Turmoil heralds new era for HR executives

"With regional economies growing and diversifying and developed regions heading for recession, human resource professionals are about to enter a new era," said Michelle Boyd, Executive Conference Director for the Middle East HR Summit which takes place at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai, from 26-30 October.

"While the debate goes on about how much, or how little, the Arabian Gulf region in particular escapes the excesses of global uncertainty it is no longer seriously argued that our economies are completely disconnected."

For example, a recent global survey by McKinsey conducted just before the US bailout of financial firms, executives from around the world - including the Middle East - said hiring plans had dwindled over the past year. Almost 30% expect their companies to shrink the size of the workforce in the next six months, up from 18% a year ago.

"Executives in financial services were even more likely than executives in general to say the workforce will decrease than increase," Boyd added. "In contrast, 43% of executives in the regionally important energy sector expect hiring levels to rise. Notably a majority of executives in the Asia-Pacific region - higher than in any other part of the world - also reported overall economic conditions in their countries were closely linked to conditions in the US.

"The Middle East has a richly diverse, multi-cultural talent pool and senior decision makers who understand the value of human capital and the role played by good HR in strategic business management, will be taking part in the Middle East HR Summit to ensure they stay ahead in the global talent war."

The five day Summit programme features a Guru Day, plenary sessions each morning and specialist streams on the key themes of talent management, performance management and reward management each afternoon. There will also be Summit Master Classes tackling topical HR issues such as emotional intelligence, employee relations and situational leadership.

In addition, there will be a Middle East HR Summit Excellence Awards gala dinner to honour outstanding achievements in the management and development of human capital. The awards will be for Outstanding Contribution to HR, HR Professional of the Year, Young HR Professional of the Year, HR Initiative of the Year, and Employer of the Year.

Industry bodies providing sponsorship for this year's Middle East HR Summit include FranklinCovey Middle East as diamond sponsor and the Hay Group as platinum sponsor. Premium recruitment sponsors are MonsterGulf.com. Gold sponsors are Leadership Training and Consultancy, Forum, and Zurich International Life. Silver sponsors are Recruitgulf.com, Ascent, Stanton Chase International, Naukri.com, Jerry Varghese, Careertunity.com and Focus Learning. Precision Employment Services are also a sponsor. The awards are sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management, Hay Group and SHL Group.