Metropolitan Group, a leading real estate group in the UAE, was recognized as the third Best Workplace™ in 2024 in the Large sized business category by the Great Place to Work, a global authority on workplace culture, at their annual awards ceremony last Thursday.
Metropolitan continues making history as the first and only real estate brokerage to ever make the list. The official index ranks the UAE’s best employers based on the confidential feedback of all employees and an audit of management practices and culture at work.
In 2023, the Group ranked sixth Best Workplace in the UAE moving up four places from 2022. The Group was also recognised as the #1 Best Place to Work for Women in the GCC in 2022 and achieved the Best Workplaces list for millennials in the GCC two years running.
One of the key catalysts for the Group’s success in 2023 was its investment in Human Resources (HR) and the re-structuring of the function to a new People, Performance and Culture Team to prioritize employee needs and foster a high-performance workplace culture.
Mike Fleet, Metropolitan Group’s Deputy CEO said: “In 2023, we created a new standalone HR brand to promote internal company culture and drive external brand awareness positioning us as a destination employer for top talent. We designed the new HR operating system to be cross functional, collaborative and flexible. We are shifting from providing basic HR employee services to having a more visible and present offering that provides people insights, enables decision-making and builds capabilities to enable greater business strategy and growth. Our wider HR function is also becoming more data driven which helps us get a better understanding of our employees functional and emotional needs.”
The Group introduced a new HR Business Partner (HRBP) role in 2023 to address employee needs and concerns and strategically align HR with the Group’s business priorities. The HRBPs partner the business to understand and positively influence people, performance and strategic priorities. Through HRBPs, Metropolitan listens to its employees and this month HR launches Metropolitan Minds; a new online facility for all employees to share ideas, give feedback and suggestions for improvements, with the best ideas being rewarded by incentives and prizes.
Nikita Kuznetsov, CEO Metropolitan Group said: “The Metropolitan Group has a clear vision to being recognized as #1 brokerage for real estate services in the UAE and an employer of choice for the real estate community. 2023 was a year of transformation for us as we focused on streamlining business processes, improving employee workflows and operational excellence. These changes boosted productivity, collaboration and enhanced retention as our employees were given management support to become more effective in their roles. We believe that professional workplace positively influences health, wellbeing, employee satisfaction and performance. As we continue to grow, we wanted to provide our employees with optimal working conditions so opened 100,000 square feet of state-of-the-art offices in five locations across UAE.”
One of the Group’s most important and successful HR initiatives is the dedicated Sales and Training Academy, designed to increase employee performance and enhance customer experience and satisfaction. Services include comprehensive induction programs for new joiners, system trainings, product knowledge materials/packs, coaching, team building activities and regular assessments for all employees,
The Metropolitan family has over 700 employees and 66 nationalities speaking 41 languages.
The Group continues to focus on delivering a brilliant client experience; achieving hundreds of five-star Google reviews every year; winning The Feefo Gold Trusted Service Award 2022 and 2023 and this year the company was awarded the coveted Feefo Platinum Service Award 2024.
