In response to the challenge of human resource imbalance in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the government enacted a nationalization policy (Emiratization) which compelled organizations to hire national job seekers. The present study aimed at assessing the quality of working life (QWL) of 450 national employees in the public and private sectors. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that employees indicated an above average level of perceived QWL. Four factors were important to adding quality to the work life, namely managerial approach, prestige, pay and benefits, and professional development opportunities. These results and their implications were discussed in detail.

PurposeThe United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the few countries where nationals make up less than 20 percent of the total population and less than 2 percent of the workforce. Hence organizations in the public and private sectors are highly diverse in terms of their employees' nationality, language, religion, race, and gender. The purpose of this paper is to examine how employees perceive human resource diversity and what they consider successful diversity to be.Design/methodology/approachThe main research instrument is a questionnaire which measures diversity in human resources. Exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression, and descriptive statistics were used in order to analyze 795 survey responses.FindingsThe findings reveal that perception of human resource diversity in the UAE vary by employees' gender, educational level, nationality, professional experience, job level, previous experience in diverse workplace, and second language competency. Analysis of employees' responses helped to construct a four‐factor model, which can be utilized to improve diversity practices in organizations.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the literature on the UAE is limited, the study proposes four factors needed to achieve perceived successful diversity practices: legal, personnel, bureaucratic, and political factors. Researchers are encouraged to use comparative approaches to test the proposed model.Originality/valueThe study offers important insights for researchers and practitioners of human resource management in the UAE.