Corporate consultancy biz-group named UAE’s top small firm

A local provider of corporate team-building services has its “people-centric” approach to thank after it was named a top small company to work for in the UAE.

The business strategy and training firm biz-group was recognised for its workplace practices, especially in hiring, and being inspirational and welcoming to staff. It has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Yesterday the Great Place to Work Institute Gulf (GPTW), in association with Dubai SME, released its inaugural "Top SMEs to Work for in the UAE" list that highlights successful hiring practices and supports the 230,000 small and medium enterprises in the Emirates. The benchmarking study surveyed 6,000 companies with 20 to 100 employees.

Bev Mileham, the general manager of biz-group, said: “We are in a a consultancy field … helping organisations, so we have to practice what we teach. We go to great lengths when we recruit people and hire very much on our values.”

Five other small and medium-sized companies were recognised for their people practices and human resource programmes.

They are the public relations firm Dabo & Co, Emitac Healthcare Solutions, the Eton Institute (a language school), Leminar (an air-conditioning firm) and Paramount (a technology company).

“It is a far harder for smaller companies to get their hiring practices correct,” said David Robert, the chief executive of GPTW.

“A large company can assimilate any number of employees, but it is not so easy for SMEs. A coherent and open HR strategy is extremely important.”