Emiratisation must address the inequity between the working conditions of the private and public sectors, according to new research.
Melanie Swan | November 16, 2015
James Christopher Ryan from the College of Business and Economics at the UAE University pointed to the discrepancy in number of holiday days, working hours and salaries.
He said standardisation between the two was the way to make the private sector more attractive to Emiratis.
“Looking at ensuring that experience and qualification requirements for comparable work are the same across sectors and aligning salaries for comparable work between sectors” should also be considered, Dr Ryan said.
He also said that more needed to be done to change the mindset of Emiratis to help them find work in the private sector.
“Historical evidence suggests Emiratisation has not been a success thus far,” he said.
“Also, my continuing interaction with UAE national students still offers clear evidence of their preference to work for public sector organisations. Once we have established a culture where the citizenry come to expect employment in government positions it can be very difficult to move successfully away from that expectation.”
The push for Emiratisation in the private sector has been slow when compared to its government counterparts, he said.
“To date Emiratisation in the government sector, that is replacing expatriate expertise with local expertise, has had success,” he said.
“However within the private sector there is not enough sustained improvement in UAE national employment to determine if we have any real success yet.”
Dr Ryan’s research was published in the Journal of Business Research.
“Successful Emiratisation will require a better balance between the conditions and rewards offered in the public and private sectors for UAE nationals. Any steps we can take to reduce the imbalance are steps in the right direction.”
Dr Emilie Rutledge, associate professor of economics at UAE University, undertook research of her own on Emiratisation that supports Dr Ryan’s observations. “In the long run, fully integrating Emiratis into the labour market is crucial for economic prosperity and social inclusion,” she said.
“Unemployment rates have been high among the Emirati population in recent years, with estimates in double digit figures, much of which is structural unemployment and can be attributed to strong public sector preferences.
“It is essential to address the paradox in pay and working hours if more Emiratis are to be willing to enter private sector employment.”
In Abu Dhabi she said only about 4 per cent of private sector employees were Emirati. Incentives were needed, such as aligning benefits and working hours, if this was to be reversed.
She said sociocultural barriers also remained an obstacle to Emiratis entering the private sector. “Several vocations in the private sector are not considered socially or culturally appropriate for nationals, and there is still a certain amount of prestige attached to attaining a public sector post.”