Skilling

Middle East's New Talent Strategy: Webinar Insights on SHRPA ME 2025 Report

|19 December 2025|

Updated on 22 January 2026

In this launch webinar of the SHRPA State of HR Industry 2025 – Middle East Report, leaders share insights on talent needs for 2026 and beyond.

The Middle East’s workforce landscape is undergoing a profound shift. As economies across the Gulf accelerate diversification and digital transformation, workforce planning has emerged as the single most pressing challenge for HR and business leaders.

According to recent insights from the People Matters State of the HR Industry 2025: Middle East report, 42% of leaders identify workforce planning as a top priority—reflecting the growing complexity of balancing nationalisation agendas, demand for AI-ready skills, and evolving employee expectations. A defining feature of the region’s labour market is the coexistence of strong localisation mandates alongside an urgent need for niche and emerging capabilities. Increasingly, organisations are moving beyond the binary debate of local versus expatriate talent. Instead, leading employers are adopting a capability-led approach. Developing national talent through long-term education-to-employment pathways and accelerated learning, while strategically deploying expatriate talent to fill critical skill gaps and enable knowledge transfer.

This shift requires workforce planning to be treated as a strategic business discipline rather than a compliance exercise. Progressive organisations are conducting detailed skill audits and segmenting roles based on localisation feasibility, transitional development needs, or continued reliance on global expertise. Such segmentation allows for more agile deployment of talent while supporting national priorities and long-term business growth.

Key insights from the conversation

Workforce planning must evolve from compliance to strategy, using skill audits and role segmentation to align talent decisions with business growth.

Leadership effectiveness is a critical determinant of talent experience, productivity, and successful transformation.

A significant AI readiness gap persists, with only 29% of leaders feeling prepared to execute AI-driven change despite high overall change readiness.

AI adoption requires a new change management mindset, focused on psychological safety, experimentation, and ethical governance.

HR technology budgets are set to grow by 10–25%, but scrutiny on ROI and value realisation is intensifying.

Misalignment between HR leaders and tech partners remains a key risk, underscoring the need for cross-functional ownership and outcome-based KPIs.

Three imperatives define HR success in 2026: data fluency and AI readiness, outcome-driven technology adoption, and dynamic workforce planning—anchored by strong leadership capability.

Topics

#AI and HR

#HRLeadership

Author

Dhruv Mukerjee