Companies in sectors such as hospitality, real estate and infrastructure development in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are forced to fork out fatter pay packages and added incentives to attract top-level talents amid a spree of expansion plans in these sectors leading to a spike in demand for corner room and senior level executives, industry insiders said.
Senior corporate leaders are also seeking added amenities for better lifestyle for themselves and their families to relocate to the region.
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“Changes in leadership remuneration vary depending on sectors. For certain key sectors such as hospitality, real estate and infrastructure development where there is an increasing demand for leadership, employers may need to provide further incentives to attract talent from key global markets into the region,” Maliha Jilani, Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Dubai office, told Arabian Business.
“In addition to the compensation, senior leaders also take into consideration the lifestyle and quality of life for themselves and their families, such as access to quality education, healthcare, entertainment and other amenities [for taking on new assignments in the region],” she said.
Jilani, who is also the Social Impact Practice lead for MENA at Heidrick & Struggles, said that is why it is critical for countries like Saudi Arabia to push for more government support in building up certain infrastructure to make the market more attractive to live in for expat top executives, if they have to accomplish their ambitions of economic diversification.
Hospitality sector facing a peculiar dilemma
Industry insiders in the food & beverage sector said the sector in the UAE and the larger GCC region is currently facing a unique challenge when it comes to filling senior-level positions.
“The local talent pool lacks the specific skills required for these roles, leading organisations to seek expats to fill the gaps. However, the situation becomes more complex when considering the preference for candidates with regional experience,” Greg Wright, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Food People, termed as the only end-to-end food sector recruitment firm in the Middle East, told Arabian Business.
“For positions like CXOs and N-1 level executives, which demand at least 15-20 years of experience coupled with regional expertise, the available talent pool becomes quite limited, creating a supply vs. demand dilemma and driving up the cost of acquiring such talents,” Wright said.
He said the region, which has shown remarkable resilience in bouncing back from the impacts of Covid-19, now faces new hurdles in the form of global macroeconomic challenges, impacting the profitability of many f&b operators.
Wright said consumers are becoming more cautious with their spending habits as cost of living rises, impacting businesses.
“To confront these challenges head-on, it is crucial to have top-notch talent in the boardrooms, capable of devising innovative solutions while upholding exceptional customer service, experience, and food quality.
“As a result, attracting and retaining the best talent has become a pivotal factor in executing successful strategies, even if budgetary constraints may pose limitations in meeting every salary expectation,” he said.
Real estate woos top talents with handsome commission offers
Industry executives said while the real estate in the region does not offer a high fixed salary to entice talent, it retains the best talent with excellent commission-based packages.
Top executives at Allsopp & Allsopp, amongst the leading real estate agencies in the UAE, said they even paid six-figure commissions to a number of agents in the first half of 2023.
“Over the course of the last two months, our in-house recruitment team has hired many consultants on a commission basis,” Kameron Hutchinson, Director of Recruitment at Allsopp & Allsopp Group, told Arabian Business.
“We have also seen registrations for jobs up by 40 percent in Dubai, as the market has finally woken up post-pandemic,” he said.
Hutchinson said as the property market in Dubai and the region continues to soar, opportunities for consultants also continue to rise in the market, and they are happy to work in commission-based roles as they are proven to offer greater incentives and paychecks.
“As more talent comes to work in Dubai, demand for properties is at an all time high, creating opportunities for real estate agents to make life changing amounts of money – far in excess of what a typical corporate CEO would take home,” he said.
Need for repackaging offers
Industry experts said employers, especially in sectors which are facing greater competition for talent attraction, need to re-imagine compensation packages for senior executives.
“We do see an increasing push for more incentives – beyond stock options and retention schemes – as top leaders are increasingly looking for roles that go beyond execution,” a senior hiring executive said.
Top leaders now seek to be part of an organization’s long-term vision, and be responsible for building and shaping its bigger strategy, said the executive whose firm focuses more on sourcing top teams for startups in the region.
Jilani said in the start-up sector, providing equity and stock options could also be a growing incentive to attract CEOs.
“However, the market is not seeing a lot of this yet,” she said.
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