Retention of Talented Employees in the UAE Competitive Market Qualitative Research

In the modern Middle Eastern competitive market, the retention of talented employees becomes the main goal because of the necessity to save costs and to overcome the lack of available talents in many different industries.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) “is considered as one of the most rapidly developing countries in the Middle East”, where the main focus is on development of oil industries and such non-oil industries as banking, tourism, and hospitality among others (Ibrahim & Al Falasi 2014, p. 563).

The active economic growth of the UAE attracts talented employees from all over the world, but the problem is in the diversity of this employee population. According to Lim, the UAE employment market is “highly diversified with over 200 nationalities” (Lim 2012, p. 282).

As a result, to meet the actively increasing demand for talented employees in different industries, managers in public and private sectors face a challenge of retaining diverse human resources.

Problem Statement and Research Question

The problem is in the fact that to preserve leading positions in the UAE competitive market, managers need to attract more talented employees to increase the corporate competitive advantage. Furthermore, they also have to address the needs of these diverse human resources in order to retain employees and keep them motivated to work in the concrete organisation.

Researchers have focused on management challenges associated with diverse human resources, but the additional research is also necessary to examine specific strategies used by managers in order to retain talents in the UAE. Focusing on this problem, it is important to answer the following research question: How can organisations retain talented employees in the UAE competitive market?

Aims of the Research

The main aims of this study are to explore the situation in the competitive market of the UAE regarding the retention of talents and to determine typical strategies that are used by managers in the UAE organizations to retain the talents. It is important to focus on the recent changes in the UAE labour market that made it one of the most competitive markets in the world.

Furthermore, to answer the specific research question, it is necessary to determine and examine the particular strategies, techniques, and approaches used and followed by managers in the UAE organisations in order retain the talented workers.

Rationale for the Research

The proposed research is important to answer the question on the most effective strategies that can be used to attract and retain more talents in the industries where the competition to recruit employees is the most active. In addition, the research is important to answer the question regarding the approach followed by managers to address the needs of the highly diverse employee population.

In the UAE, nationals cannot cover the employee demand in the majority of industries, and the flow of expatriate workers in the country is significant.

As a result, to support the economic growth of companies in many industries, managers need to propose their unique strategies to retain not only nationals but also expatriates. In the context of highly diverse cultures, these managerial tasks are rather challenging and the research is necessary to focus on the most effective strategies for competition in the labour market.

The Aspects of the UAE Competitive Market

The recent economic growth in the United Arab Emirates has made its market not only complex and diverse but also competitive. It is important to state that the competition within the labour market also contributes to the competition within the other industries in the country.

Therefore, today organisations “need to attract and retain skilled, reliable and loyal/committed human resources for maintaining its competitiveness in the market” (Ibrahim & Al Falasi 2014, p. 562).

In this context, talented employees in the UAE are discussed as resources for increasing the competitiveness of the organisation, and in their turn, talents can choose employers within the modern competitive market (Singh, Jones & Hall 2012, p. 95). Today, the UAE public and private organisations face two main problems associated with retaining talented employees.

The first problem is the necessity to propose the competitive salaries while retaining talented workers. Although the costs of retaining employees in the UAE industries are lower than the costs associated with recruiting new candidates, these costs are still comparably high.

Furthermore, talents are inclined to seek for other important opportunities and rewards for them while selecting the employer. Thus, the other problem is the necessity of developing the corporate culture in order to address the needs and interests of both nationals and expatriates.

Reference List

Ibrahim, M & Al Falasi, S 2014, ‘Employee loyalty and engagement in UAE public sector’, Employee Relations, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 562-582.

Lim, H 2012, ‘Generation Y workforce expectations: implications for the UAE’, Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 281-293.

Singh, A, Jones, D & Hall, N 2012, ‘Talent management: a research based case study in the GCC region’, International Journal of Business and Management, vol. 7, no. 24, pp. 94-107.