Hiring spree expected among UAE companies

Two in three UAE companies planning to hire up to 10 employees in the next three months, according to a new survey by bayt.com.

More than 60 per cent of companies in the UAE plan to take on new employees in the coming three months, according to a new survey by bayt.com.

Of these companies, 65 per cent plan to hire up to 10 employees in the next three months, according to the company’s bi-annual Job Index Survey, released yesterday.

Such optimism amongst employers has resulted in the number of UAE jobs listed on bayt.com rising to 5,000, a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent, according to bayt.com’s director of HR, Suha Mardelli.

Construction and tourism are the two most active sectors in terms of recruiting new talent, following the selection of Dubai in November to host Expo 2020.

Banking and finance was third on the list of most active sectors, followed by oil and gas.

Hiring sentiment had begun to pick up even before the Expo announcement, thanks to the relaunch of high-profile projects such as Dubai Pearl and the Dubai canal project.

“What we’re seeing here is not a spike due to the announcement, it’s in line with what we’ve reported earlier,” she said.

“What employers have been telling us has been pretty consistent with what they were saying before the announcement, as with or without the Expo there are plans to grow the economy.”

Of particular note is an increase in hiring at the executive level, which is likely in turn to lead to an increase of hiring of support teams around them, she said.

Despite such hiring trends, a repeat of the frantic hiring and soaring salaries offered by UAE employers is unlikely to be repeated, according to Harish Bhatia, unit manager for Hay Group in the Middle East.

“HR departments between 2006-08 were given the mandate to go out and recruit as much as possible, with the amount of money offered going up and up,” said Mr Bhatia.

“Since then HR and management practices in general in the UAE have matured a lot. They’re doing better to recruit the right people, manage them well and retain them.”

As a result turnover of staff at lower and entry levels in the UAE was lower than in Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, he said.

Senior expatriate executives in the UAE also have a lower turnover than in other Gulf markets, said Mr Bhattia, thanks to the country’s attractive social infrastructure and an equalling out of comparable salaries in other markets such as Qatar.

“In 2008-09 Qatar was offering higher salaries in an attempt to attract talent away from the UAE, but salaries have equalled out now.”

Hay Group’s Middle East Business Outlook Study for 2014, released yesterday, found that 84 per cent of companies in UAE are primarily focused on growing their revenue, market share and profitability levels.

Of these companies, 68 per cent expected such growth to happen within 12 to 18 months, the study found.

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