Inhibitors of Talent Retention in UAE Public Healthcare

Abstract

This paper aims to identify and rank factors that impact talent retention in the public healthcare sector in the United Arab Emirates. The study employs Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology to rank factors affecting talent retention. Our AHP model features 6 criteria and 19 sub-criteria extrapolated from the literature. Data collection occurred through interviews with 18 employees, arranged into three groups: administrators, medical staff, and medical researchers from UAE-based public healthcare units. Collected data were interpreted and a priority vector assigned to each criterion and sub-criterion. It was found that recognition was the most important factor for retaining employees from the view of administrators. Career development and succession plan has the highest priority factor for medical staff. For researchers, sustainable practices were the most important factor for employee retentions. The paper suggests that differentiating retention strategies from one sample group to the other based on their profession helps policymakers and strategic HR planners deal with different pools of talent. The paper covers groups from the UAE public healthcare sector, offering material for further comparative studies with private sector, other service sectors, or from the healthcare sector in other regions. Employee retention in the UAE public healthcare sector is becoming a challenge, since the private sector often provides better employment opportunities. This paper provides a number of priority-ranked motivating factors based on different specialisms, to help employee retention.