Designed and implemented an executive incentive framework aligned with the direction and operating style of the family office.
Dubai and the wider UAE continue to see strong growth in family offices and privately held investment groups, with financial centres such as Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) continuing to expand their focus on private wealth, governance frameworks, and family office structures. The UAE’s position as a regional hub for investment and private capital has also increased competition for experienced executive leadership talent across the sector.
As the sector becomes more established and competitive, many family offices are placing greater focus on talent retention, succession, and continuity of senior executives who play a key role in managing investments, operations, and strategic growth initiatives.
An established Dubai-based family office engaged S&K HR Consulting to review its executive compensation structure and leadership retention approach amidst the continued growth of the sector.
An established Dubai-based family office had built a senior leadership team responsible for managing diverse business interests, investment activities, and strategic growth priorities. The existing compensation and benefits structure had supported the organisation to date, but as the family office continued to evolve, the principals wanted to assess whether the reward framework remained fit for purpose.
The key question was not only whether executive compensation was competitive, but whether it supported long-term leadership retention, accountability, and alignment with the family office’s values and ambitions.
S&K HR Consulting was engaged to review the executive compensation and benefits structure and advise on how the family office could strengthen its approach to rewarding and retaining key leadership talent.
The Challenge
Unlike listed companies, the family office did not operate within a conventional shareholder or equity structure, making traditional long-term incentive approaches less straightforward. There was also understandable sensitivity around ownership participation and maintaining the flexibility, governance, and discretion typically associated with family office environments.
At the same time, the executive leadership team held significant influence across investments, operations, strategic initiatives, and stakeholder relationships, increasing the importance of long-term continuity and retention. Given the level of operational and strategic responsibility held within key executive roles, leadership continuity also carried broader business continuity considerations for the family office.
The review also highlighted the challenge of assessing executive reward positioning within a sector that is still evolving across the UAE and wider region. With many family offices operating privately and leadership talent increasingly mobile across international markets, establishing an approach that was both commercially competitive and aligned to the organisation’s operating style required careful consideration.
During the review, several themes emerged:
- The existing reward structure was weighted more heavily toward fixed compensation and annual performance outcomes
- There was limited linkage between long-term organisational growth and executive reward
- The family office wanted to strengthen leadership retention without fundamentally changing its ownership structure or operating model
- There was a need for clearer long-term alignment between leadership contribution, succession considerations, and organisational growth
- Any future framework needed to align with the culture, governance expectations, and long-term outlook of the principals
The challenge was therefore not simply to increase executive compensation, but to design a reward approach that encouraged sustained leadership commitment, accountability, and long-term alignment while remaining practical and appropriate for a family office structure.
The Review
S&K HR Consulting conducted a detailed review of the existing executive compensation and benefits structure, including fixed compensation, short-term incentives, retention considerations, governance alignment, and the overall effectiveness of the reward framework in supporting the long-term objectives of the family office.
The engagement included internal and external benchmarking across the UAE market and broader international practices relevant to family offices and private investment groups. Given the evolving nature of the sector, particular focus was placed on the competitiveness and long-term effectiveness of the existing executive reward approach, including the growing use of long-term executive incentives within the wider market.
Discussions with key stakeholders also helped assess:
- Leadership expectations and succession considerations
- Long-term business ambitions of the principals
- Retention and continuity risks
- The desired balance between governance, flexibility, and discretion within the family office structure
The review identified opportunities to strengthen the connection between executive contribution, business growth, and leadership retention.
The Solution
The review confirmed that the existing executive compensation and benefits structure had supported the family office effectively through its earlier stages of growth, particularly in attracting experienced leadership talent and rewarding annual performance outcomes.
As is common within many established UAE organisations, certain elements of the executive reward structure had evolved around expatriate compensation practices and leadership-specific lifestyle benefits. While these had supported talent attraction and operational growth, the review identified opportunities to create greater consistency and a clearer connection between executive reward, organisational growth, and long-term leadership objectives.
The engagement also recognised that several long-serving executives had contributed significantly to the growth journey of the family office, creating the need for a framework that balanced historical reward practices with future leadership objectives.
The review also highlighted the unique dynamic within family offices where stewardship, continuity, and generational wealth preservation often sit at the centre of the organisation’s long-term outlook.
As the family office and wider sector continued to evolve, there was increasing recognition that the executive reward structure should not only support market competitiveness and retention, but also encourage senior leadership to think with a similar long-term orientation toward organisational growth, continuity, and value creation.
To address these considerations, S&K worked with the family office to shape a more structured long-term approach to executive reward that would better support:
- Retention of key leadership talent
- Long-term accountability and contribution
- Leadership continuity and succession considerations
- Alignment with the future ambitions of the principals
As part of the engagement, S&K worked with the family office to shape a bespoke long-term incentive framework aligned with the organisation’s operating style, governance expectations, and privately held structure.
Rather than adopting a conventional listed-company approach, the framework was designed to remain commercially competitive while balancing organisational flexibility, practical governance considerations, and the culture of the family office. The proposed approach also supported broader continuity considerations by encouraging longer-term leadership commitment across critical executive positions.
The Results
The engagement provided the family office with a more structured and forward-looking approach to executive reward aligned with its long-term business ambitions, leadership alignment priorities, and operating style as a privately held organisation.
1. Stronger Executive Reward Structure
- The review enabled the family office to better assess how its executive compensation and benefits structure compared against evolving practices within the UAE market and broader family office and private investment sector.
- The engagement also helped shift executive reward discussions from historically evolved individual arrangements toward a more consistent long-term leadership approach aligned with the future ambitions of the family office.
- This resulted in greater clarity around market competitiveness of executive reward, alignment between leadership contribution and long-term organisational growth, retention and continuity considerations across key leadership roles, and consistency of executive reward practices across the leadership team.
2. Improved Leadership Alignment & Retention Positioning
- The introduction of a long-term incentive framework created clearer alignment between executive contribution, organisational growth, and the long-term outlook of the principals.
- The engagement reinforced the importance of long-term thinking within the leadership structure, particularly within a family office environment where stewardship and generational value creation remain central to decision-making.
- The framework also helped strengthen continuity across key leadership roles that held significant operational and strategic responsibility within the family office.
- The proposed structure positioned the family office more competitively in attracting and retaining senior leadership talent within an increasingly mature and internationally connected UAE market.
3. Greater Structure for Future Leadership Planning
- The engagement introduced a more structured and commercially practical approach to executive reward while maintaining the flexibility, discretion, and governance expectations important within the family office environment.
- Importantly, the framework was designed specifically around the realities of a privately held family office structure rather than a traditional corporate incentive model.
- This provided the family office with a stronger foundation for future leadership planning, succession discussions, and long-term executive retention.
Conclusion
As family offices across the UAE continue to grow and professionalise, executive reward structures are increasingly becoming an important part of long-term leadership strategy.
For this family office, the engagement was not simply about reviewing compensation levels, but about strengthening long-term alignment between leadership contribution, organisational growth, and the broader ambitions of the principals.
By introducing a more structured long-term approach to executive reward, the family office was better positioned to support leadership continuity, retention, and sustainable growth while remaining aligned with the values and operating style that define family office environments.
