While the government excels in promoting women through Qatarisation programmes, most business organisations need improvement in this critical area, a new report said.

Government and semi-government organisations were significantly more likely than private sector organisations to always actively promote female nationals, added the survey titled “Strategic Qatarisation: Focusing on Meaningful Employment” conducted by Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC), an Oxford and GCC based research consultancy that specialises in building human capital across the GCC and Europe.

While Qatari women represent about half of the national workforce with approximately 91,000 working-age female nationals, Qatarisation strategies do not always engage this vital demographic segment, according to the report.

When surveyed about their Qatarisation strategies, 11 per cent of senior business leaders in Qatar stated that they never promoted female nationals in their organisations. A further 25 per cent of organisations stated that they only sometimes promote female nationals. Smaller organisations (250-499 employees) were significantly less likely than larger organisations (500+ employees) to actively promote female nationals.

Development opportunities for female nationals are also lacking, the report said. Only 33 per cent of companies surveyed stated that they always maximise development and involvement of national talent. Similarly, just 33 per cent of companies always identify key talent managers.

Providing the right environment for female leadership is critical, be it through mentorship, graduate training schemes or investing in emotional intelligence. As these talent pipelines are developed, organisations then need to ensure that Qatari women can achieve levels of seniority by reaching C-Suite roles and Board memberships; a major goal for career-minded women.

Qatar’s national demographics may increase competition for talent, but it also makes attracting, recruiting and developing the female national workforce more achievable. The focus on female talent should not only target top level talent but also “second” and “third level” Qataris, those who should be trained to become leaders of the future, the report said.

The most practically-minded companies should build effective talent pipelines by reaching out to female nationals often and early in addition to ensuring ample development opportunities for new entrants to the workforce or those who re-join after maternity leave or as a second wave in their careers, according to OSC. – TradeArabia News Service