Saudi Arabia is entering a new phase of workforce evolution – one where compensation structures are being recalibrated to support long-term sustainability, national development and a competitive labour market. Expatriate compensation is not diminishing, it is being reshaped to align with the kingdom’s economic vision and a maturing talent ecosystem.
For decades, the kingdom attracted global expertise through attractive compensation. Today, as part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is strengthening domestic capability while continuing to welcome global talent that fuels sectoral growth. This shift reflects strategic planning, not short-term cost optimisation.
Why the premium model is evolving
Over the past 18 months, compensation differences between foreign residents and local talent have narrowed in some sectors. This change is driven by policy modernisation, local talent empowerment initiatives and an increasing focus form employers on sustainable workforce structures.
Industries such as construction, engineering, logistics and manufacturing – historically reliant on international expertise – are transitioning into more skills-based, performance-driven compensation models. Leadership roles, specialised capabilities and high-impact expertise continue to command strong premiums.
Regional alignment in progress
Saudi Arabia’s evolution is influencing wider workforce strategies across the Gulf. Countries including the UAE, Bahrain and Oman are adopting more structured, future-focused compensation frameworks, particularly in high-priority sectors such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, logistics, tourism, mining, health care and financial services.
This signals a shift in how foreign residents are viewed – not as short-term specialists, but as long-term contributors to transformation. Both employers and professionals are responding with a more strategic mindset.
Beyond salary: The new value proposition
Salary alone is no longer the defining magnet for foreign talent. Four non-monetary value propositions are becoming equally, if not more, influential:
Meaningful roles: Professionals seek positions where they can see real impact and have space to contribute to decisions.
Leadership pathways: Clear progression and visibility on future opportunities carry weight similar to compensation.
Stability and residency clarity: The ability to plan long term influences the decisions of employees more than yearly pay adjustments.
Vision 2030 alignment: Being part of national transformation initiatives is viewed as a strong career advantage.
Organisations that can clearly communicate these levers, alongside fair compensation, will retain their competitive edge. Employers who rely solely on salary-based recruitment may risk becoming irrelevant in a rapidly maturing labour market.
Opportunity is real, but different
Saudi Arabia continues to create opportunities for global professionals. The expectation is evolving, not retreating. Three strategies stand out for foreign residents aiming to thrive:
- Reframe negotiations: Expect packages that are structured differently, where benefits, performance bonuses, residency incentives and education allowances may carry more weight than base salaries.
- Explore growth sectors: While traditional industries are normalising salaries, emerging sectors such as AI, sustainability, logistics, tourism and financial technology are still attracting premium pay for specialised skills.
- Understand local hiring dynamics: Companies increasingly seek foreign talent who can lead localisation efforts, transfer know-how and help build teams, which requires presence, mentorship and commitment.
This shift rewards those who contribute to the kingdom’s long-term, capability-building efforts.
What employers must do now
Companies entering or expanding in Saudi Arabia cannot rely on outdated talent strategies. Those succeeding today share a common approach – they are designing workforce strategies built on sustainability rather than short-term compensation spikes. Four strategic shifts stand out:
- Structured career pathways instead of salary escalation
- Stronger integration of domestic talent
- Roles designed for measurable impact and capability growth
- Positioning expatriates as long-term contributors and mentors
Government initiatives, from localisation programmes to sector-based talent incentives, reinforce a holistic approach to workforce development. Companies that adapt early will remain competitive.
New balance
Saudi Arabia’s workforce transformation is not about reducing expatriate competitiveness. It is about aligning compensation with skills, impact and future needs. This is a structured rebalancing aligned with long-term national goals. These changes intersect economic reform, productivity, talent mobility and sectoral growth.
Expatriate compensation is not fading, it is being reshaped to support a more resilient, capable and future-ready labour market – one where opportunity continues to grow for those aligned with the kingdom’s direction.
Mahesh Shahdadpuri is founder and chief executive of TASC Outsourcing
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
The specs: 2018 Nissan Altima
Price, base / as tested: Dh78,000 / Dh97,650
Engine: 2.5-litre in-line four-cylinder
Power: 182hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 244Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Continuously variable tranmission
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6L / 100km
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
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Liverpool's all-time goalscorers
Ian Rush 346
Roger Hunt 285
Mohamed Salah 250
Gordon Hodgson 241
Billy Liddell 228
Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
SPECS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
