Improving agent retention in Dubai real estate brokerages

Brokerages rarely have a recruitment problem. They have a first-ninety-days problem that looks like one.

Dubai brokerages hire constantly. Many also lose a large share of new agents before they close a first deal. Each departure costs training time, management attention and pipeline, and it pushes the brokerage back into another hiring round. The instinct is to hire more. The better move is usually to look at what happens between the offer and the first commission.

Where retention is really lost

• Hiring for confidence in interview rather than evidence of resilience and activity.
• Unclear expectations about leads, listings, targets and commission timing.
• Onboarding that depends on which team leader the agent joins.
• No structured check-ins in the first weeks, when doubt sets in fastest.

Recruit for the reality of the role

Be explicit, early, about how agents are supported and paid, what activity is expected and how long a first deal typically takes. Candidates who are put off by the honest version would have left later at a higher cost. Structured interviews and simple activity-based assessments reveal far more than a conversation about past deals.

Make onboarding a programme, not a handover

A defined academy of ten to fourteen days gives every new agent the same foundation: market knowledge, systems, compliance, scripts and listing standards, with an assessment before they work independently. It also takes the burden off team leaders, who can focus on coaching rather than repeating the basics.

Manage the first ninety days deliberately

Schedule check-ins at the end of week one, week four and week eight. Track early activity indicators, not only closed deals, and intervene when activity drops. Most agents who leave early show the signs weeks before they resign.

Measure it

Track retention by recruitment source, by team leader and by cohort. Within a few hiring rounds the pattern is usually clear, and so is the fix. In one four-month engagement with a UAE real estate business, Kore hired 80 people with 90% new-hire retention, by treating recruitment, onboarding and retention as one system.