Market economy rules with Serco. They will pay the going rate that is sufficient to attracts newbies. They are not particularly interested in in the long term nor the infrastructure that equates to ICAO compliance.
Correct in that you are talking about people's lives but as the NOTSO Great Dane used to say we don't hire the wives and children!
You come to the Middle East with Serco on a 3 months notice contract. Familiar to those from the USA but less so to those from Europe.
The older ATCOs that work with Serco they view as a liability because they cost more and wish that could boot them out and hire newbieas at a cheaper rate thereby enhancing their profit margin. They really don't care how good you are at your job 'cos they can hire a newbie at half the cost.
If you want loyalty, buy a dog as the ex DANS UAE used to say.
Vercingetorix
You are basically 100% correct however the road the leadership team is going down seems to be future, planning and paving the road into the next 2 decades! For this you simply need people to stay. You need the long termers if it's costly or not. With the amount of projects and ideas they currently have, they'd be serious brain dead if they saw it otherwise therefore retention of staff is the ABC of this company. I know it seems awkward for this region and company, but it's the reality. Now to the big problem. To retain the staff you need to bring dollars. Dollars in the form of pensions, tri-yearly payouts, far higher gratuity, whatever it may be. That is the only way forward and once people start walking, the ship will sink and I can imagine just like the Costa Concordia, the leadership team and its captain will be the first to start running...