Easier work culture lures

Thousands of unemployed UAE nationals search for work in a country with thousands of job opportunities opening up every year.

While the private sector hunts down qualified nationals to employ, few are entering the rat race. Some officials say the ease of government service benefits, and a lack of coordination between educational institutions and the private sector, are actually stunting the development of a competitive, professional national workforce - particularly its men.

Click here for the 'workforce in figures' (pdf)

It stands at about one per cent - the number of UAE nationals employed in the private sector, in a country which creates 300,000 jobs every year, enough to absorb 10 times the estimated 33,000 unemployed UAE nationals.

Yet few are joining, despite the best efforts of private sector companies to entice nationals through events such as the recently held Careers UAE 2006.

They include women like Amal, an executive secretary in a federal ministry, who said she did not know any nationals working in the private sector - and "who would?" she asked.

"They say the hours are very long, from 8am to 5pm, the salaries aren't high unless you've got a university degree - I hear from Dh1,500 to Dh2,000."

And that is where much of the blame lay, government officials and human resource managers said.

Easy

The extensive benefits and easy hours of the government sector are so enticing that few nationals are tempted to join the country's booming private sector because jobs here are relatively lower paid, hours are longer and workload harder, plus holidays are fewer.

While there are rumours, consistently denied, that public sector employment conditions will be changed to match the private sector, some officials openly call for change.

Security matters

The reality is that nationals are preferring the government sector for shallow reasons, they see the instant benefits of less hours and job security. Mostly, it's job security," said Jaber Al Khumairi, head of Abu Dhabi Tanmia office.

He pointed out the UAE is not alone. "In most countries people prefer government jobs because of security."

Disparity

However, the disparity between the public and private sector in the UAE is vast.

Government sector employees work 7 hours a day, 5 hours a day in Ramadan. Most are given 45 days annual leave, reaching 60 days for top civil service grades.

That does not include 9 days of official holidays, or the several extra paid leave they can apply for, including study leave, for employees who have completed 3 years work; paid leave to accompany sick direct relatives for treatment abroad; 21 days to complete the pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah; and 6 months sabbatical leave, although with strict conditions.

The disparities appear glaring, but that is not just because of the benefits, many of which are shared with the private sector such as official holidays.

However, while they are consistently applied in the public sector, many private sector companies openly flout the labour law in general, and official holidays in particular.

Bridge the gap

Al Khumairi, tasked with trying to train and help find employment for thousands of nationals, advocates bridging the public-private gap.

"I am extremely supportive of changing hours to match the private sector.

It is in the public interest to do this.

"I don't know if this will happen soon, but I understand there are instructions to study this issue and I see this coming soon."

He said some local government departments were already taking their own initiatives.

"Many government departments now in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are now lengthening working hours. In Tanmia, we work from 8am to 4pm, sometimes longer as well."

Mentality

It is not only the hours that have to change, Al Khumairi said, but mentality as well.

"We need to change the culture to be based around productivity. We need to match mentalities between the public and private sectors.

"I think people who look for the instant benefits don't have a full awareness of the professional development offered in the private sector," Al Khumairi said.

"They want to know what they are getting, but we need them to look at the benefits in the future, not just now."

Al Khumairi is an optimist and points to the recent graduation of dozens of young national women who will work in Dubai's hotel industry, "which is very difficult," and where potential cultural taboos manifest themselves.

Start with school

Mohammad Abdul Raziq, human capital manager, Empower Energy Solutions, agreed there is potential for change.

However, for Abdul Raziq, the change must begin with educational institutions.

"Right now, unfortunately the first thing most nationals ask us about is how much the package is.

They rarely ask us who we are, the scope of our work, our vacancies, career progression or training," he lamented.

"I blame educational institutions who do not teach graduates what questions to ask.

They don't communicate with the private sector to help students find placements before they graduate, to see what the private sector's needs are.

Students are taught some really irrelevant things. We need to have people who graduate, competent and ready to work straight away," he said.

"We have to bridge the gap between colleges and the workforce."

Human resources

Amnah Al Muhairi, a UAE national working with Abdul Raziq as a human capital coordinator, was frank.

"Many UAE nationals apply to work here, but the work hours scare them, even though the package we offer tempts them."

Adding to the problem, Amnah said, was that graduates who were serious about applying did not have the right skills.

"We mainly hire engineers, but most of the CVs we receive are from business administration graduates, which is a saturated market."

She said that led to the UAE's most frustrating employment predicament: "Many graduates are unemployed while the demand exists."

Amnah said she insisted on sidestepping the public sector.

"I worked here after completing my graduate training with the company. Yes, I work nine hours a day, but I'm challenged, and when I leave, I'll have a brand name on my CV."
 
Different priorities

Another young UAE national woman, who declined to give her name, worked in the human resources department for a large media group.

She said she personally worked in the private sector to learn "how to speak, how to work, to get experience".

Yet many of the UAE national men who enquired about positions were less interested in those benefits, she said.

"Men tend to ask about working hours. They don't like to work fixed hours. A lot also ask about holidays," she laughed.

Women, she said, were more interested in hearing about vacancies, and asked less about holidays and working hours.

Women more keen

And here is another challenge Tanmia and human resources managers raise: not just pushing UAE nationals into the private sector, but men specifically.

Sameeha Jayasundera is a human resources consultant for Lloyds TSB, which must meet a 4 per cent Emiratisation target yearly.

"We've had a better response from female candidates at the careers fair, who are keen to work in an international bank and are more flexible with working hours," Jayasundera said.
"The pool is big enough in the market to recruit; the challenge is getting the male-female ratio correct."

Jayasundera's experience, and that of many other human resource managers at the careers fair, reflect Tanmia figures.

The figures

From 1995 to 2004 the UAE female labour force increased by nearly 3 times more than that of the UAE male labour force, even though women were more likely to be unemployed.

It reflects recent Labour Ministry efforts to nationalise the Public Relations Officer (PRO) sector in January and February, when at least 50 per cent of attendees at public forums were national women, many prepared to work for salaries starting from Dh2,000.

Myths

And while many are prepared to work for low wages in the private sector, Wahida, a communications manager at a Federal Ministry, said ignorance and myths about the private sector hold people back.

"In the private sector you can get much more experience, here the opposite is true.And if you work in the private sector and return here, they increase your title and money because they respect your experience."

She warned the public sector suffered from myths as well. "People think we are lazy and don't care about our work. That's not true for everybody."