Emiratisation – eRutledge | Arabian Gulf Economics

Private sector Emiratisation

First published in:

Rutledge, E. J. (2018, May 10). Giving private sector jobs the required significance. Gulf News. https://gulfnews.com/business/analysis/giving-private-sector-jobs-the-required-significance-1.2218799

Giving private sector jobs the required significance; only such a dramatic image makeover can attract more UAE nationals to it

The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources gave research on Emiratisation a boost by launching an annual award for scholarly work on the UAE labour market and human resources. This is a timely incentive because oil prices seem destined to remain some way off on their 2010—14 highs, and comfy government jobs are said to be a thing of the past.

Among the wining studies was one conducted by the UAE University; it was the first large-scale study to investigate the views of UAE nationals working in the private sector and polled 653 individuals. The survey included questions related to job satisfaction and also on context-specific sociocultural sentiments such as the prestige attached to a public sector job.

Indeed the UAE’s labour market’s distortions and segmentations cannot be fully understood, let alone addressed, without such issues being factored into the equation.

The research found that it was “salary and benefits” that most significantly and positively predicted the intention of Emiratis to continue working in the private sector, while “sociocultural influences” — societal attitudes on a given occupation’s prestige and status level — had the most significant negative effect and was likely to deter Emiratis from staying in the private sector.

In other words, money does still talk. However, employee satisfaction isn’t all about money, “training opportunities” and the “nature of job” also writ large. The latter finding is of importance because it implies, at the very least, that today’s graduates do see private sector occupations as more interesting and fulfilling, if compared to the more bureaucratic-style ‘classic’ public sector jobs.

However, as evidenced by the research, it continues to be the case that “classic” public sector positions continue to attract the most status and prestige. This sentiment is even more pronounced among male employees, with male respondents significantly more likely to be adversely affected by sociocultural influences (the pride or prestige attached to public sector positions) and be less happy with the nature (or “environment”) of work in the private sector.

The research has applied policy relevance. The more closely aligned like-for-like public/private sector positions become in terms of salaries, working hours and days of annual leave, the more attractive will be private sector career paths. Such alignment — most likely by way of more extensive subsidies or top-ups for nationals working in the private sector — would help redress the current notion that it is the citizens who’ve secured government jobs that have the higher status. The findings also show that internship programmes — that are now compulsory at some federal universities — are paying dividends and recommends that more interns should be placed in the private sector as about one-third of those surveyed were working for private sector companies where they had completed their internships.

Another revealing find was the fact that almost three-quarters of the sample of UAE nationals employed in the private sector currently had other members of their immediate family working in the same sector. Therefore government policy that champions those Emiratis who take up non-conventional private sector career paths will help change prevailing societal attitudes in relation to what is, and is not, considered a suitable career path for Emiratis.

The study on private sector Emiratisation by Dr Emilie Rutledge and Dr Khaled Al Kaabi recently received the Federal Authority For Government Human Resources Award for the Best Academic Research in HR. Their study is timely in that it considers this topic in an era where comfy government jobs are said to be a thing of the past. In addition to this, their survey-based research—polling 653 individuals—is the first large-scale one to investigate the sentiments of UAE nationals actually working in the private sector. While basing their research on the notions of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and job satisfaction scales, they also factor in what are termed as context-specific sociocultural sentiments. They make the case that the UAE’s labour market distortions and segmentations cannot be fully understood, let alone addressed, without such issues being factored into the equation. As Dr Rutledge says, “employee satisfaction isn’t all about money, the benefits of even the nature of the work and relations with fellow workers, societal attitudes on a given occupation’s prestige and status levels also writ large.” As evidenced by their findings and analysis, it continues to be the case that ‘classic’ public sector positions continue to attract the most status and prestige. This sentiment is even more pronounced amongst the male survey participants.

