Success Factors of Emiratisation - Essay Example

The government of the UAE is facing difficulties in accommodating this growing workforce in the public sector, which already has over 9% of local workers on its payroll. As such, the government turned towards the private sector with its Emiratisation drive and directed quotas for the locals in private organizations.

However, the research contends that these quotas, restrictions, or punitive actions, all of which form a part of the drive for Emiratisation, are not effective in getting the desired results. Latest statistics show that after 10 years of Emiratisation, ex-pats still hold over 90 % of all positions in the private sector (Mellahi, 2007). The current research is therefore aimed at understanding the barriers of the organizational level, socio-cultural level, educational level, and economic level that may be impeding the materialization of Emiratisation. These factors are explored using both secondary research and literature review as well as conducting a primary survey involving the local workers. The research expects to highlight these barriers and make suitable recommendations to the government of UAE as well as to the organizations for better management and implementation of the Emiratisation process. 

Traditionally, it has been seen that the Gulf region, including the UAE, has relied heavily on immigrant workers for sustaining its booming economy. However, with changing times, the use of immigrant workers has brought to the forefront various issues, like changing the demographic profile of the country, lack of skills levels and indigenous resources, concerns for the future of the regional workers, and discontentment in the local population. This has led various regional governments, of Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE, to reconsider their policies towards labor acquisition and demand. The UAE government has expressed a commitment to reduce the number of expatriates in the country and to replace them with a workforce derived from the indigenous population (Wilkins, 2001). This drive to enlist employment for local UAE nationals in all sectors and across the private and public enterprises in the UAE was introduced in the year 2000. This process is called ‘Emiratisation’ (Metcalfe, 2007; Kerr and England, 2009).

Emiratisation is expected to be brought about by state-led labor market policies (Metcalfe, 2007). Another way to achieve Emiratisation is through reservations and quotas in the private sector (Godwin, 2006). It was also thought that by enhancing the knowledge and skill levels of the indigenous workforce Emiratisation could be obtained. The government of the UAE has set up the “National Human Resources Development & Employment Authority” or Tanmia to lead the Emiratisation process. In addition, the government of UAE has invested massively in its educational programs so that a steady pool of qualified indigenous workers can be developed to take on the responsibilities of jobs that were earlier held by foreigners (Forstenlechner, 2010).

After nearly ten years since the beginning of the Emiratisation process, the program seems to have gained only mixed results. According to Morris (2005), almost all the industrial sectors have failed to implement adequate quotas to give employment to the locals. Tanmia itself acknowledges that only three banks achieved the target of 4o% by the year 2006 (Tanmia 2006).  According to other researchers, any gains in increasing local participation in the private sectors like banking, finance, HRM, and others that were the focus of attention for Emiratisation are offset by an influx of expatriates in other sectors (Shah, 2006; Godwin 2006).

Also, it is seen that expatriates currently hold almost 99% of jobs in the private sector and a large number of positions in the government, and as such, in every workplace, Emiratis are in a small minority compared to other nationalities.