The Story Behind “Pay As You Go HR”, And Why It Changed Everything

Introduction

 

When I founded Fikrah HR in 2021, I was driven by one very clear frustration: brilliant, hard-working businesses in the UAE were making costly people decisions, not because their founders lacked intelligence or ambition, but because professional HR support was primarily structured around large consultancy based providers that are generally out of most’s financial reach or HR ‘advisory’ providers that offer expensive and often impersonal call centre options.

 

That had to change. So I built a different kind of HR provider, one where you could get world-class, Chartered HR expertise exactly when you need it, for as long as you need it, and not a day longer.

 

That’s the idea behind Pay As You Go HR.

 

The Problem with Traditional HR Models

 

For most SMEs, the conversation around HR looks something like this: “We need HR support, but we can’t justify a full-time hire.” So they either pile HR responsibilities onto an already stretched Operations team, do it themselves, or they call a lawyer only when something has already gone wrong.

 

Neither option serves the business, or its people.

 

A full-time, senior HR manager in the UAE typically costs anywhere from AED 25,000 to AED 45,000 per month or more once you factor in visa, benefits, and overhead. For a business with 20 to 80 employees, that’s often neither affordable nor the right stage for a permanent hire. What they need is strategic, experienced HR support that supports and flexes around the business, not a large fixed overhead.

 

What “Pay As You Go HR” Actually Means

 

Pay As You Go HR is not a cut-price service. It’s a flexible engagement model that gives SMEs access to the same level of expertise that large companies retain on full-time salaries, but structured around your actual needs.

 

That might look like:

• A one-off project, building your contracts, handbook, or HR policies from scratch
• A defined period of interim support while you hire or restructure
• Ongoing fractional HR leadership, a few days per month of strategic people management embedded into your senior team
• An HR audit to identify where your legal and operational risks are hiding
• A ‘break-glass in case of emergency’ support set up where you only call or email when you need it.

 

The key principle is simple: you get exactly what you need, when you need it.

 

Why This Model Works So Well in the UAE

 

The UAE’s business landscape is uniquely suited to this approach. The economy is built on entrepreneurship, agility, and rapid growth. Founders and MDs here are sharp, fast-moving, and decisive but they’re often doing the work of five people at once.

 

SMEs make up the backbone of the UAE economy, yet HR support has historically been structured for large corporates with dedicated people teams and legal departments.

 

The Pay As You Go model flips this on its head, giving growing businesses the HR depth they deserve without the infrastructure cost.

 

Five Years On, What I’ve Learned

 

Since launching Fikrah HR in early 2021, I’ve worked with businesses across various industries including, retail, engineering, healthcare, professional services, technology, and education. Every engagement has reinforced the same truth: people problems do not fix themselves!

 

The businesses that invest in getting HR right, even at a basic level, retain better, grow faster, and have fewer costly disputes. Those that delay because “it’s not the right time yet” tend to discover the right time was six months ago.

 

If you’re running a growing business in the UAE and HR feels like something you’ll get to eventually, I’d love to have a conversation, because eventually is usually more expensive than now.

Sarah Brooks FCIPD is the Founder and Managing Director of Fikrah HR, an award-winning HR consultancy supporting SMEs across the UAE and GCC. She holds an MBA in HR and is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.