Building a Team That Stays: Talent in a transient industry

Construction has always been an industry on the move. Projects end, teams disband, and talented people follow the next tower, hotel or manufacturing facility. For HR in the UAE, that movement is both the challenge and the opportunity. The answer is not to fight it, but to give people a reason to build their careers with us.

I have been with ISG Middle East for seven years, and in that time I have watched both the business and our people grow significantly. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that retention is not something HR can address once someone hands in their resignation. It starts much earlier: with how we recruit people, how we welcome them into the business, how we develop them and whether they can see what their next opportunity with us could look like.

The UAE’s construction pipeline is booming, and the competition for people is real. Most than 60% of employers now look for certified, proven experience, and salary expectations are rising faster than many offers.

Anyone in our industry will recognise the conversations happening online: project-to-project hopping, burnout on fast-track programmes, and the feeling that people are only as valued as their current job. Those struggles are real, but they also tell us what people want: stability, growth and a sense of belonging.

We see this first-hand in recruitment. Good candidates often have several options, and while salary will always matter, the conversation now goes well beyond the package. Candidates want to know which projects they will work on, the culture they are joining, how we develop our people and what might come next. Attraction is no longer just about getting someone through the door; it is about giving them a reason to choose us.

Our own numbers show a young, diverse and ambitious business:

67% of our team are in their 20s and 30s, including 43% in their 30s alone, while 23% are in their 40s.

We bring together 13 nationalities, embracing a diverse range of ethnicities and cultures.

Women make up 27% of #TeamISG, against an industry average of around 6%.

A team largely in its 30s and early 40s is at a decisive career stage. Many of our colleagues are balancing leadership ambitions with building their lives and families in the UAE, and they choose their employers carefully.

Progression also means different things to each of them. For some, it is a first step into management. For others, it is deeper technical expertise, a different type of project or simply more responsibility. That is why retention cannot be one-size-fits-all: it starts with understanding what progression means to each person.

We don’t have every answer, and we still lose good people to the next big project or a better offer. But when a project winds down, our first conversation is about what comes next at ISG. It doesn’t always work out, yet more often than not, people stay when they can see a next step. We would rather stretch someone internally than recruit around them.

As the business has grown, we have put more structure behind that development. Our performance and growth process creates regular conversations about goals, performance and future development, while our learning pathways offer opportunities at every level of the organisation, from emerging leaders and managers to our professional, technical, operational and site teams.

For me, one of the most important questions we can ask about someone who is performing well is simply: what’s next for this person? Can we give them more responsibility? Could they move onto another project? Are they ready for their first leadership role? Is there another part of the business where their experience could add value? We will not always have the opportunity available, but we should always be having the conversation.

Listening matters just as much. With 13 nationalities and a far higher share of women than the industry norm, a single approach rarely suits everyone. Some of our listening is formal, through employee surveys, performance discussions and feedback, but some of the most useful conversations in HR happen informally. Not every request can be accommodated, and not every piece of feedback will lead to a policy change, but people should feel they can speak up and that they have been heard.

It also means being prepared to challenge ourselves. A policy that worked when we were a smaller business may not be right for the workforce we have today. As the business evolves, HR has to evolve with it.

Successful retention does not mean trying to stop everyone from leaving. Circumstances change, projects finish, and sometimes another opportunity really is the right next step for someone’s career. Our responsibility is to make sure that when people think about their future, staying with ISG is a compelling option, because they feel valued, they keep developing and they can see their next chapter with us.

The region’s talent pool is changing too. More professionals are weighing culture and growth prospects alongside the pay packet, and that plays to the strengths of a young, diverse company like ours.

Construction will always move from site to site, but people stay where they feel they belong and can grow. As a young company, we have the chance to set that standard now.