Emirati Talent: Attract, Engage & Retain
Our award-winning Future of Work advisory practice is proud to present the first inclusive recruitment and retention diagnostic available for the UAE.
Enhance your talent strategy with a hiring diagnostic designed to attract and retain Emirati nationals
How do you ensure you’re creating the optimum environment to attract and retain Emirati talent?
With our award-winning diagnostic toolkit, you gain critical insights into optimising your Emirati recruitment strategy, while enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.
Our team focuses on ways you can ensure Emirati nationals form part of the fabric of your business. Within 3-6 weeks, depending on the size of your organisation, our team will deliver an actionable toolkit to support your Emiratisation strategy and give you the tools to comply with the region's policy while supporting the growth of the UAE.
What is Emiratisation?
Emiratisation in the UAE is an initiative set up by the government and the Emirati Human Resources Competitiveness Council, Nafis, to increase the percentage of Emirati nationals employed by companies in the private sector.
Failure to comply hinders your ability to build a diverse and sustainable workforce which could result in financial penalties and difficulties in attracting public sector contracts. These penalties can significantly impact your bottom line, making it imperative to ensure your Emirati hiring strategies are effective.
Approach your Emiratisation strategy with confidence
Backed by 40 years in the recruitment industry and 15 years’ operating in the UAE, our experts provide an Emiratisation strategy plan, including end-to-end analysis and feedback to bring you commercial and social value.
Using a proprietary framework, our team presents 163 data points informed by 47+ academic research and government papers. In addition, our team is tasked to deliver best-in-class case studies and insights tailored for your organisation.
An award winning service
Attract and retain top talent with a high-impact approach
Our Emiratisation consultancy helps you build a sustainable, inclusive, and high-impact approach to hire and retain Emirati talent. We go beyond just helping you meet policy requirements but aim to deliver real value and implement meaningful change within your hiring and retention strategy.
Our team of experts will focus on actionable recommendations to support short- and long-term changes throughout your organisation and ensure you’re positioned as a leading employer.
To achieve this, we focus on three critical areas: candidate messaging, candidate experience, and candidate retention
Candidate Messaging: Employee Value Proposition (EVP) & Talent Attraction
Are you showcasing real career pathways for Emiratis?
At Robert Walters, we understand that Emiratis are very aware of the possibility that they could become a tick-box exercise for businesses to meet government standards. Based on our many years operating in the region, we’ve found that organisations must consider their employer reputation, value proposition, and career site positioning.
Our goal is to position your organisation as a long-term career destination by assessing how well your EVP, candidate messaging, and employer brand attract and inspire Emirati candidates.
Candidate Experience: The White Glove Approach
Deliver a best-in-class candidate experience to highlight your unique value to potential candidates from the beginning of their hiring process. We analyse and optimise your candidate journey, ensuring Emirati applicants feel valued from day one. A great candidate experience is about more than efficiency – it’s about making candidates feel like they belong before they even join the organisation.
Our end-to-end diagnostic provides you with actionable advice to improve your candidate experience immediately and develop a recruitment process to attract and retain top talent.
Candidate Retention: Creating an Environment Where Emiratis Thrive
In every market, candidates need to feel engaged and committed by finding a sense of purpose and belonging, as well as having a clear understanding of career development and progression opportunities.
An effective recruitment strategy is crucial, but it is the process thereafter that has the most significant impact on your talent strategy. Creating an environment that supports long-term retention of your Emirati talent speaks volumes for your overall strategy and will position your organisation as a top choice for candidates.
For Emiratis, it’s especially important that your organisation has a workplace culture that actively supports Emiratisation on every front.
Our team helps you build a retention strategy that keeps Emirati nationals in mind, while creating an optimum environment for inclusion, growth, and success in the UAE.
Meet our Future of Work specialists

Pip Wells
Senior Manager, Future of Work, Talent Advisory
Pip is a Senior Manager in Future of Work advisory, specialising in helping organisations enhance their recruitment, engagement, and retention strategies. Her contributions to the industry have been recognised by Onrec and the European Diversity Awards.

Daniel Campbell
Engagement Manager, Talent Advisory
Daniel is the Engagement Manager for the Robert Walters Talent Advisory team. He supports our clients to shape their current and future talent strategies using a suite of award-winning advisory solutions.
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Read MoreFAQs
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Who is this service for?
This service is most useful for anyone operating in the UAE or looking to expand to the region. Depending on the size of your business, our hiring diagnostic can be tailored to ensure you’re meeting regional requirements while fostering real change to attract and retain Emirati talent. -
How does the Emirati hiring diagnostic work?
We provide an independent, research and data-led analysis of your end-to-end Emirati recruitment process, including an actionable toolkit with the data and recommendations you need to optimise your approach and proposition. -
How does this service solve the challenges of Emiratisation in the private sector?
The private sector is particularly impacted by the policy, and working with an expert team who understands the region will make any change required easier to navigate.
Our goal is to go beyond compliance, but rather help you build a recruitment strategy that truly connects with Emirati nationals.
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What is the approximate cost of the service?
Our cost is completely dependent on the size of your organisation. Our team will deliver accurate cost quotations upon discussing your Emirati talent requirements.