Metropolitan Group ranks in the Top 10 Best Workplaces™ UAE Index: Culture that fuels real estate success

Group’s exceptional culture earns it a Top 10 place for a fourth consecutive year and remains the only real estate agency ever to appear on the prestigious list

Published: Tue 8 Apr 2025, 9:02 AM

• Partner Content

Metropolitan Group, a leading real estate group in the UAE, has once again ranked among the Best Workplaces™ in 2025 in the Large-sized business category by Great Place to Work, a global authority on workplace culture. The announcement was made at their annual awards ceremony last month.

The Group continues to make history as the first and only real estate brokerage to ever make the top 10, a recognition that holds even greater significance in an industry often perceived as highly competitive and demanding. Real estate is known for its high-pressure environment, where success is driven by resilience, skill, and the ability to navigate intense market dynamics. For Metropolitan Group to stand out in this space as a top workplace is a testament to its deliberate and sustained efforts to foster a supportive and empowering culture for its agents.

The official index ranks the UAE’s best employers based on the confidential feedback of all employees and an audit of management practices and workplace culture. In 2024, the Group achieved its highest-ever ranking in the Best Workplace in the UAE, moving up three places from 2023. The Group was also recognised as the #1 Best Place to Work for Women in the GCC in 2022 and has been featured on the Best Workplaces list for millennials in the GCC for two consecutive years.

“The Metropolitan Group has a clear vision to being recognised as the #1 brokerage for real estate services in the UAE and an employer of choice for the real estate community,” said Nikita Kuznetsov, CEO Metropolitan Group. “This recognition validates the hard work and dedication of our entire team. At the Metropolitan Group, we have always believed that a thriving workplace culture is key to our success and this achievement is a direct result of our continuous commitment to employee development, engagement and empowerment.”

One of the primary drivers for Metropolitan Group’s success was its substantial investment in the rollout of various people and culture initiatives in 2024. These new programs focused on strengthening the Group’s core values, fostering a robust feedback culture, enhancing recognition and rewards, promoting innovation and prioritizing employee training and development.

Mike Fleet, deputy CEO at Metropolitan Group, said: “Real estate is a high-pressure industry, especially for agents working on a commission-only basis, where success depends entirely on performance. That’s why having the right support system, training, and workplace culture is essential. At Metropolitan Group, we invest in our people, ensuring they have the tools, guidance, and environment needed to excel. Being recognised as one of the UAE’s top workplaces for the fourth consecutive year is a testament to our commitment to creating a culture where agents can thrive and achieve their full potential.”

The Group introduced several new initiatives in 2024 to further cultivate the employee experience and culture at work.

DRIVE values: The Group revisited its core values, resulting in the creation of DRIVE – which stands for Discipline, Respect, Integrity, Vibrancy and Excellence. These values reflect the Group’s ethos and are embedded into the hiring process and day-to-day operations, with award categories introduced to recognise employees who embody them. The Group also established a new ethics framework that was supported by an ethics committee, to promote the right behaviors across the organisation.

Feedback culture: Taking a step further with its employee-first culture, the Group introduced several new initiatives to encourage feedback and foster open dialogue. Regular employee surveys were conducted to gather feedback on all aspects of the working environment along with input from first-line managers. The feedback from the surveys helped develop actionable plans to ensure that employees feel heard. The company also established an open-door policy, with CEO and deputy CEO accessible for direct feedback.

Recognition and rewards: The launch of the Metropolitan Stars program rewards high-performing employees with non-monetary recognition, including digital sales notification display with deal alerts, a ‘Wall of Fame’ for top performers and an online community platform, Metropolitan Hub, for recognising employees who go above and beyond.

Innovation: The Metropolitan Minds initiative has encouraged employees to share innovative ideas, leading to 25 new ideas being submitted in just two months with a few of these ideas already being implemented. To further support development, the company launched the Metropolitan Online Academy to provide employees with cutting-edge sales training, product knowledge and career development tools.

Metropolitan Essentials: The Group also introduced a new skills program focused on the essentials for a high performing sales agent. The course concentrates on mastering the highest standards of client interactions, like calls, meetings and viewings, through a blend of live learning, online capsules and on the job assignments. On completion of the program learners are accredited as a certified Metropolitan Agent.

CSR and team building: The Group’s commitment to employee engagement extends beyond the office. In 2024, the Group organised a beach cleanup event on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi as part of its CSR initiative, alongside an outdoor team-building event, attended by over 650 employees, with a partnership donation to Global Giving Initiative, Buy 1 Give 1, supplying over 900 nursery children in Africa with learning materials. Other partnerships include NYU and Sorbonne University bringing new internship opportunities to students in the Capital.

As part of its commitment to attracting top talent, Metropolitan Group will be hosting a half-day recruitment event at their office in Al Salam Tower, Dubai on April 18 at 10 am. The event will provide attendees with valuable insights into the tools and strategies that Metropolitan agents leverage to achieve outstanding sales success. Those interested in joining the event can register at https://a.peoplehum.com/y59k9.

The Metropolitan Group includes three full-service real estate agencies: Metropolitan Premium Properties (Dubai), Metropolitan Capital Real Estate LLC (Abu Dhabi), and Luxury Immobilien GmbH (Vienna). The Group also offers legal services through Metropolitan Consulting FZE and caters to Ultra High-Net-Worth Individuals through its luxury division, Penthouse.ae powered by Metropolitan.