Another issue that the study highlights is the difficulty face in defining exactly what constitutes the private sector. In a region who’s labour markets are characterised by being highly distorted and segmented along public/private and national/non-national employee lines, the division between public and private entities is often hard to determine. As Dr Al Kaabi explains, it was necessary for their study to include government-backed entities as quasi-private ones as this is what society considers them to be. While some labour market economists would classify these within the government sphere, in the UAE at least, many in this category are commercially-run and, “really do now manage their human resources as if they were genuine private sector operators.”

The study found that it was ‘salary and benefits’ that most significantly and positively predicted continuance intentions (β = .399, p < .001) while ‘sociocultural influences’ most significantly and negatively predicted continuance intentions (β = -.423, p < .001). In other words, money does still talk. These observations also suggest that the more closely aligned like-for-like public/private sector positions become in terms of salaries, working hours and days of annual leave, the more attractive will be the private sector career paths. The authors of this study both contend that such alignment—most likely by ay of public sector pay freezes than pay cuts—would help redress the current notion that it is the citizens who’ve secured government jobs that have the higher status. Other job satisfaction related constructs that had a significant impact on the degree to which individuals planned to continue working in the private sector were: ‘training opportunities’ were a positive factor (β = .163, p < .001) and interestingly, the ‘nature of job’ (β = .072, p .009). The latter finding is of importance because it implies, at the very least, that today’s graduates do see private sector occupations as more interesting and fulfilling (if compared to the more bureaucratic-style ‘classic’ public sector jobs).

In terms of differences between the genders, male respondents were significantly more likely to be adversely affected by sociocultural influences pride (or “prestige) and were significantly less happy with the nature (or “environment”) of work in the private sector. With regard to age, the younger the respondent, the less likely they will be to intend to continue working in the private sector. The study’s authors argue that younger members of society are significantly more influenced by sociocultural barriers and least satisfied with the professional development opportunities on offer. They suggest that this may be due to the fact that they have relatively junior positions at the given private sector organisation. With regard to education, the higher one’s qualification is the more likely it will be that they intend to remain in the private sector. This ties in with the age-related differences, it follows that within the private sector the positions that require post-graduate qualifications will not only pay more but will also have attached to them more status.

Of perhaps most note and applied policy relevance are the following observations. Firstly, no less than one-third of those surveyed were working for private sector entities that they had actually competed their internships with. This suggests that the internship programs that are now compulsory at some federal universities in the UAE are paying dividends. The second observation is that almost three-quarters of the sample (that is UAE nationals employed in the private sector) currently have other members of their immediate family working in the same sector. As Dr Rutledge says, “any government policy that champions those individuals who take up non-conventional career paths will help change prevailing societal attitudes and norms in relation to what are and are not suitable career paths.”

Educated Emirati fathers want more for their daughters

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First published in:

Pennington, R. (2017, April 23). . The National. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/educated-emirati-fathers-want-more-for-their-daughters-uae-study-shows-1.82837

The more educated a father is, the more likely he is to encourage his daughter to take up a high-powered career, a study suggests

Researchers from United Arab Emirates University are studying the influence of parents in their children’s careers. And an Emirati child with parents in the private sector is much more likely to hold similar aspirations, it says. Before Mariam Al Zaabi had finished university, her father urged her to become a self-sufficient, professional woman. “He wanted me to be as strong as the men,” said Ms Al Zaabi. “So he said, ‘you need to work and you need to go and earn your degree’.” Her experience is in line with the two main findings of the study into the influence of parents in their children’s careers, by researchers at UAE University.

Academics polled 335 female Emirati students to see what influenced their career intentions. Dr Emilie Rutledge, associate professor at the university’s College of Business and Economics, hoped the two findings could help with Emiratisation policy. “Encouraging more males to undertake tertiary education and continuing with the policy of subsidising the employment costs of nationals will pay longer-term dividends in terms of female labour force participation,” Dr Rutledge said. An unexpected finding was the lack of influence mothers had over children’s career choice. “Mothers, irrespective of their educational attainment level, had no significant influence in the career decision making process of their daughters,” said Dr Rutledge.

