The majlis: Private sector must make sure that Emiratis are prepared for the future

The arguments and debates surrounding Brexit continue to rage in the United Kingdom, with the home secretary, Amber Rudd, having to defend herself against accusations that she’s racist. The mud-slinging began after she put forward proposals that would require employers to declare the percentage of their employees who aren’t UK citizens. Her counterargument was that she wanted to expose employers who aren’t investing in their staff, and preferred the easier option of hiring pre-trained, pre-qualified EU employees.

I had mixed feelings, from sympathy for the predicament she was in, to a sense of ­Schadenfreude now that the shoe was on the other foot. For years, I had come up against employers in the UAE who had all perfectly memorised the script of supporting Emiratisation, while at the same time doing nothing about it. Everybody put forward the same, tired argument that the private sector had to pursue its own self-interests at all costs; that they would always prefer to hire somebody who was ready to start work from day one, rather than training somebody who had never worked before. ­Emiratis needed experience to work in the private sector, but they could never get it, because they would never be hired in the first place.

The UK saw the ‘“invasion” from the EU as such a threat to its sense of self and interests that it voted to leave the EU. This hysteria is based on the fact that 2.2 million EU citizens work in the UK – about 7 per cent of its working population. Expats make up about 85 per cent of the UAE population, and about 95 per cent of the private sector.

Whenever I have challenged UAE private-sector employers that they have a duty to our ­country, I have been brushed off as emotional and xenophobic. Nothing could be further from the truth. The UAE has been built by Emiratis and expats alike, and the debt we owe non-Emiratis who have shed sweat, blood and tears while transforming the fishing villages of the 1950s into the global cities of the 21st century is immeasurable. But we need to hold expats to their duties towards the country they call home.

The private sector needs to ensure Emiratis are prepared for the future and can work in every field. The only way to do that is if we’re hired by the private sector as fresh graduates. Every organisation that doesn’t have a graduate-development programme is shirking its duty to the country. The same is true in the UK.

Once we’re given the same chance of success, I can’t understand how any Emirati who wants to work would be unemployed. If employers invest enough in fresh graduates, it will make sense to hire Emiratis. There’s no fear of culture shock: we all speak at least two languages and have a natural network of friends and family that can be leveraged by our employers.

Over time, we have developed a unique knowledge of what does and doesn’t work in the UAE. I have worked in HR in the UAE since the early 1980s, and I have seen the effect of several regional and global recessions, at least two regional conflicts, and oil prices falling below US$10 a barrel and above $140. My exper­ience be duplicated by an expat, and is invaluable for companies who choose to employ me, but it has only existed because an employer took a risk and hired me as a fresh graduate in 1985, and invested in my training.

Ammar Shams has a degree in economics and postgraduate degree in law, with a focus in Islamic law. He has worked in the oil-and-gas industry and in HR for the federal and local Governments.

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