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Dubai: Dubai and the rest of the GCC countries are facing a growing shortage of qualified executives and skilled workers due to the rapid pace of development and lack of planning, experts reiterated on Sunday.
"The high demand and low supply of qualified GCC executive talent is here to stay for at least the next five years," said Boyden Middle East managing director Magdy Al Zein at the opening of Datamatix "GCC Executive Talent and Skills Shortage Summit."
Al Zein said the region's rapid growing sectors such as fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail have very few GCC executives.
Although countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have taken huge steps to introduce progressive education and qualification programmes to develop executives, Al Zein said it will take about four to six years to achieve results.
"This means that the shortages will only aggravate if the economy maintains the above-average growth rates," Al Zein said.
"As the governments of the GCC continue to get more involved with investments, projects and modernisation of the public sector, they are increasingly becoming a competitive employer of GCC executive talent," Al Zein added.
What to do
Professor Nick Van Der Walt, University of Wollongong chief executive officer, said the challenge now lies on the GCC countries to identify the skills and talent that are required and relevant to the region.
In his keynote address, Van Der Walt discussed the need to explore the factors that contribute to the enhancement of the capital base of the GCC countries and the relation between employers' needs, the motivations of national and expatriate staff, education providers and the overall goals of the nations in which they are functioning.
Factors
Al Zein said the region's pace of development has led to the implementation of projects that require skills currently in short supply in the GCC, while the education system available is not aligned to the region's requirement and the management trainee programmes are not being promoted aggressively in all sectors.
Besides, he added, it is too early for GCC nationals to take full responsibility in certain sectors and that "historically, GCC talent has limited its preference to a few sectors like energy and banking."
"[There is a] preference by well-trained and educated GCC talents to join the family private businesses although lately we have seen examples of such talents opting for positions with high-profile projects," Al Zein said.
With the current econ-omic boom, Al Zein said the region has no choice but to continue importing executives and skilled staff, but he suggested that employers "develop long-term pay incentives" to draw and retain talented executives.
For one, he said, top-notch executives command world-class salaries, as emerging markets such as China are competing for executive talent and are ready to pay a premium to attract the experienced executives, while the fast-growing Indian subcontinent is discouraging their executives from moving.
"Performing GCC executive talent is being poached by competitors locally and regionally, resulting in missed opportunities or cost escalation to retain," he said.
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