Table of Contents
Overview
Gulf’s top talent retention is a formidable challenge faced by businesses in the region. In the dynamic landscape of the post-pandemic era, where employee retention measures and remote work options are supreme reigning trends, companies operating in the Gulf region are finding it challenging to adapt to evolving market trends. Moreover, in a few cases, many companies are struggling to retain their best workers despite offering market-competitive salaries.
One prominent reason behind the loss of the Gulf’s top talent is rooted in the past when the economies rebounded from the COVID-19 economic shocks. Companies and organizations in the Gulf at the time failed to offer relatively higher salary and benefit packages to compete against the packages being offered in other markets and the rising cost of living in their own countries.
In comparison to the salary packages offered in the European market, the salary increases were modest in the region. For instance, as per the 2022 UAE Salary Guide, salaries were increased only for professional workers by four percent. Such discrepancies still exist in the business landscape of the Gulf region giving rise to concerns about its ability to compete for Gulf’s top talent acquisition in the evolving market trends of 2024.
Additionally, with a shift toward a hybrid and remote working culture, the demand for digital workers with advanced skills has increased. However, many SMEs operating in the region, such as in the UAE, are still hesitant to adapt to these prevailing trends.
Thus, due to these evolving trends companies and organizations in the Gulf are seeking professionals experienced in market trends and proficient in legal and financial skills who can effectively navigate through these challenges. In this regard, many companies are collaborating with the Gulf recruitment firms and the top recruiters in the UAE to assist them in coping with the prevailing trends.
According to a recent market survey, the Gulf labour market is thriving, indicating further growth. A promising figure of 67% of employers plan to expand their teams by hiring more employees. Whereas, a significant figure of 31% of employees are preparing to leave their current jobs for better opportunities, showing a turnover challenge for companies with weak recruitment strategies and unclear market vision.
Moreover, these figures highlight the need for companies operating in the region to consult and bring on board a Gulf recruiter or a recruitment agency in the UAE, like RFS HR, that would not only provide them with market insights but also assist them in incorporating those strategies.
To address retention issues among Gulf top talent, businesses and organizations in the region must adapt to the changing market and adopt innovative and unique strategies developed by market experts like top recruiters in the UAE. These strategies range from remote working options to providing generous benefits and higher salaries to outwit the talent acquisition measures taken by employers in other regions.
This blog will talk about the prevailing issue of retaining top talent from the Gulf, its underlying reasons, and finally, the measures to address the issue, with insights from top recruiters in the UAE.
Reasons for losing Gulf’s top talent
Several factors are repelling Gulf’s top talent from the region, while lucrative opportunities are attracting them to other regions like Europe and Australia.
Lack of Professional Growth
One of the most common reasons why Gulf’s top talent leaves companies is the lack of opportunities for career growth and development. Particularly, top-performing employees seek job roles offering opportunities for career progression, skill advancement, and learning. When organizations and companies do not provide employees with a clear path to career advancement, employees feel stagnant and begin looking for better opportunities.
Usually, big firms and companies operating in the Gulf mistakenly think that their high salary and benefit packages are enough to engage and retain the Gulf’s top talent. However, this is not true, as monetary reward is not the only type of reward sought by top talent. The opportunity for career growth and advancement constitutes a genuine concern for most employees. Failing to provide this results in disengagement, resulting in employee turnover.
Relatively Low Salaries and Fewer Benefits
Although companies operating in the Gulf offer market-competitive salaries for professional roles to retain the Gulf’s top talent. However, these salary and benefit packages are relatively low compared to the benefits being offered by other competitive markets such as Europe and Australia. Moreover, compared to the living costs in top Gulf countries such as the UAE, the living costs are much lower in Europe and other countries.
According to a market survey, employees find it hard to cope with the rising cost of living in the UAE with their current salaries. However, with the economic growth, the UAE is set to take active measures this year to increase wages and benefits to retain its top workers.
Ensuring Employee Satisfaction
Ensuring employee satisfaction is very important to retaining Gulf’s top talent in the region. In big companies or organizations, employees are not treated individually but as a big unit. Employees get very little face time with the organization’s HR, and as a result, their frustration begins brewing as they are unable to communicate their problems to management. Taking employee feedback and acting on suggestions is crucial to keeping high performers.
