UAE DEMAND FOR DIGITAL TALENT ON THE RISE
▶ Hiring in technology sector picks up as business confidence improves on economic rebound, writes Felicity Glover
The UAE’s technology sector has dominated demand for new hires since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by businesses hastening their digital plans and global technology companies expanding in the Middle East, recruitment specialists say.
This year is no different, with some companies struggling to find talent because of increased competition for candidates with in-demand technology skills.
“We have seen an increase in demand for talent from tech companies that are growing their teams … as well as increased foreign direct investment by global tech companies expanding into the Middle East and, therefore, building their capabilities here,” Sarah Dixon, managing director of Hays Middle East, says in the company’s 2022 GCC Salary Guide.
The jobs market in the UAE, the second-largest Arab economy, has made a strong recovery from the coronavirus-induced slowdown on the back of the government’s fiscal and monetary measures.
The pickup in economic activity and business confidence spells good news for skilled technology job seekers.
About 76 per cent of UAE employers plan to expand their workforce this year, a February survey by jobs portal Bayt.com and market research company YouGov said.
Meanwhile, about two thirds of professionals in the UAE will actively look for new jobs in the first half of this year as business confidence and hiring activity return to pre-pandemic levels, a February survey by recruitment company Robert Walters found.
Salary increases and bonuses continue to be the main incentives for retaining employees within a business while salaries for new hires increased at a faster pace than existing workers’ pay in the past 18 months, the survey revealed.
New employees’ pay increased by 6 per cent to 8 per cent on average, but was up by up to 20 per cent in industries such as technology, according to Robert Walters.
“The demand for digital talent has increased on a global scale and across borders,” recruitment company Michael Page says in its 2022 UAE Salary Guide. “Post the pandemic, candidates prefer working remotely while organisations are looking for talent to be locally based.”
With hiring on the increase in the technology sector, there are numerous roles that are in demand in the UAE’s digital and technology sectors.
Candidates specialising in user experience design, digital marketing, product development, digital transformation project management and e-commerce leadership are in demand as companies scale up their digital plans.
“Online platforms, enterprise software systems and mobile apps and websites have been scaled or created from scratch to meet the growing demand for digital interfaces, services and products,” says Michael Page in its salary report.
Meanwhile, technology roles are rapidly increasing due to companies digitising their processes to enable, for example, flexible working. In-demand technology roles include front end and full stack developers, heads of software engineering, cloud architects and engineers, and IT project managers.
“In the past, most of the demand we saw [was] from highly regulated sectors and software development outsourcing companies. However, recently we have seen an increase in start-ups and scale ups looking to employ their own talent,” the Michael Page report says.
“The shortage of skilled talent in this space is a growing problem globally.”
However, certain roles in technology have had a high turnover rate because of market demand for candidates, Michael Page says.
To offset this challenge, companies should build a good talent pipeline by nurturing inactive candidates and keeping them interested, the recruiter says. “Additionally, constantly investing in growing the employer brand will always help in attracting and retaining top talent.”
There is demand for specialists with strong technical software skills, as well as candidates with experience in cloud computing and technology consulting, the Michael Page report says.
“More and more businesses in the Middle East [similar to the rest of the world] are adopting cloud solutions, which has resulted in a rise in demand for this skill-set,” it says. “This was already under way, however, the pandemic had a major impact in expediting this to achieve business continuity.”
There is also demand for candidates with strong skills in artificial intelligence, data science, cyber security, the Internet of Things and machine learning, Hays says in its salary report.
“Employers are looking for skilled, technical specialists who have like-for-like product/software experience and there is typically a shortage of supply of such talent in the region,” Hays says. “As such, competition among employers for top talent is high and we have noticed more and more organisations onboarding new employees remotely from countries outside of the Gulf.”
On average, UAE salaries are expected to rise by an average of 3 per cent to 5 per cent this year, depending on the sector, according to the Hays salary report. However, in the technology industry, 56 per cent of professionals are expecting a salary increase of between 6 per cent and 10 per cent, Hays says.
About 50 per cent of technology professionals said their salaries remained the same year on year in 2021 while 45 per cent said they had increased and only 5 per cent reported a decrease, it says.
“This proportion of increases was higher than we have seen in the profession for the past two years and the number of decreases was the lowest of all professions surveyed … both further evidence of the resilience and buoyancy of the technology profession.”
Salary and career development are the top two factors that attract technology professionals to companies within the UAE.
However, flexible and remote working are also important benefits for jobseekers in the sector, with the most common offering being the option to work from home full-time, according to Hays.
“It is clear that following the pandemic, remote working is considered to be an important factor for professionals considering a new employer and an offering that must, where possible, be incorporated into organisations’ attraction and retention strategies.”
Meanwhile, the global rise of the remote working model means that employers are competing for talent on an unprecedented level, the Michael Page report says.
“Where possible, remote working and hybrid models should be explored, while traditional compensation and benefits packages must also be reviewed to ensure employees are receiving attractive, yet fair incentives,” it says.