The New Strategic Frontier For HR And Employee Benefits

Date Posted:Wed, 23rd Sep 2026

HR is the only major department in most businesses that still isn't given a strategic seat at the table. That was the uncomfortable point Ron Thomas, the "workforce architect" at Strategy Focused Group, put to a room full of HR leaders at last month's 100 CHRO Summit Dubai.

His argument: every industry has reinvented itself over the past two decades, and "the connecting tissue in each case was workforce change." Yet the function that oversees the workforce is still, too often, treated as reactive. Few organisations give CHROs a board seat, while CIOs and CTOs are routinely included.

That gap matters, because closing it starts with the things HR already controls. And one of the biggest is group medical insurance.

From managing renewals to managing a strategy

Most advice on group medical insurance in the UAE deals with the day-to-day: Reducing the ‘noise’ for HR as staff claim for treatment and ask questions. Guiding on the right mix of hospitals. Handling the tricky conversation around co-payments or telehealth. All useful, all necessary.

But the HR leaders who earn the strategic seat are the ones thinking further ahead. Thomas gave the example of moving from filling roles vacated last quarter to forecasting attrition for the next one.

The same shift applies to benefits. It means moving from advice on the next renewal to thinking about group medical insurance as a multi-year cost, in a way that would intrigue a CFO. It means moving from "are our staff claiming more?" to solutions that improve health long term and reduce absenteeism. That is the difference between managing a policy and shaping a strategy, and it's where HR starts to speak the language of the board.

A function gaining ground in the Middle East

HR in the Middle East has come a long way. It's a role perhaps still behind some of its peers, but gaining visibility. Health insurance becoming mandatory across all emirates has raised the stakes, and the employee experience is getting real attention for the first time. The office-versus-remote question should push things further, and HR should be central to the answer.

As HR leaders continue to hold up the sky looking after people, the move to a genuinely strategic, future-focused role is one worth watching, and worth pushing for. board.

By Damien Walsh, Managing Director, AES (Employee Benefits Consultancy)

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