Employee Recognition and Retention in the Gulf

For Gulf employers competing for talent, employee recognition and retention raise a practical question: what can an employer offer when it cannot win on pay alone?

In the Semos Cloud fireside chat The real state of recognition and rewards in the Gulf, recorded on September 28, 2026, Sandrine Bardot and Abrar E. Khodari explored that question through their experience in rewards consulting and human capital leadership.

Sandrine is Founder and Strategic Adviser, Total Rewards, at The Bardot Group. Abrar is Head of Human Capital at Xenel Industries.

In their discussion, recognition formed part of a broader retention approach: acknowledging specific contributions, offering development opportunities and building relationships with leaders. Its value depended on the wider employment experience, including fair pay. Sandrine stressed that recognition cannot repair significant underpayment.

Leadership access can strengthen the employee value proposition

For family businesses competing with larger employers, matching every compensation package may not be realistic.

Abrar described strengths her organization can build on: closer access to senior leaders, opportunities to exchange ideas, and the ability to learn directly from people with deep knowledge of the business. She connected that proximity to knowing employees’ strengths, trusting them and giving them opportunities.

An open-door culture can give someone the chance to ask about an unfamiliar area of the business, contribute to a discussion, or learn from a senior colleague. Abrar described that closeness as one of her organization’s strengths when competing with employers that can offer higher salaries.

Sandrine connected this to the broader employee value proposition. Alongside compensation, she emphasized how employees are treated, whether their contributions are heard, and whether the working environment fits what they want from an employer.

For employers, the practical question is how consistently employees experience those strengths in everyday work.

Recognition can take the form of a development opportunity

When Sandrine asked whose recognition carries the most weight, Abrar emphasized the importance of understanding the employee’s contribution.

“A thank-you means little if the person giving it does not understand what the employee has contributed.” - Abrar E. Khodari

Recognition can also take the form of being selected for a project because of a demonstrated strength, or being offered training because a leader has seen potential in a particular area.

Managers can make that connection explicit by explaining which contribution stood out and why it led to a particular opportunity.

Purpose and recognition: perspectives from Saudi Arabia and the UAE

Abrar also connected recognition to a wider Gulf context.

In Saudi Arabia, she described the importance of helping employees see how their work contributes to Vision 2030, the community, or a broader national goal. In her view, contributing to Saudi Arabia’s transformation can give younger Saudi employees a sense of purpose in their work.

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Sandrine related that to her own experience at Mubadala, where the organization’s role in diversifying the economy of Abu Dhabi and the UAE gave her a sense of contributing to something larger. She described feeling motivated by that mission even though she was not an Emirati national.

Employers can make that purpose tangible by explaining how an employee’s work contributes to the wider mission.

A constrained recognition budget still requires fair decisions

Sandrine discussed the role recognition can play during a year when budgets, recruitment or training are frozen.

Where there is little room for salary increases but some recognition budget remains, she argued that employers can still use it meaningfully. Her warning was clear: recognition cannot make up for pay that is significantly below the market. Employers should address pay anomalies as soon as they can.

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Sandrine also cautioned against spreading a limited budget so thinly that every employee receives the same small reward.

“It is better to use the budget and give meaningful rewards to fewer people who are recognised.” - Sandrine Bardot

Consistency across teams matters too. If similar contributions receive very different levels of recognition, employees may question how those decisions are made. Employers therefore need to consider the reasoning behind awards as well as their value.

Sandrine suggested peer nominations as one way to broaden recognition beyond the manager’s perspective. Employers using this approach should still define clear criteria and review how nominations are assessed.

For teams reviewing how their recognition budget is structured, the Budget Definition Sampler offers a resource for comparing different approaches.

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‍Connect the contribution to the recognition

The conversation offers a practical starting point for employers reviewing recognition as part of their retention approach:

- Can employees understand which contribution is being recognized?
- Do development opportunities reflect strengths managers have actually observed?
- Are employees able to see how their work connects to a wider purpose?
- Are comparable contributions treated consistently across teams?
- Are recognition decisions being made alongside an honest assessment of pay and the wider employee experience?

HR teams can use these questions to review recent recognition decisions with managers. Looking at specific examples can help reveal where the contribution was clearly acknowledged, where an opportunity needs a better explanation, or where reward decisions need more consistent criteria.

For a broader introduction to program design and approaches, explore our guide to employee recognition and rewards.

‍Watch the full conversation

Sandrine and Abrar also discuss how HR teams are using AI in everyday work, the development of national talent, and their perspectives on whether pay transparency will become more prominent in Gulf markets.

Watch the full fireside chat with Sandrine Bardot and Abrar E. Khodari.

Continue the conversation at HRSE Dubai

Sandrine Bardot will also be at HRSE Dubai on October 14 and 15 as a Semos Cloud partner.

Alongside recognition and rewards, she is bringing a question about senior pay decisions to her conversations with HR leaders:

If your board asked to see how the last senior pay decision was made, what would you hand them?

The question goes beyond the final amount to how the decision was reached: what informed it, who challenged it and who approved it.

If you’re attending HRSE Dubai, connect with Sandrine to exchange perspectives on recognition, rewards and how pay decisions are made and explained.

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