After moderating two panels with some of the region’s top Total Rewards leaders, I kept returning to a single question: Are we really evolving, or are we just rearranging the furniture? My conclusion is clear. Total Rewards in the GCC is evolving – but not in the way most people expect. The conversations we had underscore a critical shift in the Gulf. The Total Rewards function is no longer merely a cost centre; it is rapidly becoming a core business enabler. The current landscape is defined by economic uncertainty, intense competition for talent, growing nationalisation efforts, and post-COVID employee expectation shifts. This environment creates a paradox: competition drives some salaries down, yet talent scarcity drives others up. To navigate this complexity, Total Rewards leaders must elevate their game. We must transition from being technical experts focused solely on data to being commercial partners, strategists, and, critically, storytellers. Here is my synthesis, my personal take, on what these crucial discussions revealed about the evolution of Total Rewards leadership in the GCC. Key Shifts We’re Seeing in the Rewards Landscape 1. The Segmented Workforce Demands Personalisation For decades, segmentation has existed in the GCC, but it has been driven by static demographic factors – nationality, marital status, and job level. While this historical context is understandable, particularly when the region was focused on attracting expats, this rationale no longer stands in major hubs. The market is now demanding a strategic shift away from these static, “cookie cutter” approaches. The focus must move to personalisation and understanding the employee’s priorities, life stage, and lifestyle. This means moving beyond rigid reward packages to compensation that feels like a “Spotify playlist,” allowing employees to choose based on what matters most to them, whether they are starting a family or saving for the future. This pursuit of customized solutions is essential because context is everything. For example, a tech firm in Dubai saw significant retention improvement after tailoring its benefits to include flexible parental leave and student loan support – because that’s what its workforce cared about. As I often advise clients, applying a standard plan that is blindly benchmarked against a competitor is “absolutely the wrong approach.” How GCC Companies Are Segmenting Total Rewards in 2025 watch panel 2. Equity and Ownership: Capturing the Long-Term Mindset The regional market, especially the entrepreneurial sector in Saudi Arabia, is seeing tremendous support for growth. This environment has fuelled a strong shift towards Long-Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs), often involving stock options, aimed at retaining high performers and aligning employees with the long-term success of the business. This move is directly supported by the changing expectations of candidates, particularly Gen Z. We noted that a significant portion – up to 70% of Gen Z candidates – would turn down a job offer if it doesn’t include purpose-driven incentive plans. They want to feel like owners and see their contribution recognised. It is essential to differentiate rewards based on a company’s life cycle. For instance, pre-IPO organizations might focus more heavily on cash and benefits, whereas post-IPO companies typically shift their focus to equity and incentives. Any implementation of equity must address a crucial strategic question: “Why are we doing it?” The design must align with investor expectations and the specific retention goals for critical talent. And let’s be honest – if the answer to that question is, “Because everyone else is doing it,” we’re already off track. 3. Total Rewards Leadership as Strategic Storytelling The expectations placed on Total Rewards leaders have changed dramatically since the pandemic. Executives now view Total Rewards as a core business enabler to strategy (a view shared by roughly 75% of executives in recent reports). This means the days of being solely experts in data and financials are gone. We are now expected to showcase commerciality, deeply understand the business, and, most importantly, be able to take complex data and turn it into a “meaningful narrative that sells a story.” This storytelling is vital for securing buy-in from the board and senior leadership necessary to approve strategic changes. Here’s the tension: we must manage cost pressures while also designing systems that engage and retain. That means looking for value in how we structure capacity – not just slicing salaries and calling it a day. 4. Cautious Practicality: AI as the Analyst’s Intern In the realm of HR technology, Total Rewards tends to be one of the more technologically mature functions. Yet, despite this, there is clear caution regarding the adoption of AI, mainly due to the sensitive nature of the pay data we handle. We collectively agreed that AI’s role today is that of a useful assistant, not a replacement. As one of my panellists noted, it’s often “neither artificial nor intelligent,” but rather a powerful machine learning tool. Currently, AI excels at qualitative research, benchmarking trends, drafting communications, and standardising job descriptions (a process that can be reduced substantially). I personally view AI as a very bright intern – it needs strict oversight, clear expectations, and cannot be trusted blindly. But give it a spreadsheet? Phew. Not yet. The consensus was firm: AI is currently unreliable for detailed Excel work. Its strength lies in language-based tasks, but when it comes to managing sensitive compensation data, we’re still the Excel gurus in the room. What’s Not Changing (Yet): The Cultural Hurdles If the future of Total Rewards is about customization and strategy, why are so many organizations still struggling? The answer lies in persistent habits and the unique emotional weight rewards carry in the workplace. 