CEOs Prioritizing Talent and AI Can Help Shape the Future of Work
Introduction
As CEOs increasingly seek growth opportunities and consider global expansion, they will need to upskill their workforces to maximize potential options and navigate disruption. Investing in learning and development (L&D) will play a crucial role in scaling businesses, building resilience, and future-proofing workforces in the years ahead. Leaders who prioritize talent development will ultimately get ahead in the race to navigate fast-evolving market dynamics, digital transformation, and AI adoption, according to executives in countries that are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
In just a few decades, the GCC has emerged as one of the most dynamic labor markets in the world. In its six member countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman — companies face a complex mix of pressures: rapid population growth, nationalization mandates, AI-driven disruption, and rising employee expectations around career mobility and purpose. Enhanced L&D is critical to businesses that are navigating all these challenges while continuing to grow.
Leaders around the world can learn from a market where senior business leaders are guiding companies through these shifts while also ensuring L&D investments aren’t simply a box-ticking exercise.
Employee Growth Fuels Talent Retention
Nada Al-Tamimi, vice president of HR in the Middle East and North Africa for DHL Express, said talent retention is one of the company’s biggest challenges, due to younger generations seeking to advance in their careers more quickly than ever before. “They want to have a clear career path in a very short period of time,” she said. “ … It’s easy sometimes to attract them, but to retain them can be a challenge.”
The relationship between growth and upskilling is circular, Al-Tamimi added. Strong L&D unlocks growth, and growth creates new L&D challenges. Companies expanding across the GCC are facing this reality head-on, as they invest in training local talent and preparing their existing workforce to deliver in new markets.
“We use a data-driven approach to assess our current capabilities and then, based on this, agree on future needs,” said Al-Tamimi, who is based in Saudi Arabia. “That includes performance reviews and feedback market analysis, and based on the insights we get, we deal with our problem cases to close the gaps.”
DHL uses the data it collects to understand employees’ ambitions and needs, and its HR and L&D teams then work with them to create a customized career pathway. Al-Tamimi is a great case study in this regard, as she is the first Saudi woman to be promoted to a senior leadership position in the country. “Once they spotted I have what it takes to grow further, [my career path] was very clearly designed for me,” she said. “It takes both sides. Not only the employer, but also the candidate to be patient enough that they can achieve this if they stay.”
Offering attractive upskilling packages to ensure talent retention is particularly important in the GCC, a region where the labor market is highly mobile, said Laila Kuznezov, a UAE resident and director of implementation practice at Oliver Wyman Middle East. Companies can no longer afford to rely solely on churn and replacement. Instead, upskilling is essential for staying competitive.
43%
of global workers said their education and training are underutilized in their jobs.
Source: The Global Skills Mismatch, SHRM, 2025
Good upskilling is not generic, but it’s very much tied to two things: to people’s current jobs, so that they are more effective in their current role, but also their career trajectory or their growth path within a company. So what is the next skill that person is going to need to advance, and what is that company going to need people to advance into? What are the missing skills?
Oliver Wyman Middle East
A switched-on company will understand where its skills gaps lie and will determine the relative benefit of training people who currently have 80% of those needed skills, Kuznezov explained. “It’s easier to invest in the upskilling and career growth of a person rather than finding the next person to move into a role who may or may not have the same commitment to longevity within the company,” she said.
What Future-Focused L&D Looks Like
Employee development that improves loyalty and performance comes from more than just formal training, said Jessica Taylor, group chief operating officer at UAE-headquartered property consultancy firm Cavendish Maxwell. It also comes from diverse experiences, stretch assignments, temporary assignments, mentoring, attending industry events, and exposure to different service lines. Employers must also measure impact, she added: “Failing to measure impact leads to disengagement and wasted resources.”
In practical terms, this means the CEO must ask the same rigorous questions about L&D that they do about supply chains, customer experience, or investment strategy. What are the outcomes? How do you measure ROI? Where are we over- or underinvesting? As companies face pressure to localize talent, develop leaders, and meet their environmental, social, and governance goals, L&D becomes a key lever for transformation and regional expansion.
According to a 2025 Oliver Wyman Forum CEO survey:
55%
of CEOs cite limited workforce readiness (including skills, adoption, and morale) among their top three AI-related concerns.
77%
of CEOs plan to invest in technology to enhance productivity, rather than replace workers.
75%
of CEOs see talent attraction, retention, and workforce development as an opportunity for their company over the next three years (up from 50% in 2024).
These figures should encourage CEOs to take ownership of L&D strategy in partnership with their CHROs, conducting regular workforce capability audits and aligning upskilling with long-term business goals.
Taylor firmly believes CEOs should treat their CHROs as strategic partners. “That means aligning business growth objectives with people development objectives, ensuring the L&D strategy is forward-looking, and embedding it into performance frameworks,” she said. “CEOs must champion L&D from the top so that it becomes part of the organization’s DNA, not just a support function.” That way, upskilling is about more than employee capability, but organizational agility.
Al-Tamimi agreed that CEOs must stay engaged with their HR and L&D teams, as investing in their team is key to a company’s longevity.
