The FINANCIAL — Out of total 300 Georgian citizens, 120 were sent to the Qatar and the UAE for work legally during 2014 by HR Agency KMS, up from 50 from the previous year’s data.
Getting work experience in world class hotels is the main driver of Georgians leaving for the UAE. The current lack of qualifications of Georgians in the hotel management sector, however, is contributing to demand exceeding supply. The unemployment rate in Georgia is over 15%. A big part of the population remains economically dependent on remittances sent by their emigrant relatives. Meanwhile, the recent initiative of the Georgian Government to impose additional requirements from foreign employers carries the risk of losing Qatar and the UAE as a provider of jobs.
Key Management Solutions (KMS), Full Service HR Recruiting, Training and Consulting Agency, has sent over 300 Georgians to the world leading hotels of Qatar and the UAE during the last three years. “In general the demand always exceeds the supply. Currently we have demand for workers from 6 hotels. However, we have delayed their visit for two months as currently we cannot provide the sufficient number,” Maia Tsereteli, Executive Director at KMS, told The FINANCIAL.
In 2014, the Georgian Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Assistance (MOLHSA) drafted a new labour migration law to the Georgian Parliament. One part of the new law on labour migration addresses concerns about labour trafficking, and proposes measures to regulate companies purporting to ‘help’ Georgians obtain work abroad. The law will not differentiate between legal or illegal job providers. Accordingly, Tsereteli fears that by this law Georgia will lose opportunities for legal employment of its citizens abroad.
“It is unfortunate that the new migration law of Georgia will restrict employment by foreigners. We do not have the luxury of being able to reflect on employment opportunities. If we force foreign employers to meet additional demands they will refrain and instead will easily replace Georgian workers with those from Macedonia or Ukraine. Consequently, we will no longer be able to employ the quantity which we do for now. This is a sphere which will be regulated by free competition market rules. Additional regulations are unnecessary. Limiting employers with additional constraints is wrong,” said Tsereteli.
“The Government should carefully assess new initiatives before their introduction. The risks should be foreseen in advance. It is hard to say with whom the Government had negotiations before making these decisions. It seems that the new regulations are being implemented for theoretical workers, without any consultation with businesses,” she added.
KMS is working on employment, training and consulting in the tourism sector, especially in the direction of hotels. Accordingly, the company employs for both Tbilisi and the regions of Georgia, and abroad. The company offers training, staff outsourcing, and the selection of staff for temporary and seasonal work. The service also includes consulting for newly-opened hotels.
KMS is cooperating with such hotel brands as the Starwood, Intercontinental, Rosewood, Address Group, Ritz Carlton, Armani Group, Marriott, Burj Al Arab,W Doha, St Regis. As Tsereteli said, in these hotels employees can gain great experience in a very short period of time, which it would take years to do in Georgia. Hotels in the Emirates may host as many as 3-5 presidents a day. Preparation for such events requires skills and develops workers in line with the standards of such high level visits.”
Getting experience is the main reason why local candidates prefer to work abroad. Program actively promotes legal circular migration of Workforce from Georgia. After getting back to Georgia these candidates then find work at levels two-three times higher than they held abroad or they are re-hired by another destination abroad for higher positions. So this acts as a kind of catalyst for their career.
Over 10% of the Georgian workforce in Qatar and the UAE are hired for management positions, 70% – basic positions, and the rest for supervisory and mid-level management positions.
There are many success stories of Georgian adults that left for the UAE as low level workers and currently hold executive positions. Keti Gvritishvili started work as a front desk assistant at a hotel in Dubai. Currently she is a Sales and Catering Executive. Like Keti, Dmitri Osishvili first started working as a waiter. At present he is an events supervisor; a team leader of over 30 workers at the hotel of the Dubai mall.
Georgians make up a small number of the workforce in the Arab Emirates. According to Tsereteli, the main reason is that the company fails to find sufficient numbers on the local market. . “The workforce in the Emirates is multi ethnic. There are hotels in which 50 different nations are represented by the staff. Recently the number of employees from Ukraine, Macedonia and Romania has started to increase in the Emirates. These are nations who do not have the luxury of being employed on EU markets on a big scale. This has not been manifested previously.”
The staff salaries of Georgians in the Arab Emirates start from USD 400 and above. “It should be noted that this is the amount that is not offset, and employees have no extra expenses. The employer compensates one’s food, insurance, accommodation, transportation, training and flight tickets. In addition, in the Emirates, giving tips to service personnel is quite common. Accordingly, their actual total income is much higher,” Tsereteli said.
In her words, the average age of workers abroad is 30. Employers do not state an age limit. However, KMS tries to avoid sending people there who are over 45 as the hot weather of the Arab Emirates can cause health problems with them. Women are more active in the Georgian workforce. However, when talking about migrant labourers, the activity is equal among males and females.
“Knowledge of foreign languages is the main problem which Georgian candidates are facing. It is followed by adaptation to the workplace . Many Georgians find it hard to get to work on time, work fast and be disciplined. Georgians are more fun-oriented rather than job-oriented,” said Tsereteli.
According to Tsereteli, the company is noticing little activity among Georgian jobseekers. “After receiving their CV we have to call them several times to remind them of the job interview. The awareness of applicants is also a big problem. We still have cases when, after a vacancy opens for a hotel in Doha, applicants call us to ask which street Doha is in Tbilisi! Another example is: we arranged an interview for a five star hotel in Tbilisi today; we expected 15 applicants – out of them five candidates did not come, although confirmed interview day earlier. Even when we call them for an interview they ask us to remind them which vacancy it is that they sent their CV for. That is, once a vacancy is announced, applicants are just blindly sending their résumés out to different companies,” she said.
KMS received an offer from Marriott hotels to become its exclusive provider of staff in the Middle East. It meant supplying 49 hotels with sufficient employees. In order to meet the demand by job providers, KMS decided to establish its own hospitality college that will include practical learning together with theoretical.
“KMS became the official representative of the American Hotel and Lodging Association in Georgia. Accordingly, we will soon start offering training and prepare qualified staff on our base. The peculiarity of the hotel sector is that even if a person holds a PhD degree, without practical experience it will be difficult for them to succeed. This training will help us to accumulate the sufficient number of staff required for both internal and external markets,” Tsereteli said.
“HoReCa specializations remain in demand among Georgians. The Youth Olympics that will take place this summer in Tbilisi has encouraged hotel construction. In this regard the municipalities and Government of Georgia issued loans for the construction of hotels. Accordingly, after all these hotels will be opened there will be a vacuum of staff. So, the demand for employees does exist. However, it is another issue entirely whether the graduates of the professional education centres meet the requirements. From our own experience I would say that professional centres cannot provide qualified graduates,” said Tsereteli.
“The number of employers will increase on the domestic market due to the Youth Olympics. It would be preferable to maintain these trends stably. In this regard a great deal of activity is required,” Tsereteli told The FINANCIAL.
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