A BLUEPRINT FOR UAE’S PRIVATE SECTOR

By 2025, millennials will make up 75 per cent of all employees. These are people who have only ever known life in a digital world. How will they respond to the decades-old processes and solutions that many of them will be expected to deploy when they reach executive and C-suite levels?

“The rate and extent of transformation of UAE Nationals working in private sector clearly has implications for our approach to talent management. At a minimum, there needs to be a refresh. For organisations, nothing short of a disrupted talent management solution might be in order,” said Vijay Gandhi, regional head at the recruitment consultancy Korn Ferry.

“In the last two decades, we have seen a dramatic shift in the employment of UAE Nationals in the private sector from predominantly being in government, semi-government and financial services sector.

As part of the incentive to strengthen private sector’s employment of UAE Nationals, different initiatives have been deployed recently — from salary support schemes to merit programmes for specialised talent like engineers, nursing, coding, etc., In addition, higher pension subsidy for Nationals earning less than Dh20,000/month is also going to make it more attractive to work in private sector.

“Going forward, job creation and opportunities are in the private sector — and young graduates have the desired skills to start a career in private sector,” Gandhi said.