HRMS software for
companies in Abu Dhabi.
HR and payroll for employers across Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra: WPS files per establishment, gratuity at exit, visa steps through ICP, and medical cover tracked for each employee and the family on their policy.
What it does for Abu Dhabi employers
- MOHRE WPS SIF Files
- Gratuity Under Decree-Law 33
- ICP Visa Steps
- Medical Cover With Dependants
- GPSSA for Emiratis
- Emiratisation Tracking
- Ramadan Hours
- Arabic Payslips
The emirate, and ADGM inside it.
Almost every Abu Dhabi employer follows the federal law. Abu Dhabi Global Market on Al Maryah and Al Reem islands writes its own, and rewrote it in 2024.
| Mainland and most free zones | ADGM | |
|---|---|---|
| Employment law | Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 | ADGM Employment Regulations 2024, in force since 1 April 2025 |
| Work permit | MOHRE, or the zone authority for companies in KEZAD, Masdar City and other free zones | ADGM |
| Residence visa | ICP | ICP |
| End of service | Gratuity: 21 days of basic a year for five years, then 30, capped at two years' wage | The same daily rates on at least half of total pay, with no two-year cap, or a qualifying pension or savings scheme instead |
| Final pay | Within 14 days of the contract ending | Within 21 days |
| Annual leave | 30 calendar days a year | 20 working days a year, accruing from the first day |
| Sick leave | Up to 90 days: 15 full pay, 30 half, 45 unpaid | 60 days: 10 full pay, 20 half, 30 unpaid |
| Health insurance | Employer insures the employee, and generally a spouse and up to three children under 18 | The same Abu Dhabi rule |
Employing people in Abu Dhabi, briefly.
ICP, not GDRFA
A Dubai HR team moving into Abu Dhabi meets the same labour law and a different immigration desk. Residence visas here are issued by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) rather than GDRFA, while mainland work permits still come from MOHRE. The Work Bundle, which joins the permit, the visa and the Emirates ID into one application, reached Abu Dhabi and the other emirates in June 2024.
Health cover reaches the family
Abu Dhabi made health insurance compulsory years before the rest of the country, and its rule goes further than Dubai's. The UAE Government portal says employers and sponsors there cover the employee's family as well: one spouse and three children under 18. That makes dependants a payroll and budgeting question, not only a visa one: every birth, marriage or new arrival changes what the company is paying for.
ADGM rewrote its rules in 2024
Companies licensed in Abu Dhabi Global Market follow the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024, which replaced the 2019 regulations on 1 April 2025. End-of-service pay keeps the federal daily rates but drops the two-year cap, is owed however the employment ends, and is calculated on at least half of total pay where the basic is lower. An employer can replace it with a qualifying pension or savings scheme. Final pay is due within 21 days rather than fourteen.
Emirati staff, and two pension funds
Emiratis are covered by a pension fund rather than by gratuity, and in Abu Dhabi there are two. The federal fund, GPSSA, covers most UAE nationals in the private sector. Nationals of the emirate itself working in Abu Dhabi are generally registered with the Abu Dhabi Pension Fund (ADPF) instead, which has its own rates and ceilings. Getting the fund wrong means months of contributions in the wrong place.
What DenwaysHR does in Abu Dhabi.
The work above that a system can carry, done from the employee record, with the places it stops written down below.
One WPS file for each Abu Dhabi establishment
Each establishment in the account carries its own WPS employer ID, MOHRE establishment ID and bank routing code, and the salary file is built from the approved payroll run for that establishment alone.
- SIF file generated from the approved run, with nothing re-keyed
- A run that mixes two establishments is refused before a file is built
- Missing IBANs and MOHRE person codes named before the file goes out
- Each payment recorded once the upload is confirmed
Dependants, their papers and their cover
Each employee's family sits on their record: who is sponsored by the company, whose visa and Emirates ID run out when, and which of them the medical policy covers.
- Dependants with visa, Emirates ID, passport and insurance dates
- Company sponsorship and medical cover marked for each one
- Insurer, policy, plan and cover dates for each employee
- Expiry alerts at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days, then reminders
Visas through ICP, step by step
A new visa, a renewal or a cancellation is tracked as the steps it really takes, each with its reference number and date, and the expiry dates it produces flow onto the record.
