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Joining a new firm. Where i am now (UAE) the common practice for employment is as follows

  1. you submit for job post
  2. if they think they want you they interview you
  3. if you pass then they will send you an offer
  4. you accept the offer
  5. they prepare the full contract
  6. Sign the contract and start working

if you are still in stage 5 and the company asks you to come and start working, doesn't that create an issue between you and the employer, in a sense that they can watch you and observe you and they have all the rights to revoke the offer because the contract is not signed yet?

and the same time if you refuse to come to work unless you sign the contract that might give a bad impression to your employer.

What is the way to handle such situation ?

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  • Which country is this situation happening?
    – David Segonds
    Sep 9, 2014 at 9:31
  • @DavidSegonds Its in UAE.
    – Anmar
    Sep 9, 2014 at 9:32
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    in a sense that they can watch you and observe you and they have all the rights to revoke the offer - Did you ask them when (on what date after starting the observation work) you can expect to be able to sign a work contract with them?
    – Brandin
    Sep 9, 2014 at 9:41
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    Edited the overused word "professional" out of the post.
    – Vietnhi Phuvan
    Sep 9, 2014 at 10:24
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    Maybe there is some miscommunication internally within the company. Have you contacted HR and mentioned that you have not yet received the contract? Maybe this will be part of your on-bording on the first day.
    – Martin York
    Sep 9, 2014 at 14:10

2 Answers 2

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doesn't that create an issue between you and the employer, in a sense that they can watch you and observe you and they have all the rights to revoke the offer because the contract is not signed yet

It does. It's very unprofessional/unethical to have someone working with no contract. They could have you working for weeks and they would not be obligated to pay you anything if they change their mind or do not like your work.

You have two options:

a) Take a leap of faith; start working and put pressure on the company to finish the contract ASAP. This path is probably a better option if you have nothing better to do and if you're financially unstable, I recommend that you're still open for other companies' interviews and that you do not allow this to pass more than a couple of days, make sure to let them know that you do not like this situation at all; you're not one to be pushed over.

b) Refuse to work until a proper contract has been created, you could say something like:

I'm not in a position where I can put myself in a situation where there's no legitimated commitments to my current employee. I'll be more than happy to come work the moment our contract is ready and signed.

The latter is probably a better pick if you're financially secure and you can afford to loose some days of payments, and if you're not afraid to keep looking for a job if they turn you down for this. But if they do, well, you're probably better off anyway.

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  • A company is asking for trouble if there is any evidence they let someone into their office after going through the hiring process and try to claim they don't have to pay them. It's not as ideal as a contract, but in court, they would have some explaining to do as well as deal with the bad publicity.
    – user8365
    Sep 9, 2014 at 18:29
  • It depends on the laws in that country, but in many places the combined facts that they asked you to come and work for them, that you went there and started working, and nobody objected to you working, will actually create a contract. A contract need not be written. (as ra_htial said, this might cause problems with immigration laws).
    – gnasher729
    Sep 9, 2014 at 23:32
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before you sign a legitimate contract (which has the government stamp) and the company submit it to the government to process your work-visa, you are not working legally in the country, whether you are on a visit-visa or another sponsor work-visa and in case you get caught by the police, you and the company will have to pay a fine and -if not your first time- you could be blacklisted up to 2 years from working in the country.

I found out that some companies actually try to delay the process since issuing a work-visa is more expensive than paying the fine, so they tend to wait until the employee pass his probation period and after that they will issue his work-visa.

My suggestion to you is to go to the company on your first day and clarify how things work from the HR department or your colleagues and judge based on that.

Note: I worked in UAE 3 years ago and i'm not a UAE citizen so my experience is based on that.

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