Poor Leadership: Inability to Overcome Cultural Nuances and Spot Conflicts
Effective leadership is pivotal to maintaining high-performing teams and retaining the Gulf’s top talent. A lack of strong and effective management is a common reason behind workplace conflict, preventing employees from continuing to work.
Additionally, managers working in companies operating in the Gulf region must also possess skills to overcome cultural nuances and connect team members from diverse backgrounds. Managers must be able to identify areas of potential conflicts between team members and take precautions to address them, maintaining the peaceful environment of the workplace.
Lack of Recognition and Reward
In every organization and company, there always are employees who work more than expected in their job roles and go the extra mile to deliver the best work. Such are the top-performing employees that organizations must focus on retaining. These top performers expect recognition of their work and a reward. In case they do not get either of the two, it not only discourages them from contributing extra effort but will also encourage them to look for places that reward employees more.
Strategies to Address Issues of Companies Losing Gulf’s Top Talent
To overcome the issues of losing the Gulf’s top talent to other competitive markets, organizations and companies must seek advice from experts and adopt measures to retain the best-performing employees. To this end, companies and businesses collaborate with recruitment consultants, utilizing their experience and expertise. Gulf recruiters like RFS HR are a crucial part of the equation in helping companies retain workers in the region.
Offer Higher Salary and Benefit Packages Than Other Markets
In Gulf countries such as the UAE, which is considered a hub of global talent in the region, companies lose talented professionals due to relatively low salaries and an increasing cost of living. A simple solution to retaining talented professionals is to conduct a market survey of other countries offering higher salaries and benefits and devise a strategy to compensate employees more or at least equally.
To accomplish this, companies collaborate with Gulf recruiters or top recruiters in the UAE as these recruitment agencies not only have intensive market insights into the Gulf region but are also aware of the evolving trends in other markets. Moreover, Gulf recruiters and other recruitment agencies in the UAE, such as RFS HR Consultancy, specialize in making recruitment strategies tailored according to the needs of your business.
Employee Satisfaction By Outsourcing HR to a Consultancy
Employee satisfaction can be increased by outsourcing your HR role to a recruitment agency in the UAE operating at the regional level with global expertise. Recruitment agencies in the UAE are skilled at dealing with employee issues and addressing them successfully, ensuring both the satisfaction of employees and the interests of companies and organizations.
HR departments in companies are often not proficient and skilled in ensuring employees’ satisfaction as they treat them as units and groups. However, the approaches of the top recruiters in the UAE and the Gulf recruiters are different. They view each employee as a potential contributor to a company’s growth and address their problems by taking into account their interests and those of the employer.
Ensuring Cultural Leadership Qualities in Managers
The market in the Gulf region is dynamic, with workers from around the world belonging to different backgrounds. Therefore, the manager hired by the companies must possess qualities that are more than leadership skills. Having cross-cultural leadership qualities is crucial for managers working in a multicultural landscape to overcome cultural nuances and conflicts. Top recruiters in the UAE, such as RFS HR Consultancy, find for their partner companies and organizations the best candidates to manage their dynamic multicultural workplaces. Employees are much more likely to stay and continue working where they feel valued and included.
Seek Guidance From Top Recruiters in UAE
Recruitment agencies in the UAE have extensive experience and industry knowledge that make them trusted and valuable partners of companies in talent retention endeavors. Companies and organizations must consult with the top recruiters in the UAE to gain insight into market recruitment trends, effective recruitment and retention strategies, and salary benchmarks. By taking insights from these recruitment consultants, businesses operating in the UAE particularly, and in the Middle East generally, can effectively make their own targeted strategy aimed at the Gulf’s top talent retention.
Gulf recruiters offer comprehensive solutions to address problems related to recruitment and talent retention. They not only have market insight and industry knowledge, but they also have access to a diverse talent pool. By partnering with such agencies like ours, you can tap into these invaluable resources and benefit from their experience, thereby elevating Gulf’s top talent retention rates in your company and organization.
If you’re operating in the Gulf region and your company or organization is struggling to retain top talent or remaining abreast with evolving market trends then reach out to us today.
