Saudi Arabia has reported the highest level of employee recruitment in comparison to the remaining GCC countries; however, the Kingdom has also recorded the highest talent turnover which might be attributed to various initiatives and mega-projects fueling economic growth and creating a vibrant market, said an HR Consultancy firm in its report.

Procapita published its second annual report for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) for the year 2023/2024. In the report, the consultancy firm said that 66.7% of the participating organizations cited increases in recruitment within 2023.

However, 64.6% of the participating organisations cited prospects of new jobs as the top reason for quitting within the region. In the case of the UAE, the “Green Visa” initiative has driven employees to leave their employers and find their employment.

Compensation and benefits are the second most common reason for talents to quit their jobs.

Over 75% of probationers were hired, according to 56% of respondents, with the highest percentage in the UAE. This indicates a high hiring success rate. On the other hand, Bahrain has the lowest percentage of probationers hired, according to the participating organizations. This indicates a need to improve talent acquisition and retention efforts.

In the GCC countries, the average salary increase in 2023 was 6.7%,in comparison to 6.2% in 2022 and 5.2% in the previous year. The report explains that there are several factors that has contributed to this increase, including the strong labour market performance, which reached an all-time high in the last decade, particularly in KSA and UAE.

Most of the participating organisations in the GCC that have invested in AI expect to start seeing the benefits of AI within the next year to three years.
Many of them reported that they have already started to implement AI applications in their operations and are starting to see the impact of AI in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

Performance management and employee training and development (RT&D / E&D) were the most affected by AI at 58.9% and 48.7%, respectively.

There; however, remains challenges to adopting AI within the GCC. Nearly half of the participating organisations that have begun to adopt AI said say they are facing difficulties in finding qualified professionals.

Around 46.2% say developing sophisticated, high-tech systems are a major challenge. Meanwhile, 41.1% in the GCC said they are facing an additional challenge in terms of financial resources, such as the investment required to purchase the software, licenses, ongoing operating costs, and to hire qualified professionals.