The survey also asked students whether they wanted to work in the public or private sectors, to which 78.5 per cent responded public. “Furthermore, 29.6 per cent strongly agreed with the statement that they would ‘wait’ for a government job, as opposed to taking a private sector job in the interim,” the study found. The respondents also said that if the prospective job were “interesting,” the employer offered maternity leave and employed women role models, it would increase women’s likelihood of entering the workforce, the study found. “The job being interesting was ranked as the most important and this was subsequently found to significantly increase the likelihood of labour market entry,” the researchers wrote. While salary was also identified as a factor, “it did not turn out to have a significant relationship” with choice of career.

Comfy government jobs

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First published in:

Al Nowais, S. (2017, March 7). Sheikh Abdullah tells UAE youth to think beyond ‘comfortable’ jobs. The National. https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/sheikh-abdullah-tells-uae-youth-to-think-beyond-comfortable-jobs-1.41511

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed has told Emirati youth to think beyond expectations of “comfortable” government jobs and prepare to compete with the rest of the world.

“If you want to participate in shaping the future then you need to stop thinking of a government job,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said.

“No other country in the region supports youth-led projects like the UAE. It is one the easiest countries to set up a run a business, so start your own business and corporations.”

He spoke on Tuesday at the Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis for Future Generations in Abu Dhabi, which brought together more than 3,000 Emirati university students.

While many see globalisation as one of the biggest challenges, Sheikh Abdullah said he sees it as an opportunity.

“It’s an opportunity to compete. You are no longer competing amongst yourselves but with the greatest minds around the world,” he said.

He encouraged youth to develop their skills and gain more to keep pace with the latest technological and global advances.

Seventy-five per cent of jobs available today will be obsolete by the time children born this year join the workforce, he said.

“I invite you to seize the opportunity and the opportunities available around you,” he said. “Invest your precious time in your education so you can be ready for your working life.”

Youth must be more “serious and dedicated”, he said, with more ambitions and hope, and a desire to develop and give more to their country.

There are no more “comfortable” jobs in the UAE, he said, because the Government is looking towards the future, envisioning projects in renewable energy and a colony on Mars.

Fields such as renewable and nuclear energy are ones that he never imagined studying in university, he said.

“Now the opportunities of development in these fields are more than ever. We can now take part and participate in international development,” said Sheikh Abdullah.

“Brothers and sisters, those made the biggest and greatest changes in the world and in our lives are not those who learned more, but those who were dedicated.”

The Minister of State for Youth and the Ministers of Higher Education, Climate Change and Environment, also spoke at the start of the two-day summit.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited the exhibition after its launch. He will deliver an address on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohammed said Emirati youth are capable of presenting “innovative initiatives and creative solutions to tackle challenges”.

“We encourage and provide them what it takes to excel in education and scientific research while adopting their ideas and innovations in different fields,” he said.

Shamma Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Youth, said Sheikh Abdullah’s speech was inspiring, particularly when he said there were no comfortable jobs in the government of the UAE. The summit was aimed at inspiring youth and supporting them in building the future.

Dr Ahmad Belhoul, Minister of State for Higher Education, said the majlis is way to inspire students and provides them an opportunity to choose their careers. One of the messages from the summit is the importance of investment in one’s self.

“A university degree alone is not enough to face the changes of the job market,” he said.

Living in a technological age means the skills a student acquires today might not be required by the job market once he or shee graduates, he said, so it is important to invest in one’s self and constantly keep abreast of changes.

Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, hosted a session during which he highlighted the pivotal role that UAE youth play in combating climate change and advancing the protection of natural resources.

He said climate change will affect all inhabitants of the Earth and will lead communities to change their lifestyles.

“Climate change affects the fundamentals of our daily lives, such as the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the work we do and the house we live in,” he said.

“Innovation and creativity are the fundamental pillars of sustainable and nontraditional solutions adopted by the UAE in its journey towards sustainability and decreasing the effects of climate change and adapting to it.”

