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HUMAN CAPITAL:
THE NEW
ORDER
TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT
AND INNOVATION ARE NOT
THE ONLY KEY WORDS
IN HUMAN RESOURCES.
UNDERSTANDING
CULTURE IS ANOTHER
IMPORTANT FACET,
ESPECIALLY IN QATAR.
QATAR'S HR SECTOR MOVES AWAY FROM THE
NORM AND PLAYS A FAR WIDER, THOUGH UNIQUE,
ROLE SPECIFIC TO THE CULTURAL FABRIC OF
THE COUNTRY IN AN EFFORT TO INTEGRATE AND
UNDERSTAND THE DIVERSE WORKFORCE.
By Sindhu Nair
uman Resources
(HR) management is
growing beyond what
it was meant to be.
Today HR has become
a strategic business
partner with the
company itself. They
work closely with the top executive departments to help the company reach bottom-line results. This is accomplished by
targeted recruiting, focusing on retention
and developing employee talents and skills.
22
19
Qatar
25
34
Saudi Arabia
32
42
Lebanon
57
48
80
89
Morocco
85
90
Algeria
91
103
Yemen
93
Kuwait
60
Jordan
62
CROSSING CULTURAL
BOUNDARIES
Sharoq Al Malki, Chief Human Capital Officer, Commercial Bank of Qatar,
believes that finding and retaining the best candidates is a continual
challenge and must be tackled with a varied approach.
Al Malki feels that Qatars oil and gas sector has now matured with experienced Qataris who have been at the helm for over 20
years, yet the financial sector by contrast is
in its relative infancy with new recruits still
being trained for managerial positions.
Commercial Bank is compensating hiring expats by taking in large numbers of
new Qatari graduates each year through
its Graduate Development Programme,
which places heavy emphasis on training
and gaining hands on experience through
rotational placements.
less critically important depending whether the targets of their efforts are individuals
or companies, says Lanvin. To attract and
retain individual talent, economic instruments (level of compensation, tax incentives) remain important, but other more
qualitative elements matter more and
more, which relate to quality of life (security, cultural activity, presence of other talents). Since a large proportion of the talent
that can be attracted and retained are employees of foreign companies, critical tools
to be considered relate to the ease of doing
business, investment climate and fiscal re-
I DONT BELIEVE IN
THE QUOTA SYSTEM
Ooredoo Qatar had recently organised an event to
commemorate their female employees.
finding talent.
The theme now for Ooredoo is innovation, and for ideas we need motivated and
talented people, says Al Ansari, a motivational speaker, who is known for taking on
the cause of women in the work place. She
is the founder and manager of Qatariat, a
company that specialises in helping Qatari
women advance in the workforce.
Qatar is implementing the National
Vision 2030 and Ooredoo is intent on investing in human capital and empowering
women, two important pillars within the
QNV 2030.
Women dominate
The percentage of women enrolled in universities in Qatar is nearly twice as much
as the males, and nearly two-thirds of all
graduates are women, according to official
figures released a year back by the Ministry
of Development, Planning and Statistics.
But while expat and Qatari females are
more likely to enroll in and graduate with
university degrees here, their male coun-
knowledge and behaviour that fit our organisational culture," she says.
"Local candidates may have a limited
financial services perspective in some areas of the business, while expats who have
not worked in the Gulf can struggle as far
as cultural assimilation is concerned. We
hire about one fifth of our workforce from
outside of Qatar," she says about the national versus the expat equation in their
workplace.
One of the companies within the ambit of Industries Qatar, a major player in
Qatars diversification process, QAPCO,
has a different story to tell. According to
Eng. Abdulla Ahmed Naji, Learning and
Development Manager, QAPCO was established in 1974 and pioneered petrochemical production in the Middle East. At that
time, no one in the GCC had had any experience in operating a petrochemical plant.
We then embarked upon a recruitment
drive and hired international and local
talents. Envisioning the workforce of the
future and to equip its employees with the
most advanced technical skills to operate a
complex petrochemical plant, the company
focused strongly on training. Many Qataris participated in those intense coaching
and development courses and went on to
Managing Director
Qatar Development and Consultancy Centre
10
LOWEST
RISK
CITIES
1
NEW YORK
70
67
6
MONTREAL
ZURICH
74
HONG KONG
76
10
BOSTON
77
73
COPENHAGEN
10
LONDON
72
LOS
ANGELES
73
RANKING
CITY
RATING
TORONTO
SINGAPORE
10
CHICAGO
78
76
VANCOUVER
78
78
Enablers
Rank
(Regulatory,
Market and
Business
Landscape)
Attract
Rank
(External
and
Internal
Openness)
Grow Rank
(Formal
Education,
Lifelong
Learning
and Access
to Growth
Opportunities)
Retain Rank
(Sustainability
and Lifestyle)
Labour &
Vocational
Rank
(Employable
Skills and
Labour
Productivity)
Global
Knowledge
Rank (Higher
Skills,
Competencies
and Talent
Impact)
United
Arab
Emirates
11
24
32
31
52
Qatar
12
25
41
30
59
Saudi
Arabia
27
34
42
26
43
35
Lebanon
72
74
40
56
61
47
Egypt,
Arab Rep.
86
92
88
43
62
67
Morocco
82
83
89
74
82
88
Algeria
92
90
92
67
91
87
for the sake of maintaining the requirement. A demotivated Qatari national, who
did not want her name to be revealed, mentioned that while she was recruited as soon
as she finished graduation, she was not
assigned any work since there were others
taking on her responsibilities.
Fleming stresses that money is not the
only thing that todays youth desire as they
also want to feel as if their work matters and
really counts for something. When there
are too many unnecessary rules and limitations put in place in the name of inculcating
129
LAGOS
DHAKA
179
130
132
TRIPOLI
180
133
180
181
136
190
LUANDA
186
137
ADDIS
ABABA
PORT
MORESBY
186
RANKING
CITY
RATING
138
SANAA
191
HIGHEST
RISK
CITIES
133
BAGHDAD
KARACHI
135
10
130
DAMASCUS
198
204
Enhancing Learning & Development: A key measure to accelerate and amplify learning and
development is to provide more ongoing coaching and mentoring to employees across all levels
within the organisation. Focus is shifting towards applied learning versus classroom training,
which is more prevalent in the region. By emphasising action-oriented learning such as job
rotations and cross-functional projects, organisations may be able to nurture and groom their
nationals for senior positions.
Managing Career Growth Expectations: It is critical to set and communicate tangible goals
for employees and to tie these objectives to actual performance, so that employees hold more
realistic expectations for their career growth.