Retention, not hiring, is the real test of Emiratisation, new survey finds

Meeting an Emiratisation target on paper and building an Emirati workforce that stays are two different projects. A survey of UAE employers reported by Khaleej Times found that a substantial share of companies planned to recruit UAE nationals during 2026, but that retention — not the offer letter — is where those plans are being tested.

The pattern we see in the market matches it. Companies hire to a quota deadline, place the candidate in a role that was designed around an expatriate career path, and then lose them within the first year to a government entity or a competitor with a clearer route upward. The cost is not only the replacement hire; a lapsed headcount can also put the employer back into shortfall against its MoHRE targets.

The employers who hold on to Emirati hires tend to do three unglamorous things: they define the first two years as a development path with named milestones, they assign a senior sponsor who is measured on that person's progress, and they benchmark pay against the government and semi-government employers competing for the same shortlist, not against their own expatriate salary bands.