1. The Syndrome of Groupthink and the Vanilla Plan One thing that continues to frustrate me in this region is the “syndrome of group think.” Companies feel safe benchmarking – they want to adopt the “content of a standard plan and apply it to their company because it feels safe” and looks good to the board. I believe this is absolutely the wrong approach. Benchmarking provides context and is a great starting point, but applying a vanilla plan without considering your organizational culture, specific strategy, or organizational design is destined to fail. A reward plan designed two years ago may need a complete review today because the company’s context has shifted. We must show creativity and offer new solutions that fit the current situation. Copy-paste might be fast. But it doesn’t move your business forward. 2. The Emotional Reality of Fairness The true difficulty of the Total Rewards function is that we are dealing with people, not machines. People are complex; they have emotions and intrinsic motivations. One stark example shared involved air ticket allowances for blue-collar workers. Management, trying to ensure “fairness” by moving from legacy rates to today’s dynamic pricing, unknowingly reduced the benefit for some long-term staff. This decision caused “chaos.” Even though the decision was quickly reversed, the conversation about the perceived unfairness persisted long afterward, highlighting that poor communication or a lack of transparency – even when rooted in good intentions – can damage employee trust far more than the actual monetary value involved. It’s a reminder: trust isn’t built on spreadsheets. It’s built on perception, and consistency, and communication. Rethinking Total Rewards: Real Talk from GCC Total Rewards Leaders watch part one Three Priorities for Modern Total Rewards Leaders Looking ahead, I see three essential, non-negotiable priorities for Total Rewards leaders in the GCC seeking to mature their function and truly partner with the business. 1. Treat Total Rewards as a Culture Change Programme Incentive plans often fail because they are viewed merely as payment mechanisms, rather than tools for cultural transformation. In one successful example shared, a large bank’s ambition was to become the number one bank for customer service. They mandated that everyone in the organization, including corporate functions, had a minimum of 30% of their objectives tied to customer service KPIs. This was successful because it was not simply about changing pay weights; it was fundamentally a “culture change program” that aligned business strategy with performance and behaviour. Likewise, incentives can be redesigned to prioritize team culture and collaboration by including country-level revenue models for supervisors and above, anchoring their focus on collective team effort rather than just individual wins. When incentives start reinforcing behaviours, not just outputs – that’s when change sticks. 2. Enforce HR Due Diligence A Total Rewards professional must be involved in strategic activities from the very beginning. We always have a job – in good times, we handle retention, and in bad times, we manage costs – but we are often called in at the end of a transaction to “put the pieces together.” I have personally encountered organizations acquiring companies without any HR due diligence. One in particular discovered only post-acquisition that the legacy business carried defined benefit pension liabilities worth hundreds of millions of dollars. We must advocate to be involved from the start to evaluate these risks and ensure integration success. What we don’t know can cost us – sometimes quite literally. 3. Invest in Line Manager Storytelling Capability Rewards plans, no matter how perfectly designed, are only as effective as their communication. Communication is the most important thing; employees need a sense of purpose behind their efforts. The critical link in this chain is the line manager. They are the frontline communicators of the rewards message, yet they often lack the capability to handle sensitive pay conversations. Our responsibility in HR is to train and support them. We want line managers to be “explainers” and “storytellers,” sharing the rationale and transparency of the reward plan; we do not want them to be “negotiators” with their staff. Otherwise, we risk our people seeing their compensation as arbitrary – not intentional. Ready to modernize rewards in your organization? Discover the Semos Cloud Total Rewards Hub today. Request demo Close: The Balancing Act The beauty of Total Rewards in the GCC is its complexity – the constant balancing act between modern design and local nuance. We must learn that driving behavioural change takes time and is fundamentally a cultural journey. It is an exciting time to be leading Total Rewards in the Gulf. As we move forward, are we ready to prioritise human understanding over standardisation? To see efficiency not just as a cost lever, but as a way to deepen impact? I am proud that ecap rewards is partnering with Semos Cloud, a leading provider of Total Rewards and employee experience solutions. Our collaboration is rooted in a shared commitment to advancing Total Rewards maturity in the GCC by focusing on personalized, impactful programmes that honour local context and strategic priorities. What’s your take on these shifts? Let’s keep the conversation going. 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