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Gulf CEOs Not in Favour of Hiring Nationals

DUBAI — Most Gulf business leaders are not in favour of current policies and quotas for employing local citizens and would rather prefer aligning local hiring with their strategic growth objectives, a recent study says.

‘The Arab Human Capital Challenge — The Voice of CEOs’ report shows more than 70 per cent of Gulf chief executives think that local hiring plans will not help improve their company performance at present. They seem more positive, however, about the long term.

“The notion of labour quotas and the naturalisation policy is effecting negatively, for the simple reason that the supply of expertise does not match what the industry requires,” said the CEO of Salam International Investments, Qatar Hussam Abu Issa.

The managing director of Fortune Promoseven, Bahrain, Tariq Al Saffar said: “Nobody would want to bring in an expatriate, if they can find an equivalent national. That is a fact.”

The chief executive officer of National Trigeneration CHP Company, KSA, said naturalisation plan should be helping the economy by providing qualified labour of the right calibre.

The study was developed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, or MRMF, in collaboration with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It surveys a sample of 3752 CEOs across 12 industries from 18 Arab countries.

MRMF Vice-president Sultan Ali Lootah said the report reveals that human capital, and a mismatch between supply and demand, both in terms of the quality and quantity of labour available, is one of the biggest challenges to Arab businesses.

Anne Simons, dwirector of PWC Middle East Intelligence, said that a talent crunch is Arab executives’ biggest fear and that GCC countries are suffering the most from an insufficient supply of skilled labour.

“Only 38 per cent of Arab CEOs believe there is a sufficient supply of national qualified labour while Levant falls on the other extreme, where 70 per cent of CEOs feel there is a sufficient supply of skilled labour,” she said.

“The GCC, as per the report, are suffering the most from an insufficient supply of skilled labour, and hence have the highest reliance on expatriates 
with 91 per cent.”

The study, which is the largest ever undertaken of the opinions and perceptions of Arab business leaders, shows CEOs’ low satisfaction with the educational systems in the region, based on the current quality and skills acquired by students.

“Only 48 per cent of the Arab CEOs believe skilled students are provided in sufficient quantities, while Gulf executives are the least satisfied with the supply of skilled students with 37 per cent,” Simons said.

“By contrast, 73 per cent of Levant executives express satisfaction with the supply of skilled students.”

Simons said only 54 per cent of Arab CEOs express satisfaction with their education systems, to produce students with adequate skills.

“More than 90 per cent of Arab CEOs valued soft skills such as communication, teamwork, analytical and innovative thinking as critical, but believe that memorisation is the least important with 51 per cent,” she said.

· ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com