Dubai: It is impossible for the private sector to compete for fresh Emirati graduates when they are paid such high salaries by the public sector, Ammar Shams, Regional Head of Corporate Sustainability at HSBC Group told representatives from the public, private and higher education sector this week.
Shams, who also lectures at the Higher Colleges of Technology, was speaking at a Dubai School of Government forum entitled ‘Taking Higher Education to Work' and discussed with other experts the challenges to addressing the employment and development of Emiratis in the workplace.
"The practical challenge is that the government [sector] is paying people so much when they're fresh graduates," Shams said.
He added that a fresh Emirati graduate in the private sector had little to offer and it was a one way street where the employer trains and develops employees on top of paying high salaries.
He said the private sector was keen to develop these graduates as "it's our national duty, but at Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 a pop, it's difficult to pay so much".
Not as it seems
Not everyone agreed with this. "I am an Emirati and I wish I earned this salary," said Hanan Al Fardan from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority's Higher Education Department who was among the speakers at the forum.
She said the Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 salary Shams mentioned was not applicable to all entry level Emirati graduates as she and her friends were in their early to mid twenties and worked for the public sector with lower salaries.
Shams suggested that salaries be kept at a reasonable level for fresh graduates at both the public and private sector because "once we hit the junior, mid and senior management level, we're much cheaper than our expatriate counterparts".
Despite attractive salaries, the workplace in the public sector also had its problems, said Eisa Ali Al Za'abi, deputy general manager of the Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies.
"UAE nationals joining the public sector have high expectations but are faced with a different reality!" Al Za'abi said
He said fresh graduates face limited teamwork, irregular follow up on discipline and punctuality, no culture of long working hours, a lack of mentors, unclear career progression and competition with expatriates.
