With the negative impact of the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the economy, business owners in the UAE have employees in the top of their minds. Are they able to attract high-performers, which they’re in dire need of? Can the business keep all their existing skilled employees? If you’re strategic and follow the tips listed below, it’s surely possible even with budget cuts and a tight payroll.
Offer profit-driven and creative incentives
Great talent always like producing. They also want recognition for their skill and effort. Give incentives that are related to profit and sales or even in connection to time.
A great example is a telecommunications and software company in the UAE. The company gives an entire month as paid vacation to all employees that serve the company for every five years. Apart from the bonus one-month leave, the company also offers monetary allowance for every week of the vacation.
Provide benefits that are also beneficial to the company
Benefits are often the tipping point for the decision-making process of an employee joining a specific company. So, be creative. Provide benefits that aren’t only attractive for the employees, but also good for your business.
An example which changed during the COVID-19 pandemic was work from home or remote work and reduction in the size of the company’s leased office space. Businesses increase employee benefits and reduce costs at the same time. This results in higher profits, as well as a higher potential for attracting top talent. Companies should also highlight savings from not having to commute to work. Cost of car repairs and gas for daily work commutes can translate to huge savings.
Another great example is a business in UAE offering life insurance policies. The policies can be for a specific amount of time, e.g. 20 years. The company will pay the premium should the employee choose to say with the business for the entire policy’s duration. The proceeds can be split between the company and the employee. When the employee leaves, a business can continue paying and getting the total payout as soon as the policy reaches its maturity date. The point is that there are lots of opportunities for UAE businesses to benefit the employee and build profit at the same time.
Read also: How does accounting outsourcing in Dubai benefit businesses?
Highlight personal development and training opportunities
The best employees want to improve constantly to reach peak performance or mastery. Money spent on training is often overlooked in benefits packages for employees. It is, therefore, just right to highlight the importance and value of personal development when you recruit top talent as new team members.
In studies conducted across the globe, they’ve shown that most employees leave employers as they feel they’ve not been given opportunities to develop. An opportunity for training has to consist of both personal and corporate-mandated. When new team members understand that they’re given a choice as to how they grow, it’s often the differentiator for when they get another job offer.
Stress the importance and need for individuality
Small businesses often get better opportunities for knowing employees and helping each of them achieve both their professional and personal goals. Attention to each of the employees isn’t always easy with a larger firm.
Companies that want great talent and high performers should communicate the procedures or processes that they use in developing and growing team members. Employees nowadays want to contribute to successful groups, as well as be known for skill, expertise, and individuality.
Highlight the purpose of the company
Team members always want to feel that they are contributing rather than just making the business owners even wealthier. This can be addressed by the business focusing on the ultimate purpose or mission and the role each staff member plays in this plan.
Today’s socially-minded and impactful employees care about the local causes as much as they’re passionate about national ones. Companies that succeed are the ones that align their businesses with a purpose which impacts the local community. When a business doesn’t have any purpose, it ends up just like Basecamp where its employees left the company. The employees left when they were told in focusing more on work rather than on social issues.
Give unpaid days off
Every employee in a high-stress work environment appreciates days off in balancing both work and family time. The emerging workplace is placing high premium on flexibility, as well as ability in managing their own schedule.
Many businesses and larger firms in the UAE made use of the strategy of including unpaid days off. This attracts employees that require additional time for family apart from paid days off. Workers are now more attracted to flexibility compared to a hefty paycheck. Companies hoping to attract high performers need to institute unpaid time off for employees.
For information on business setup in the UAE, consult with the top business consultants in the country. Call us here in FAR Consulting Middle East today!
