UAE leads Mena in sustainability for retaining talent: Study

Dubai - The country tops in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2015-16 by Insead in the Mena region. Globally, the country is among top 10 .

The UAE continues to lead the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region in attracting and retaining talent from the world over for its welcoming business climate, high standard of living and cosmopolitanism.
The country tops in the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2015-16 by Insead in the Mena region.
Globally, the country is among top 10 in use of social and virtual networks for career growth, the study said.
Switzerland tops the list on talent competitiveness followed by Singapore and Luxembourg in second and third places, respectively.

Out of 109 countries, UAE ranked highly, topping the Mena tables at 23, with Qatar at 24, Saudi Arabia at 42 and Kuwait at 51. The UAE's sustainability ranking for retaining talent rose from 59 in 2014 to number one in 2015.
Quality of executive education in management schools also rose, with the ranking improving from 24 in 2014 to 17 in 2015. Ranking for social mobility through improved economic circumstances also rose from 11 to eight in 2015. The use of social and virtual networks for career advancement contributed to the rise in ranking, from 10 in 2014 to seven this year.
Bruno Lanvin, executive director of Global Indices at Insead, and co-editor of the report, commented: "With a very welcoming business climate and liberal tax policies that are conducive to investment, the UAE has shown tremendous leadership in achieving its vision of a knowledge-based economy."
The UAE's commitment to embedding innovation in its technology infrastructure and all aspects of knowledge creation and its transfer is exemplary.
The GCC countries have benefited from talent arriving from across the world and by building world-class universities to develop local human capital. The skills that an expat gains working in these dynamic markets, mixing with different cultures, are invaluable assets when he moves onwards. Such an international experience is what top organisations are looking for today.
Talking about the future trends in the job market, Lanvin warned at the same time, new technologies might create new challenges for workers at different skill levels: low-skill jobs are being destroyed by automation; medium-skill jobs may be displaced by algorithms.
Paul Evans, co-editor of the Index comments: "Our global data analysis shows it takes more than pay to attract and retain talent, also from abroad - the quality of management practices is increasingly important."
While higher educational opportunities remains a key factor of talent attraction and retention, an increasingly important pull factor lies in the professionalism of companies and management practices, Evans explains.
- abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

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