Between Riyadh and Dubai: the real state of recognition and rewards in the Gulf

Introduction

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This webinar covers what recognition and rewards programs look like in the Gulf in2026, when compensation budgets are flat and employee expectations are not.Sandrine Bardot advises reward teams across the region on how their programs aredesigned and where they break. Abrar E. Khodari runs human capital inside a Saudiindustrial group where a large share of the workforce never opens a laptop.

The two of them see the same market from different sides, one from the outsidelooking across many employers, one from the inside of a single workforce. Over 45minutes they work through five questions: what changed in the last year, whatnationalization targets do to reward design, what recognition can carry when thereis no money for raises, what AI is genuinely changing, and what each of them wouldfix first on a budget that has not grown.

The session is a conversation, not a presentation. No slides. The last ten minutesare live audience questions.