Compensation & Work-Life Balance Valued As The Number One Priority For UAE Employees When Building An Ideal Career Path

Despite a possible economic slowdown experienced globally, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is experiencing a significant boom. With projections set at an all-time high, and unemployment rates remaining low, today, most job candidates are aware of their attractiveness to employers. Compared to 75% globally, 82% of UAE employees are approached multiple times per year about new job opportunities, and 57% of those are approached every month. In addition, 73% of job seekers feel they are in a strong negotiating position when looking for a job, a figure that runs 5% higher to the global average, where only 14%  feel that employers hold the reins in job offer negotiations, next to 12% in the UAE. Confidence is highest among teachers, and IT professionals and lowest among those who work in administration, business management and healthcare.

These are among the findings of a new study released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and The Network, a global alliance of recruitment websites. Titled “What Job Seekers Wish Employers Knew,” the study is based on a survey dedicated to exploring job seekers’ recruitment preferences providing a comprehensive analysis of major international markets, including the UAE.

The survey reveals that the most coveted candidates are those working in health and social care,  digital, and public service, followed loosely by those in administration, business management and financial services. Engineers and IT professionals receive the fewest offers, likely due to the global slowdown experienced in the field of technology.

“It’s not easy to win over top talent. A strong offer is not enough. 41% of candidates in the UAE would refuse a good offer if they had a negative experience during recruitment. Most talents imagine their ideal career in a stable job with good work-life balance and time for family, friends and hobbies. However, a main deal breaker when looking for a job is still financial compensation,” said Dr. Christopher Daniel, Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG Middle East.

What Candidates Want

Most respondents (67%) to the survey said that they desire, above all, a stable job with a good work-life balance. This preference is dominant across job roles, industry, and age groups. Career progress at a good company comes second (64%), and working on exciting products, topics, and technologies is third (32%). Hybrid work is still popular, with 34% of respondents favoring that model—but that result represents an unexpected decline in preference from BCG’s autumn 2020 survey, in which 50%of UAE respondents said they would work remotely for an employer with no physical presence in their country. Today, the majority of respondents in the UAE (58%) cited full-time office presence as their work model of preference.

Deal Breakers

People may dream of a steady job with a good work-life balance for the long term, but across the UAE, candidates who are weighing a concrete job offer usually make the financial package their highest priority, and they identify inadequate salaries and bonuses as the biggest deal breakers (16%). Retirement and insurance benefits rank second (13%), and relationship with superior third (12%).

The survey also looked at respondents by age group. Compensation and work-life balance are generally the two top priorities regardless of cohort, but deal breakers change significantly with age:

• Members of the young generation of workers care deeply about flexible work location and/or work schedule, and company values.
• Workers who are 30 to 50 years old prioritize amount of paid time off,and retirement and insurance benefits.
• Among respondents age above 50 to 60, opportunities to lead and take responsibility, and relationship with superior rank relatively high.

Myth Busters

The survey’s findings include the revelation that some myths about recruiting are just that—myths. For instance, 41% of respondents would refuse an otherwise attractive job offer if they had a strong negative experience during the recruitment process, and 67% said that a smooth, timely process is the number one way for an employer to stand out during recruitment. Both of these results debunk the myth that if the offer is attractive, the recruitment process doesn’t matter.

Additionally, 76% of jobseekers still want to work the traditional five-day workweek, proving false the notion that traditional day jobs are increasingly becoming obsolete, to be replaced by part-time solutions, gigs, and side projects. And while the digital HR market is booming, most respondents (68%) still prefer in-person application and selection channels, though 40% of candidates feel comfortable with AI-led interviews or preparing an introduction video of themselves, almost double the global average (23%).

What Employers Can Do

In the authors’ experience, employers can take a number of effective steps to maximize their attractiveness to desirable job candidates. The study provides in-depth details around six key actions to consider when recruiting:

1. Segment your approach to appeal to different target personas.
2. Reimagine recruitment as a personal journey.
3. Overcome your biases to increase your talent pool.
4. Wield digital tools impactfully but selectively.
5. Get culture fundamentals right.
6. Re-recruit your internal talent.

“If the past years have taught us anything, is that there is a greater demand for work-life integration. People do not live to work anymore, they work to live. Therefore, employers need to ensure that corporate culture is up to the expectations of modern jobseekers. Increased salary and higher seniority may be enough to attract candidates – but retainment will have greater chances at fostering loyalty should work-life balance and flexibility be enhanced. This may include being able to work from home, having a supportive manager, and having access to family support services,” concluded Daniel.

Download the study here.