UAE: 80% of recruiters believe GCC jobs will be affected by AI
According to a new survey, Eight out of 10, 80 percent, of recruitment executives in the Gulf region understand that today’s jobs are at most likely to be compromised, while 19 percent note that more than fifty percent of their scope of work will be impacted by Generative AI (artificial intelligence).
About one-third, 3 percent, of the Gulf cooperation council firms thinks that their HR departments are ready to take the helm for AI adoption within their respective HR practices.
A similar percentage recall their HR department practitioners feel unprepared and out-of-touch with this transition and require training and reskilling, the aim of the “HR Priorities with AI in the Workplace – Mena Perspectives 2025” study administered by SHRM and the Department of Human Resources Government of Ras Al Khaimah revealed.
Education and public administration were established as one of the sectors where such a gap is more outstanding than others.
“It is the HR function which is leading one of the waves of change in the workplace, perhaps the most remarkable of all in recent history. In the age of artificial intelligence, HR is not just about doing things, but setting strategies based on data analytics. This study gives HR professionals the power to prepare for and respond to the radical transformations that AI will drive,” said Achal Khanna, CEO SHRM East.
"The HR teams are used to the standard way of doing things and may not have the technical expertise that is important in the application of such AI-based solutions.
These institutions must emphasize on training programs that help these HR professionals obtain the necessary ‘digital goggles’ that help in the application of AI technology," stated the study.
Vivek Arora, managing director of SHRM Mena - it is not that the jobs will go away because of AI, it is that the jobs will need to change.
A lot of changes are coming from AI for HR executives because the position of the human HR manager is going to be entirely different. People will have to change,” he remarked.
Top priorities
The survey states that talent acquisitions and retention will be the biggest priority of HR executives in the GCC within the next two years, among which would be employees’ well being and talent development as the second position.
The findings are complemented with some other priorities, which cover: employee development encompassing leadership development and employee inclusion and engagement as well as HR compliance and governance, management of digital or technological change, etc. Ofvan LBarour documents SHRM and Alsabeth HR Department Propose Mena Perspectives 2025.
The HR executives stated that what hinders the accomplishment of such HR priorities is first budgeting for HR related projects, availability of relevant skills, increasing influence of AI technology and workforce, business pressure demands and to manage dispersed workforce of the remote-hybrid work setup.
The HR executives said they would adopt the use of AI powered applicant tracking systems and chatbots in the recruitment process.
“Let me add here that as we move towards 2025 and HR and AI intertwines, the future of work will depend on how organizations will be able to sustain themselves,” added Arora.
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