UAE: What kind of employees are more in demand in 2023?

In 2023, companies in the UAE are preferring employees, especially junior level ones, with abilities to carry out multiple tasks and who can collaborate and organise their time effectively to achieve goals.

According to recruitment and human resources consultants, UAE employers are, in return, offering hybrid and remote working options to employees to address burnout due to intense competition.

Mayank Patel, country head, Adecco Middle East, said productive working practices are now in demand in today’s work environment and some roles involve multitasking in mid-top management, marketing, event planning, administration, project management, nursing etc.

“The competition is intense and companies need people who can organise their time effectively, and collaborate with others to achieve goals. While some employers are concerned with productivity and quality others believe in flexibility and quick adaptability for fast-paced work environments. There are high expectations for faster deliveries without sacrificing quality, this leads to an increasing amount of work, resulting in employees managing multiple tasks, priorities and deadlines,” he said.

Deepa Sud, chief executive, Plum Jobs – a Dubai-based HR business transformation and executive search consultancy, said they have been hiring candidates for clients who are multi-faceted both in technical and customer-focused capabilities.

Nikhil Nanda, operations manager at Innovations Group, said demand for candidates with multiple task capabilities is growing especially for junior-level candidates.

“Employers prefer relatively fresh candidates who can engage in multiple tasks across different roles as a way of training and making the candidate familiar with the core operations of the business. However, for mid-level and senior roles, there is a demand for more specialised candidates as employers want to hire candidates who can spearhead their roles successfully,” he said.

How do firms reduce employee burnout?

Nanda added that though the UAE has taken great strides in transitioning to a more flexible work culture aided by Covid-19 accelerated work-from-home measures, however, many roles that allow for work-from-home find it difficult to find a balance between work and home life that can overwork employees and cause burnout as a result.

He said several companies in the UAE practice weekly team lunches, celebrate occasions such as birthdays and festivals and engage in activities outside of the workplace frequently to keep employees from burning out.

Deepa Sud suggested that the concept of burnout is not common in the UAE as the pace of work is not as fast as it is in other parts of the world.

“Unfortunately for most organisations, there is an imbalance of workload allocated to departments because business leaders and HR departments have not conducted an in-depth analysis of the processes, role responsibilities and expected outputs. We always recommend that firms first map out what is required before replacing roles,” she added.

Mayank Patel suggested that companies have adopted hybrid working, remote work set-ups etc. to reduce burn-out and balance employee work and social life have been introduced.

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