AI at the Forefront
According to a separate Oliver Wyman Forum survey, more than two-thirds of respondents in the UAE (67%) and Saudi Arabia (70%) said they would accept lower pay to secure AI training, compared with just 41% worldwide.
Percentage of Workers Who Say They Never Use AI for Work:
7%
UAE
6%
Saudi Arabia
23%
Globally
Source: Oliver Wyman Forum survey, 2025
DHL is keenly aware of this trend, Al-Tamimi said. The global logistics company is training its staff to use AI effectively, as well as incorporating AI into other staff training initiatives. DHL offers all employees worldwide access to a customized generative AI hub, then uses data collected through its AI tools to determine where staff can and need to evolve from an L&D perspective.
As AI reshapes industries, companies must shift their talent strategies accordingly. That includes AI-specific training, ethical frameworks, and change management support. The Oliver Wyman CEO survey shows that CEOs who lead in AI adoption are more likely to reshape their workforce strategy entirely, with 35% of CEOs at AI leader companies planning to hire more middle and senior management (versus 14% of other CEOs).
37% of workers globally currently use tools or systems powered by AI in their jobs.
Source: The Global Skills Mismatch, SHRM, 2025
Deloitte research from 2025 found that 69% of organizations in the Middle East plan to increase their investment in AI. “AI is absolutely disrupting everything,” said Kuznezov, who said the priority should be on training employees to use AI within the context of their companies, using their data and customized systems.
“Smart CEOs are going to think critically about how to adopt it, including how to experiment with it, and not be afraid of that experimentation,” she said.
A Need for Deep Market Knowledge
In the GCC, there is also a focus on hiring talent with specific market knowledge and long-term loyalty to the region, said Kuznezov. This is particularly true in the UAE, where a population boom is fueling a talent surplus and the job market is becoming highly competitive. “They want to hire people who are committed to the markets here and are building the relationships and understanding the business culture,” she said.
This is another significant challenge for companies in the region, particularly in terms of skills gaps, Taylor said. “The gaps are twofold,” she explained. “On the technical side, there’s often a shortage of locally based specialists with deep market knowledge. On the leadership side, skills such as influencing, strategic communication, and building credibility across diverse teams are critical but often less formally developed. Too often, people are promoted for technical excellence alone, without the support to grow into rounded leaders.”
40% of workers said their skills and experience are underutilized in their jobs.
Source: The Global Skills Mismatch, SHRM, 2025
Organizations in the GCC are therefore becoming increasingly intentional about upskilling, Taylor said, viewing it as a cultural priority rather than simply a compliance activity. One best practice is to create an integrated framework of performance management, feedback, and continuous growth.
“In our case, we run a two-year graduate rotation program, one of the very few in our industry in the Middle East, where graduates spend six months in four core departments,” Taylor said. “This allows them to build both technical and commercial skills while getting exposure to the breadth of the business.”
At DHL, there is a significant focus on Saudi Arabia’s nationalization program. The company seeks to improve the employability of the local population in line with the government’s Vision 2030 plan. “We have targeted learning development programs, and we have also partnerships with local colleges, local universities,” on top of local in-house DHL curricula, Al-Tamimi said.
She developed an 18-month shadowing program for DHL, enabling local professionals to gain cross-functional experience and assume new leadership roles. Each candidate is given a program, and each month, they learn about a specific operational function. They are expected to undergo monthly performance reviews and present to senior management until they receive a final evaluation. "Today, I'm very happy to say that 90% of those local talents are already in leadership roles," Al-Tamimi said.
Businesses must balance attracting expatriate expertise with developing national talent, often within mandated hiring frameworks, Taylor said. “Investing in national graduates and early-career professionals is essential, not only to meet targets but to ensure sustainable, long-term growth,” she explained.
Future-Proofing the Workforce
Ultimately, the best L&D strategies are embedded within a company’s culture. "Instead of viewing [L&D] as a separate initiative, organizations should build learning opportunities into daily work," Taylor said. This includes cross-functional projects, client exposure, and continuous feedback loops.
DHL’s 18-month shadowing program and Cavendish Maxwell’s two-year graduate rotation program are cost-effective, high-impact, and highly scalable, demonstrating good ROI on L&D. Most importantly, they drive internal mobility and help organizations retain institutional knowledge.
Yet tracking ROI for L&D requires more than tallying course completions. "Look beyond participation numbers," Taylor said. "The real metrics are employee retention, promotion rates, client satisfaction, and ultimately revenue growth linked to improved skills."
The Cost of Underused Skills
Workers who believe their skills and experience are underutilized are more than twice as likely to be actively seeking a new job (38% versus 18%).
Source: The Global Skills Mismatch, SHRM, 2025
Upskilling is not just about cost savings or efficiency. It’s about positioning the company to capture more value as the market shifts. Whether it’s DHL improving internal job mobility or Cavendish Maxwell using rotation programs to foster well-rounded leaders, companies are producing a blueprint for future-ready talent development. CEOs who recognize this — and act on it — will build companies that help shape the future.
