ABU DHABI // Companies need to develop work environments more suited to nationals to realise their Emiratisation goals.
Saeed Al Nazari, director general of ThinkHR Consultancy, told the Emiratisation Forum yesterday that companies needed to foster a “creative and fun” atmosphere to attract and retain Emirati employees.
“We want to create a work environment that Emiratis would like and would love to come to work in and stay in,” Mr Al Nazari said.
Among the ideas he suggested were setting up majlises in offices to promote discussion of ideas, and allowing social media use so colleagues could communicate with each other.
“Before shaping the work environment, we need to know what actually matters to Emiratis,” Mr Al Nazari said.
“What are the qualities and the competencies of the Emiratis here? What do they have in common and what they are interested in?”
He said once that had been ascertained, workplaces could be designed to suit Emiratis needs.
“Then we wouldn’t blame them for resigning or disappointing others,” Mr Al Nazari said.
Leadership was another important factor in making sure Emiratis were content in the workplace, he said.
Emiratis thrive when working under a powerful and charismatic leader on whom they could rely for a role model, Mr Al Nazari said.
“Emiratis like to work in an environment where they know who is the leader, how to interact with this leader, so they can be proud of their leader,” he said.
Yahya Al Marzouqi, Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer at Borouge, a national petrochemical company, said schools and universities, education authorities and companies must work together to ensure young people are being moulded into successful employees.
“Authorities such as Tawteen must reveal their requirements from future job seekers and have a relationship with various schools and universities,” Mr Al Marzouqi said.
“There should also be a constant dialogue between the authorities and the industries to ensure their needs are met.”
He said education authorities must provide competitive wages and benefits to attract Emiratis into the teaching profession.
Teachers must encourage pupils to go on to higher education without pressuring them too much, while parents should encourage their children to study subjects such as science, which lead to many career options.
Mr Al Marzouqi said the UAE was looking at hiring more than 245,000 people in tourism and more than 25,000 job in the oil and gas industry in the next few years.
He said statistics showed many Emiratis still believed the private sector offered only low salaries and long working hours.
But Mr Al Marzouqi said Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, continuously asked private companies to hire more Emiratis.
The sixth annual Emiratisation Forum was organised by the Abu Dhabi University Knowledge Group to discuss ways of increasing the number of Emiratis in the workforce.
aalkhoori@thenational.ae
