Don’t just fill quotas if you want a functional workforce

Realities of the private sector – lack of career development and quota-filling exercises – are as powerful deterrent for Emiratis as lower wages and long working hours.

For years, the Government has sought to encourage the private sector to employ UAE citizens, but there is still much that needs to be done. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

We hear much, rightly, about the need to encourage young Emiratis to take up employment in the private sector. The number of new graduates increases every year, and it is not possible for all of them to be absorbed by the Government sector. Nor is that desirable: we need to see them contributing right across the private sector. That will promote diversification of the economy, which, in turn, will create more jobs.

For years, the Government has sought to encourage the private sector to employ UAE citizens, but there is still much that needs to be done.

In recent discussions with a few young Emiratis, some specific issues have been raised frequently.

One, naturally, was that working hours in Government are more “employee-friendly” – there is generally a single shift that ends in the early afternoon, allowing for more free time to spend with the family or even to try to develop a private business. There isn’t much that the private sector can do to compete with that. Government holidays also tend to be longer than those in the private sector, a further discouragement for those who might be considering employment in non-governmental sectors. Salaries and benefits are often better than the private sector, although that varies from industry to industry.

I was, though, somewhat surprised by another topic that came up – and that was the lack of encouragement among foreign-controlled companies for career development.

I am familiar with the programmes in government departments and in many government-controlled companies, like those of Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry, for example, whereby there is a proper process of career development for Emiratis, with a whole series of training courses and opportunities for further education. Some people seem to spend more time on courses than they do at work.

In contrast, when I asked an Emirati employee of one foreign bank about his career development programme, he replied that there wasn’t one. His bosses hadn’t sat down with him to discuss what he might be doing five or 10 years from now and hadn’t discussed, either, what types of training might be helpful to assist him in reaching his goals.

The feeling among most Emiratis in this particular institution was that they had been employed simply to enable quotas to be met. Nothing much was expected of them and no effort was being made to develop them and their careers.

Well aware that dismissal for a lack of performance was unlikely, most simply drifted through the days, weeks, months and even years. Only a few choose to walk away in search of a more challenging post elsewhere or battle hard to make progress, on their own merits and without much in the way of assistance.

In this, and I suspect in many other foreign-controlled companies, the obligation to take on Emiratis is seen as being almost a form of taxation, with prospects for training, promotion and real achievement being largely confined to the expatriate workforce, whether local residents or senior managers parachuted in from overseas.

It’s little wonder, therefore, that there is a widespread, though often faulty and misleading, impression that Emiratis in the private sector workforce don’t pull their weight. If many are treated simply as numbers to meet quotas, without proper encouragement and opportunities for training, knowing well that they are unlikely to be candidates for promotion and career development, it’s not surprising that their work ethic may be somewhat deficient.

This doesn’t apply to all foreign-owned companies, including banks. Some do an excellent job in developing their Emirati workforce. It is, though, disappointing that there are still dinosaur companies, and dinosaur managers, who are fundamentally opposed to the idea that Emiratis deserve proper opportunities and training in the private sector. It’s time that came to an end.

Peter Hellyer is a consultant specialising in the UAE’s history and culture