I probably sound like I moan about Dubai a whole lot so I think I should set the record straight. Dubai is an awesome place for the right kind of people. For many it's the new land of opportunity where dreams really do come true... where you can jump a few steps up the career ladder, party the nights away, laze on the beach... and all that jazz.
For others that doesn't necessarily ring true. I'm not even going to get into all the stuff that gets reported around the world – that's a whole other books worth and one that talking about right now would surely get me thrown into jail! lol. For now at least I'll just say a few words about corporate Dubai.
I'm not sure what it is about Dubai, but it does have a knack of changing people that come here. Or maybe it's more a case that Dubai attracts a certain kind of person - people who wouldn't usually be so successful back home and are riding high on the glory of their success. And boy does it often get to their heads! Suddenly you have all these 22-year-old expats marching around like divine dictators or high school twats ... and the rest of us onlookers are wondering *jeeez!* what the hell got into him/her... The simple answer, is, well... Dubai.
Ok, so a bit about corporate Dubai. From my experience at least, companies here aren't so into the human resources side of things. There's no career development, no training or investment in staff, and hard work is seldom rewarded. When you come to Dubai, you're a commodity, plain and simple – no beating about the bush.
So first things first, they take your passport away from you... just in case you ever think about doing a runner... And getting it back (albeit temporarily) is a long and complex process involving the gathering of authorisation signatures from about a zillion managers.
My first two years in Dubai were spent working in a windowless basement with dim flickering lights. I've always had 'broken' eyes, but it wasn't long before my eyes (and the eyes of numerous other people) slid a few grades down the vision chart. And what does the company do to improve the situation? Get some better lighting? Move us to an office with windows?? Nope, nada! Similarly, good office equipment was sorely lacking (not worth the investment apparently). For about a year I worked on a computer that (*and I kid you not*) crashed *every* five to 10 minutes... And this being the country's biggest selling national newspaper! (I'll not mention the name! ;)
Working day and night is expected of you. In my situation, as other staff members left or went back home and deadlines were brought forward, I was forced to double and triple my work load - never taking brakes with hardly a second to run to the loo... Twenty minute lunch breaks grabbed whenever there was a moment to spare were raised in performance reviews as an issue of concern. After my 10 hour day was up, I was expected to go home and start my days work as an interviewer and feature writer (ok, so I did it willingly)... right up until the small hours... then a couple of hours sleep and in again for 8am.
For an extra dollop of icing on the cake, from my experience at least, the place really nurtured the kind of working environment where people would think nothing about taking credit for your work and blaming you for their cock-ups – never the best ingredients for a happy working day.
Not last and not least (but the last thing I can think of right now), there's the whopper of an issue of people from a 'certain' part of the world (not the locals) who can't get past the fact that there's a woman in the office. Women are either viewed as 'sexy play things' or 'verbal punching bags' with no middle ground. As a woman, you are usually treated with real disdain and a 'please get out of here and go have some babies or something' type mentality. The Dubai melting pot theory is great, but let me tell you, daily instances of this become truly exhausting! And from my experience, women who get promoted (usually the youngest ones with the shortest skirts), are often so surprised by their success, they spend a dazzling amount of energy making sure the rest of the women stay in their place, never to become a professional threat...
So what about that old cultural melting pot theory? Lunch breaks at my work place were always an amusing sight with different nationalities sitting at various separate tables. Go and sit with people who aren't your own nationality and the conversation literally stops dead with the *confusion* you've caused! Lol...
I've thought long and hard about why Dubai is such a breeding ground for these sorts of working environments... and why there exists here this strange sort of cultural melting pot where people of different nationalities live and work side by side but often never really mix or share a cultural identity like they would in other parts of the world (even among people who have lived here for 20 years or more).
Answers that spring to mind are the gaping issues like salary differences between people who do the same job but have the misfortune of coming from different countries. That leads to restrictions in the way that people socialise – so while some people are champagne brunching in style every weekend (not me! Lol) their colleagues from other parts of the world can barely afford to catch the bus home. There are other issues too - like the fact that expats never get citizenship. Anyone at any given time can get the order to pack up and leave the country within 30 days – whether they've been here for 5 years or 50 years. In that respect, I can see why certain people can't be bothered to change their lifelong perceptions... about women in the work place... or anything at all... After all, why change your fundamental beliefs when everything could change in an instant?
So anyway, these are just a few of my experiences of life in corporate Dubai. I'm sure some companies are great but I know from friends in other work places who had very similar stories to share, that this is veeerry much a Dubai phenomenon.
Would be nice to be proved wrong!
... And that's my rant over! :) Onto a nicer topic for next time ... ;)
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