- New visas, renewals and cancellations as separate processes
- Reference numbers and dates on every finished step
- Resulting expiry dates written to the ID register
- Emirates ID, labour card and passport held encrypted
Emiratisation and pension funds, counted monthly
Nationality and MOHRE skill level on the record drive an Emiratisation count against the year's target, and Emirati employees' pension contributions are worked out in payroll: ADPF at an Abu Dhabi branch, GPSSA at a branch in another emirate.
- Target, mid-year checkpoint and the fine a shortfall would cost
- ADPF or GPSSA under the older or the 2023 rules, by first-insured date
- Pension lines on the payslip and a monthly contribution schedule
- ILOE enrolment and expiry tracked alongside
Final pay: 14 days, or 21 in ADGM
When someone leaves, the settlement is worked out line by line from the record: final salary, untaken leave on basic pay, gratuity, notice pay and anything owed back to the company.
- Gratuity at 21 days of basic for each of the first five years and 30 after, capped at two years
- Loan, advance and unreturned-asset recoveries shown as their own lines
- A signable settlement statement in English, Arabic or both
- Paid through its own WPS file once approved
Where DenwaysHR stops in Abu Dhabi.
What is built in for an Abu Dhabi team, and what stays outside the product.
Built in
- WPS salary files per establishment
- Medical cover and dependants on every record
- GPSSA and ADPF contributions, and Emiratisation counts
Set up by you
- Leave types and approval chains for each branch
- Eid and other moon-sighted holidays, as they are announced
- Overtime rules that pay above the legal floor
Not built
- ADPF sign-off on every detail: some rules are read from the law, so check them against your registration
- ADGM's uncapped gratuity: the calculation applies the federal cap
- Filing with ICP, MOHRE or the insurer: your PRO still submits
Questions
Abu Dhabi questions, answered.
Does DenwaysHR calculate Abu Dhabi Pension Fund contributions?
Yes, for Emirati staff at an Abu Dhabi branch. Payroll takes the employee's share and adds the employer's, with a line on the payslip and a monthly schedule. It applies one rate to members first registered before 1 December 2023 and another to those registered after. Some details are our reading of the law and are not yet confirmed with the fund: the rates and contribution salary limits for your members, which contract amounts count for your registration, and how joining and leaving months and unpaid leave are treated. Check them against your ADPF registration.
Does it follow the ADGM Employment Regulations?
Partly. Leave types, notice periods and approval chains can be set to ADGM's terms. The gratuity calculation follows the federal law, including its two-year cap, which ADGM removed in 2025, so an ADGM employer would need to check and adjust long-service settlements by hand.
Can we track medical cover for employees' families?
Yes. Dependants are held on the employee's record with their visa, Emirates ID, passport and insurance dates, whether the company sponsors them and whether the policy covers them, and every date is watched by the daily expiry scan.
We have staff in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Is that one account?
Yes. Branches in different emirates sit under one account, each with its own weekend, holidays and managers, and each establishment's WPS file is built separately. Branch managers see their own people rather than the whole company.
When do salaries have to be paid now?
By the first day of the following month. Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026 took effect on 1 June 2026 and removed the old fifteen-day grace period. The UAE Government portal says employers must transfer at least 85 per cent of the total wages due on time through the Wage Protection System.
Can payslips be issued in Arabic?
Yes. Payslips and settlement statements can be printed in English, in Arabic laid out right to left, in both, or in each employee's own language, and the web app itself has a full Arabic interface.
Sources
- UAE Government portal: Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, English text (PDF, not an official translation)
- UAE Government portal: Payment of salaries and wages
- UAE Government portal: Getting a health insurance
- UAE Government portal: Employing Emiratis in the private sector
- ADGM rulebook: Employment Regulations 2024
- ADGM rulebook: End of service gratuity
- ADGM rulebook: Late payment after termination
Official pages, read on 2 November 2026. The law is the authority; check it, or ask your adviser, before acting on a figure.
Abu Dhabi reading
Elsewhere in the UAE
Bring your whole workforce onto one platform.
See how DenwaysHR handles HR, attendance and leave across the GCC, and payroll with the WPS file in the UAE.
