier has quit after a power struggle with global chief executive Carmine Di Sibio over the influence her business should wield within the firm’s international operations.
BlackRock’s Asia-Pacific boss confident brain drain is temporary
BlackRock’s Asia-Pacific chief Rachel Lord is confident that an exodus of foreign talent was temporary, and that the region remained attractive despite border closures, repeated lockdowns and political tensions.
 


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