Employers in the UAE are seeking to boost Emiratisation in the private sector by hiring citizens mainly for roles in customer service, sales and marketing, and operations, a survey has revealed.
Emirati job seekers have shown interest in sectors such as education, health and social work, and information and communication, showed the study by staffing and human resources solutions company Tasc Outsourcing, conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.
The survey polled about 5,000 citizens, both employed and unemployed, and 600 organisations in January and February.
Emiratis predominantly work in the finance and insurance, administrative and support services, and education sectors, the survey found.
The survey's findings were released in Dubai on Monday as a part of an Emiratisation guidebook unveiled by Tasc Outsourcing and the ministry.
“Our mandates to look for Emirati candidates have increased by almost 10x over the last two years,” said Abbas Ali, chief growth officer at Tasc Outsourcing.
The ministry is leading a nationwide push to increase the participation of citizens in the private sector, which is viewed as a major driver of the economy.
There are 95,000 Emiratis employed by the private sector, according to the latest figures from the ministry.
The Emirati employment rate at private companies with more than 50 employees will increase to 6 per cent by the end of this year, 8 per cent in 2025 and 10 per cent in 2026.
Smaller businesses with 20 to 49 employees must hire at least one citizen by the end of 2024 and another by 2025.
The requirement applies to privately owned companies in 14 sectors, including property, education, construction and health care.
Challenges include a mind shift among employers and an understanding when it comes to hiring Emiratis for the right roles, Mr Ali says.
The survey found that a major challenge faced by employers is the alignment of salary offers with Emirati job seekers’ expectations, with 37.9 per cent of companies polled citing this to be their primary obstacle in recruiting UAE citizens.
About 64 per cent of Emirati job seekers highlighted the challenge of finding a suitable role, with about one in four concerned with finding roles that match their salary expectations, the survey revealed.
Seven in 10 Emirati job seekers said they were open to both public and private sector opportunities and voiced a clear preference for job security, career development and work-life balance in choosing an employer.
Employer brand and remote working options are also significant factors for job seekers, the survey found.
More than half (57.3 per cent) of Emirati job seekers polled said they preferred not to relocate for work.
This highlights the importance of employers offering more flexible work arrangements to be able to attract UAE citizens from different emirates, according to the guidebook.
Meanwhile, 60 per cent of employed Emiratis said they were looking for roles that align with a better purpose, which may indicate a desire for meaningful work that contributes to personal and national development, it said.
Eight in 10 employers are seeking to hire UAE citizens who are “freshers” (zero to two years of experience), while candidates with moderate experience (three to eight years) are also in demand, the survey found.
“There are companies like e& who are hiring Emiratis as junior sales staff in shops. Emirati young graduates are very enthusiastic to take entry-level jobs, and there are almost 24,000 students passing out every year, so there's a huge supply as well,” Mr Ali said.
“Large conglomerates are hiring a lot of Emiratis and we also see robust recruitment within tourism and travel, e-commerce and trade, as well.”
More than half of the employers polled are looking to hire UAE citizens on a permanent basis while 31.8 per cent are open to a mix of both contractual and permanent hiring practices.
About 37.6 per cent of Emiratis expect a salary increase of 10 per cent and more this year while 23.7 per cent expect a wage increase between 8 per cent and 10 per cent, and 19.5 per cent look forward to a more conservative raise between 5 per cent and 8 per cent, the survey data showed.
Only 19 per cent of employees do not foresee any salary increase this year.
“For junior and entry-level roles, salaries for Emiratis in the private sector are getting better. In some client-facing or business development roles in the private sector, the variable pay is very lucrative and occasionally better than in the public sector,” Mr Ali said.
“But the perception of job security is, of course, higher in the public sector.”
Top job roles for UAE citizens
- Customer service and support roles
- Engineering and technical specialists
- Health care professionals
- Sales and real estate experts
- Educational roles
- Administrative and operational staff
Source: TASC Outsourcing
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Haircare resolutions 2021
From Beirut and Amman to London and now Dubai, hairstylist George Massoud has seen the same mistakes made by customers all over the world. In the chair or at-home hair care, here are the resolutions he wishes his customers would make for the year ahead.
1. 'I will seek consultation from professionals'
You may know what you want, but are you sure it’s going to suit you? Haircare professionals can tell you what will work best with your skin tone, hair texture and lifestyle.
2. 'I will tell my hairdresser when I’m not happy'
Massoud says it’s better to offer constructive criticism to work on in the future. Your hairdresser will learn, and you may discover how to communicate exactly what you want more effectively the next time.
3. ‘I will treat my hair better out of the chair’
Damage control is a big part of most hairstylists’ work right now, but it can be avoided. Steer clear of over-colouring at home, try and pursue one hair brand at a time and never, ever use a straightener on still drying hair, pleads Massoud.
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
