Information checkedInformation unaudited Information geprüft Information ungeprüft Greetings from Dubai
The same company, but a different country, a different language, a different culture. How similar or different is working life at the LLB in the Middle East compared to back in Europe? We were curious to find out, so we asked Piyush Bhandari, Head of Private Banking ME - GCC + NRI, Dubai.
For 55-year-old Piyush, a typical workday starts at 9 a.m. Since many clients aren’t yet available at that time, he uses the first few hours of the day to take care of some routine administrative, reporting or compliance tasks. Meetings are also a regular part of his routine at Burj Daman, occupying many hours in his weekly schedule. His team has welcomed three new members in recent months, so a lot of time is also dedicated to onboarding them. Piyush is helping them get to grips with their new roles. The workday in Dubai should actually finish at 6 p.m. But because many client meetings aren’t held until the evening, it often goes on longer.
The building – a skyscraper, as you’d expect in Dubai – is shared with other companies from the financial industry. The premises itself aren’t much different from the ones in Vaduz or Uznach, for example. There’s an open-plan office with workstations for the team, along with several small meeting rooms and a larger one. The team leaders have their own offices, divided by a glass wall. Completing the setup is a small kitchen.
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Of course, the heat can be an issue, especially when you’re working all day. Temperatures in Dubai can rise as high as 50 degrees Celsius during the summer. How do you cope with that? Piyush reveals the three main strategies: “Drink plenty of water, have the air conditioning on and, if possible, avoid going outside.”
This is also why the staff tend to drive to work or to client meetings. The average commute for the LLB team in the bustling metropolis takes between 15 and 20 minutes. “Dubai has a good public transport system. But you can’t really use it – it’s too hot to walk to or from the nearest stop. You can only really do that in the winter,” explains Piyush. And he should know. After all, he’s been living in the desert city for 30 years now.
Once a year, Piyush invites his team for a shared dinner. Their families are also welcome. In fact, Piyush’s wife insists on it. “She says that, otherwise, we’d only be talking about work all evening,” he laughs. She’s probably not wrong, either. The evening is also sure to feature two of Piyush’s favourite things: homemade cocktails and culinary delights from his native country, India.
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Piyush regularly visits Vaduz. What’s the most noticeable difference for him between here and Dubai? “In Liechtenstein, work is mostly about deadlines, routines and discipline. In Dubai, things tend to be a bit more laid-back. It’s neither better nor worse, just different. It’s what you’d expect from two different cultures.” But there are no cultural differences between the two locations when it comes to the LLB’s values. These values are also what convinced the finance specialist to join the LLB more than ten years ago instead of going to work for another bank: “People are appreciated here. Everyone is kind and respectful towards each other. That’s something you don’t really see very often at Asian or US banks.”