The region’s top human resources concerns – employee retention, reduced budgets and nationalization – will be discussed at an upcoming HR summit in Dubai.

The sixth edition of the Middle East HR Summit will take place from the November 8 to 12 at Dubai Knowledge Village Conference Centre.

The list of speakers is headed by Marcus Buckingham, whose interactive pre-summit Guru day will see the expert in strengths-based leadership talk about increasing employee engagement and performance levels.

Studies and surveys from the UK and US suggest employee retention becomes a greater issue during turbulent times, necessitating effective strategies and methods to keep talent.

Buckingham said: “Today’s economic climate makes achieving outstanding performance and raising morale essential. My presentation – ‘To Reinvent Your Company, You Have to Reinvent Yourself!’ – will focus on this most critical of themes.”

The summit will offer additional practical advice through a two-day stream looking at retention, talent management and succession planning, and the ‘performance management power half-hour’, among others.

Research shows that the focus of HR managers is expected to change further as financial resources tighten; with more managers expecting their budgets to decrease rather than increase, financial restraints are increasingly a major concern among the Middle East’s HR professionals.

Addressing these concerns will be a two-day stream examining reward in recessionary times.

With more than 50 per cent of management now viewing HR as an integral business driver, the summit will also explore effective techniques for linking HR to business strategy, including “using innovation as a strategic tool in recessionary times”.

The increasingly important topic of nationalisation will be examined during the “Nationalisation Spotlight” on day two of the summit, as well as in the master class on “Planning Your Nationalisation Strategy”.

“Inspirational, practical and focused, the week-long Middle East HR Summit’s extensive programme will help HR professionals meet today’s challenges,” said Mbali Dlamini, conference director, IIR Middle East, a leading international provider of specialist information and services and organisers of the summit.

“Interactive and topical keynote addresses, clinics and case studies will feature more than 50 HR directors and experts speaking on international and regional issues, allowing delegates to benefit from the experience and insight of the most influential industry leaders,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service