UAE Among Top Markets In 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index

The 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) report saw Switzerland lead the way in terms of talent competitiveness, followed by Singapore and the United States. While European countries continue to dominate the GTCI rankings, with 15 in the top 25, the United Arab Emirates has taken the number 17 spot.

The index assesses the policies and practices that enable a country to attract, develop and retain both ‘technical/vocational skills’ and the ‘global knowledge skills’ associated with innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership — the talent that contributes to productivity and prosperity.

This year’s edition also revealed that the top 10 countries have several key characteristics in common and share one major feature — they all have a well-developed educational system providing the social and collaboration skills needed for employability in today’s labour market.

On further examination, there are several other characteristics in common between the top-ranking countries:
• A flexible regulatory and business landscape
• Employment policies which combine flexibility and social protection
• External and internal openness

In addition to the talent competitiveness ranking, this year’s report investigated the theme of diversity for competitiveness. Three types of diversity were distinguished: cognitive, identity and preference (or value). The theme of diversity (collaboration between people with different personalities, knowledge sets, experiences and perspectives problem solving) was chosen because it plays a critical role in linking talent policies to innovation strategies.

Paying attention to demographic diversity nurtures a sustainable and innovative future and helps organizations to retain and develop talent. Nevertheless, the report highlights that there is a cost to diversity: people are often ill equipped to collaborate with others who are different from themselves.
The report, published by INSEAD, in partnership with the Adecco Group and Tata Communications, is an annual benchmarking measuring how countries and cities grow, attract and retain talent, providing a resource for decision makers to understand the global talent competitiveness picture and develop strategies for boosting their competitiveness.

The in-depth supplementary analysis of the 2018 report reveals how organisations, cities and nations are approaching diversity. It reveals that diversity is not an end in itself, but must always be accompanied by a culture of inclusion in order to flourish and have real impact. Targets and statistics cannot replace cultural acceptance and openness.

GTCI findings, however, show that there is no absolute model for diversity and inclusion.

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