Wanted: Private-sector Emiratisation

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First published in:

Swan, M. (2015, November). Incentives needed to increase Emiratisation in private sector. The National. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/incentives-needed-to-increase-emiratisation-in-private-sector-1.27972

Emiratisation must address the inequity between the working conditions of the private and public sectors, according to new research

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.”

Vocational majors

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First published in:

Swan, M. (2014, March 1). University staff hope to steer students to appropriate majors. The National. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/university-staff-hope-to-steer-students-to-appropriate-majors-1.685582

Too often students follow career paths set by their parents that are considered prestigious, whether or not they are well-suited to the studies.

University staff are trying to break down the stigma attached to certain degree courses in an attempt to steer students towards subjects they are more suited to, rather than those that carry social prestige.

Students wishing to make early applications to degree courses with limited vacancies will soon be deciding what to study, but those choices for as many as 20 per cent of students will often be the wrong ones.

It has been well documented by academics that among Arab and Arabian Gulf families, in particular, parental influence over subject choice is key and parents still think engineering, architecture, medicine and business are the only subjects that will lead to a successful career with good salaries for their child.

“It’s critical to change this perception that one is defined by their major and to explain that true success will come when one does what one is good at,” said Kevin Mitchell, vice provost at the American University of Sharjah.

“It’s the first step on a long career path so it’s got to be something you’re going to be engaged with over the course of a lifetime.”

He said there was still a lack of awareness of other disciplines and where they can take a graduate, such as international relations, mass-media communications or multi-media design.

“It always comes back to ‘does it make you employable and what do you do with it?’ ” he said.

These preconceptions are outdated, Mr Mitchell said. Employers look for soft skills, such as writing and critical thinking, more than a particular subject of study, something that is reflected in numerous studies in recent years from major employers in the region.

Dr Emilie Rutledge from UAE University, a federal institution, is currently studying parental influence on degree and career choices among Emirati students. She said career guidance from secondary education through the early stages of higher education was key.

“The more flexible the structure of undergraduate degree courses, the more feasible it will be for students to actually reconsider their majors,” she said. “If such a structure was in place, they would be able to experiment with the subjects.”

Ali Shuhaimy, vice chancellor of admissions at AUS, said that parents see these areas of diversification but still prefer majors like engineering and architecture.

“You don’t see investment into projects for history or geography,” he said. “We see investment in nuclear energy, in solar energy.”

It is a culturally bound issue however.

“If you were in the US or Canada where there is a great history in higher education you will have many people studying a general major like history and when they graduate there are hundreds of organisations to employ them. But here, the only place that would consider hiring a history major is a school, where the compensation and status is deemed very low.”

Every year the university increases its outreach, educating prospective students and meeting parents. Last year the university held 170 functions and this year 220.

“With these realities or limitations we try our best with students to encourage them to do what they love,” Mr Shuhaimy said. “It works sometimes, but most of the time it doesn’t. Parental pressure and prestige is a huge cultural factor.”

Prof Samy Mahmoud, who resigned as chancellor of The University of Sharjah in January after six years, said that since 2009, a system has been in place to try to avoid the problems that arise when students do not choose wisely.

A high-tech guidance system helps students to envisage their career orientation and uses multiple-choice questions to help steer them to areas that match aptitude and personality. In addition, advisers from the university meet prospective students and their parents for in-depth conversations.

“Once the students are admitted and get into the first three weeks of classes, any student who shows doubts about their choice can meet one of the counsellors and ask for a transfer to another programme,” Prof Mahmoud said. “In addition, the student’s classwork is monitored carefully for the first few months for possible remedial courses of action.

“With the above system in place, fewer students find themselves in the wrong programme than was previously the case. We found in recent times that the percentage dropped closer to 5 per cent, which is practical for most universities around the world that are known to have the best advising practices.”

Emirati women and the labour market

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Dr Emilie Rutledge, associate professor of Economics at UAE University, at the lecture on Parental Influence on Female Vocational in the Arabian Gulf at Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government.

