At a gathering of key HR industry stakeholders at a ‘Saudization’ forum hosted by Bayt.com – the Middle East’s number one job site – it was agreed by general consensus that employee retention is the main enabler for organisations to maintain competitive advantage in the region. The assembled11 forum members furthermore agreed that a proactive and customised training and development drive is an essential trigger for optimising local participation in industry, while diversification from the often lesser paid ‘safe’ jobs in the public sector should be encouraged.
The issue of localisation, a main driver of HR policy and a topic of national importance in the Gulf states, was the focus of the Bayt.com forum, the first of its kind in Riyadh. The participants included key decision makers from human resource departments and key influencers in the region, who aired their opinions and shared insights on the economic, social and political drivers that influence human capital and that define HR strategies in regional corporations.
The forum found that there are a number of challenges facing the general move to Saudization. Social factors are preventing young people from accepting certain types of jobs and long working hours in the private sector coupled with lack of real development opportunities prompts reluctance to join the private sector. Currently, the nature of the local market allows an influx of foreign workers, happy to accept a lesser salary than their local counterparts. This may be compounded by the fact that there are still relatively high levels of nationals holding educational qualifications that are below university diploma standard. “All of these factors demonstrate the case that Saudization has a number of key obstacles, which need to be addressed in a meaningful manner in order to drive greater levels of Saudi nationals into the workforce,” commented Amer Zureikat, Regional Manager , Bayt.com.
“Despite the Middle East region developing at a phenomenal pace and even outstripping growth in most developed nations, one of the main challenges faced by private enterprises aside from competition is the problem of maintaining, engaging and developing their most vital asset – their personnel,” explained Amer Zureikat, Bayt.com. “This is particularly true of Saudi Arabia, where training and mentoring for careers is often insufficient, and doesn’t match the needs of the local job market’s demands,” he added.
The importance of staff training and development was reflected recently in independent research commissioned by Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj on the region’s Consumer Confidence, which is used to understand and measure the attitudes of Middle Eastern consumers to the economy and their job situation, and to the employment market in general.
The February2008 Bayt.com and YouGovSiraj Consumer Confidence Index report (CCI) (available on www.Bayt.com) clearly shows room for improvement in the levels of satisfaction with career growth opportunities in Saudi Arabia. Only26% of respondents in Saudi Arabia cited that satisfaction with their current job and career prospects was high with33% citing that satisfaction with their current job and career prospects was neutral and28% citing it as low.
Nearly a quarter of all respondents to the Bayt.com YouGovSiraj CCI survey at23% stated that satisfaction with career growth in their current organisatio n was low, with28% citing it as neutral. Against this backdrop, Saudi Arabia’s respondents remained among the most optimistic for the future, with50% of respondents citing there will be more jobs available next year, compared to the19% of respondents who believe there will be fewer jobs available.
Findings of Bayt.com’s2008 Loyalty Survey conducted in conjunction with YouGovSiraj reinforce the common perception that there is room for improvement in satisfaction levels among Saudi Arabia’s employees. Only26% of workers in Saudi Arabia agreed that their organizations manage to engage employees so that they perform well, and only23% agree that their organisations manage to keep the best talent.
The participants agreed that setting a strategic cohesive training and development agenda is key to empowering Saudi locals to enter and create a positive impact on the local job market. Boosting overall morale and self esteem is one factor the forum also agreed would encourage young workers to feel positive about taking their futures in hand. Moreover it was agreed that to be successful, this needs to start from a young age by preparing young people for the real world of work before tertiary education. They should be familiarized with available training and development methods, by meeting and hearing from locals who are ‘success stories,’ through summer training programs that give a solid foundation for expectations in the real world of work.
It was also established during the event that there were different attitudes to work based on the location of young people in the Kingdom, and research into these different attitudes would glean a better understanding of the drivers and obstacles for locals in the workforce. Creating a balance in employment between the private and public sectors; in terms of remuneration and working hours, will also likely decrease the polarity between the two sectors.
Repeated Bayt.com online polls have shown that opportunities for career growth and development are even more important for professionals considering a career move than immediate short-term remuneration considerations. In a May2008 Bayt.com online poll over36% of all respondents indicated that opportunities for growth and advancement were the most important aspect they look for in a job versus31% selecting an attractive salary. Despite this factor, the forum agreed that salaries in a number of industries did not correlate to the high inflation rate, thus limiting the interest to seek employment in such industries.
Other factors have a role to play in increasing the drive towards Saudization. Increasing the number of women in the workforce seeks to augment the overall percentage of Saudi nationals in any sector, and now that Saudization is no longer restricted to certain sectors, adopting a universal approach to encouraging all able members of society to work, will result in much stronger economic growth for the Kingdom.
“The case for localization is compelling, and while the general consensus agreed that the adoption of the localization mandate is in the interests of everyone doing business in the region, it was felt that the best outcome would be for organisations to focus on ‘quality localisation,’ which can be achieved through the implementation of effective, customized, flexible and proactive staff training and development programs that suit the needs of the individual and the organisation. This includes harnessing the power of the internet, communicating with universities and institutions, and in general, increasing the competitiveness of the private sector in attracting and retaining top talent” conclud ed Amer Zureikat, Bayt.com.
Bayt.com is committed to bringing about a paradigm shift in the HR and recruitment industry through researched, audited and empowered HR perspectives. The forum provided the ideal environment for these key industry players to share in some of the valuable data that Bayt.com researches, and to use it as a catalyst for seeking answers to some of the most pressing issues in the industry today.