Nearly Two-Thirds Of UAE Professionals Expect Remote Working Trend To Increase Or Remain The Same As Now In The Post-Pandemic World

The Remote Work in the MENA Poll2021, conducted recently by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s #1 job site, and global online market research company, YouGov, revealed that nearly two-thirds of UAE respondents believe that remote working will either increase or remain the same as now after the pandemic situation has been fully addressed.Only21% believe that the remote working situation will go backas it was before the pandemic.

Benefits of Remote Work

As a result of the global outbreak of COVID-19, most organizations in the UAE enabled remote working for their employees.Respondents have highlighted benefits of remote work such as saving travel time (58%) and working in a comfortable work area (50%). More time with family/ friends (47%), reduced office politics (39%), and more monetary savings (37%) follow.

Shreyansi Gupta, Head of Marketingat Bayt.com said: “Our Remote Work in the MENA Survey explores emerging trends while the region transitions into a new normal. The success of remote work has reimagined how corporate work gets done, as well as where the work takes place. Most employees crave flexibility after working from home for months, which is likely to transform a company’s culture, employee engagement, the way the work gets done and how office space is used.”

As UAEenterprises enable remote working at scale for a majority of their workforce, most companies have ensured that employees have seamless access to their workplace apps in the device they carry and develop meaningful relationships digitally. Over9in 10 respondents (94%) say that they have all or some of the resources required to do their job remotely, while only 6% state that they don’t have any of the required resources.

Work Style Preference

Employees enjoy the conveniences of home offices, and those with young children have more flexible schedules –14% of the respondents would prefer working entirely from home, while more than half the respondents (53%) would prefer a mix between working from home and returning to office/ on-site.

The COVID-19pandemic may have presented UAEemployers the opportunity to rethink the way they work. Currently, 48% of the respondents work from home on all or some days of the week.

Remote Work Challenges

According to the survey, 38% of respondents believe that challenges in team building/ teamwork is one of the most common challenges associated with remote work. Isolation leading to affecting mental health (37%), frequent interruptions (35%) and challenge to separate work and personal life (34%) follow.

Zafar Shah, Research Director at YouGov said: “Making the shift to this new way of working has been uncharted territory for the majority of employers and employees alike. Although the transition to remote work has been positively received by a large portion of the survey respondents, some have reported challenges. To mitigate this, managers should encourage intentional, effective and efficient communication at all levels of the organization.”

Data for the Remote Work in the MENA Survey was collected online from 18th August – 14th September 2021. Results are based on a sample of 3,206 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and others.