أساس | Foundation
The Emiratisation Programme
That Works Both Sides.
Filling the quota is the easy part. Keeping the hire is where most companies fail.
The Problem
The Seat That Fills. Then Empties.
MoHRE fines run at AED 9,000 per month, per vacancy. For SMEs in the 20–49 bracket, retrospective penalties have already reached AED 108,000.
But most Emiratisation failures don’t start with a candidate problem. They start before the hire walks through the door.
The role wasn’t defined before they arrived. The manager wasn’t prepared to receive them. The team had already formed assumptions, and no one addressed those assumptions before day one.
The company achieved compliance. It never built retention.
The Insight
The Breakdown Happens in the Space Between
Most onboarding programmes train one side. The candidate receives an induction. The manager receives a briefing. The gap between them goes unaddressed entirely.
By the time early disengagement is visible, it has been building for weeks. Most managers don’t see it coming. Most hires don’t say it’s happening.
This is not a candidate problem. And it cannot be solved by training one side of the relationship.
What Asas Is
Built for Both Sides of the Hire
Asas is Haute Training’s structured 90-day Emirati Talent Management Programme. It runs two parallel tracks simultaneously, one for the Emirati hire, one for their line manager, from the week before day one through to the end of month three.
The two tracks don’t run in sequence. They run together. Because the dynamic that determines whether a placement succeeds is not built by training the hire, then training the manager. It is built by preparing both sides at the same time, for the same environment.
In Arabic, Asas means foundation.
Not because it is a strong word. Because it describes exactly what most placements are missing.
Track 01
The Manager
Delivered before the hire starts
The first two weeks determine retention more reliably than almost any other variable. By the time a hire is visibly disengaging, most managers don’t know it has already been building.
The manager who was prepared before their hire arrived is a different manager entirely.
Track 02
The Employee
Months one and two
Day one is not about skills. It is about giving the hire an honest map of where they have arrived, and how to build credibility inside it without losing themselves.
The hire who understands the environment they have entered navigates it differently from one left to figure it out alone.
Six structured conversations across all three months. Two per month, one with the hire, one with the manager. Designed to surface what isn’t being said before it becomes a departure.
The Programme in Numbers
Structure You Can Plan Around
1
2
6
2
Why It Works
The Failure Was Never the Candidate
Research consistently shows the most frequent reason Emirati hires disengage early is not performance. It is being placed in a role that doesn’t feel real, with a manager who wasn’t prepared to receive them.
The hire who feels genuinely included from week one, managed by someone who was ready before they arrived, supported through 90 days of real adjustment stays.
Compliance gets you the hire. Asas keeps them.
Who This Is For
SMEs Ready to Make the Placement Last
Companies placing Emirati nationals into real operational roles, not seat-filling exercises
SMEs managing a quota gap or preparing for an upcoming hire
Businesses that have had placements fail and want to understand why, and prevent it
The Foundation Comes First
Everything else follows.
Book a Discovery Call to start the conversation.