Parents play critical role in Emirati women’s career choices, UAE study shows

The research team was led by Dr Emilie Rutledge, associate professor of economics at UAE University, who presented their findings to academics at the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) on Tuesday.

“Parental influence has a significant role on a given female’s likelihood of seeking to enter the labour market post-graduation,” she said. “Parental support reduces what women perceive as cultural barriers to employment.”

Sixty-eight per cent of the women said their parents influenced their decisions about careers, and 80 per cent said they preferred to work in the public sector. Forty-six per cent said they felt it was the Government’s responsibility to find them work in the public sector. Working in education, the civil service and police were deemed the most culturally “acceptable” careers for an Emirati woman, although areas such as advertising, marketing and pharmaceuticals were deemed more “attractive”.

“However, if parents are engaged in the vocational decision-making process, the female is more likely to consider exploring opportunities in the private sector,” Dr Rutledge said.

For Emiratisation to be successful, there must be more emphasis on these other fields rather than banking, human resources and finance, which the women did not consider interesting or attractive, Dr Rutledge said.

“Being in a gender-segregated environment was not as important to the girls as the salary or the job being interesting was, even if society or parents as a whole object to this,” she said.

Dr Rutledge cited holiday time and maternity leave as important, both of which were more attractive in the public than private sectors.

Ensuring the women return to the workplace through flexible working times and better maternity benefits was vital.

“A lot of females leave the workplace when they have a family because of the poor provisions, so they simply don’t go back and in turn, they lose their skills,” she said.

A father’s level of education was key in determining how his daughters would be guided. Fathers with degrees are more likely to support and encourage women to seek employment.

“Private-sector career paths are more attractive if the parent already works in the private sector,” Dr Rutledge said.

“This is of importance as there is merit to incentivising more Emirati males into higher education for the long-term participation of Emirati women in the labour market.”

Women graduate at a 3 to 1 ratio from UAE federal universities. Dr Maryam Salem Al Marashad has been a long-standing academic at UAE University since she graduated with the first batch of students in 1977. She left her post as dean of students two years ago but is still active in academia. She said a husband’s influence could not be underestimated.

“We see many girls at UAEU get married in their third year, so by the time they are going to the labour market, it is not only the family but their husband – she is stuck with an answer from her husband that she can or cannot work here or there.”

Geography will also sway a woman’s choices, she said. “In Fujairah when I go to my bank, the whole first row is full of Emirati women who are supporting their families and are interested to work,” she said. “In Abu Dhabi or Dubai where there are many more opportunities, they can afford to be more picky.”

MBRSG’s head of gender and public policy, Ghalia Gargani, said more research was needed for the long-term participation of Emirati women in the job market. Only 9 per cent of the labour force is Emirati, a fifth of them women. “We need to think of ways to have policies for both men and women to balance their work and life and the responsibilities that come with their culture here,” she said. “It’s very relevant to research we’re doing here on the family unit.”

“National” FLFP in the Arabian Gulf

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A short clip on the issues surrounding the subject of Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) in the Arabian Gulf. The focus is on national women in the UAE.

Future of Emirati women often determined by parents

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First published in:

Swan, M. (2014, January 29). Future of Emirati women often determined by parents. The National. https://www.thenational.ae/uae/education/future-of-emirati-women-often-determined-by-parents-1.687617

Parental attitudes can reduce the cultural barriers that keep Emirati women from entering the workplace.

A study polled 335 female citizens between the ages of 15 and 24 from across the country. The research team was led by Dr Emilie Rutledge, associate professor of economics at UAE University, who presented their findings to academics at the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) on Tuesday.

Sixty-eight per cent of the women said their parents influenced their decisions about careers, and 80 per cent said they preferred to work in the public sector.

Forty-six per cent said they felt it was the Government’s responsibility to find them work in the public sector.

Working in education, the civil service and police were deemed the most culturally “acceptable” careers for an Emirati woman, although areas such as advertising, marketing and pharmaceuticals were deemed more “attractive”.