General helper is the most under-specified request a supplier receives. Saying what the helpers will support, rather than how many you want, is what makes the crew useful.
"Send ten helpers" is the most common labour request in the UAE and the least informative. A general helper is defined by what they support, not by a trade of their own, so a request that gives only a number tells the supplier nothing about what the day actually looks like. The crew still arrives. Whether it is the right crew is luck.
What a Helper Is For
The work that keeps a programme moving and does not need a trade ticket: material handling and distribution, loading and offloading, site clearance and housekeeping, and direct support to a trade crew. On most sites this is a large share of total hours, and it is the work that quietly determines whether the tradesmen are productive.
Supporting a Trade Is Not the Same as General Labour
A helper attached to a mason is doing a different job from one clearing a floor plate. The first needs to understand the rhythm of the trade, keep material ahead of the work and anticipate what is needed next. The second needs organisation and pace. Both are helpers; they are not interchangeable from day to day without a loss.
Supervision Is the Variable That Decides the Number
Helpers take direction. A crew working to your chargehand, with a clear task and a defined area, works well at almost any size. A crew of twenty with one supervisor spread across three floors will not, and no supplier can fix that from their end. Tell us what supervision you have and where, and the proposed number will reflect it.
What to Send With the Request
What the helpers will be doing and which trade, if any, they support. The locations and whether the work is spread across levels. The supervision you have available. The shift pattern. And the duration, because a two-week clearance is a different request from six months of trade support.
Who Employs Them
General helpers we deploy are employed by Active Labors Supply under our MOHRE Employment Agency Licence, on our visas and Wage Protection System payroll, with medical insurance and PPE issued by us, and are trade-tested before deployment. Your supervisors direct the work and run the site induction.
Where to Start
General helpers are supplied in Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ajman. Where the support is for a specific trade, it is usually better to request that trade's crew — masons or steel fixers, for instance — with helpers included, so the whole gang arrives matched.
When a Helper Is the Wrong Request
If the task needs a trade ticket, a helper cannot do it and should not be asked to. Requesting helpers for work that is really trade work is the fastest route to a crew that looks fully staffed and cannot complete the activity — and it is unfair to the workers, who were sent for something else.
Related Guides
block and plastering crews, cleaning and facility crews and flagmen and traffic marshals.