One of the challenges expatriate dependent nations face is how to attract global talent while building capacity nationally. This has often included a mix of nationalization policies along with attraction, development and recruitment policies for the entire workforce. Qatar has a minority citizen population and the large majority of its workforce is expatriate. To assess the impact of a 2009 human resources policy for the public sector had the expected impacts, Dr Ali Ahmed Al-Qayed Al-Emadi conducted a study and shares the results in “The Dilemma of Retention in the State of Qatar’s Public and Semi-Private Sectors” (2025), published by HBKU Press. The study is well designed and offers some unexpected findings. A few notes:

“It was found that no statistically significant relationship between performance management performance management, rewards and promotion, and training development as HRM practices, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions was observed for public organizations, and similar findings were determined for the semi-private sector of Qatar. Thus, no significant differences were observed in the role of HRM practices in influencing retention in public and semi-private organisations  of Qatar as a rapidly developing country.” (p. 5)

“The Qatari authorities and developers of Law No. (8), often referred to Qatar’s 2009 HRM policy, aimed at attracting more skilled employees to public sector organizations while accentuating the promotion plans, training budgets, benefits, salary levels, bonuses, reward systems, and pension schemes” (p. 24)

“… the HRM practices proposed in the context of the 2009 HRM policy reflect western patterns directly, and their implementation in the public sector was planned to be an effective measure in order to address the problem of retention in governmental organisations within Qatar. From this perspective, the HRM policy and practices implemented in the public sector organisations of the country are intended to reflect patterns followed in North America and Europe, as well as models that are appropriate to be implemented in the context of a rapidly developing country.” (p. 93)

“The study supports the idea that even if HRM practices were proven to be effective in other contexts or under different circumstances, they can be inappropriate for certain countries, regions, or situations. The problem is that the implementation and realization of HR practices and strategies is based on a range of factors that can play a key role in influencing performance, productivity, commitment, and retention among other organisational aspects” (p. 171)

“The analysis of the data indicated that none of the formulated hypotheses were completely proven. It was found that employees from public organizations who participated in the survey did not perceive HRM practices implemented as bundles according to the configurational HRM perspective as influential in their job satisfaction and turnover intentions. No relationships were observed for perceptions of employees in the semi-private sector and their turnover intentions. The comparison of the results for both sectors indicated similarities in the analyzed data. Therefore the assumptions regarding higher levels of job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions for employees in the semi-private sector, in comparison to employees from the public sector, were not supported by the study findings” (p. 182)