58% Mena employees happiest when able to work from home
MUSCAT: Fifty-eight per cent of workers in the Middle East and North Africa region have felt happier over the past year as a result of working from home, according to a new study commissioned by Avaya.
The Life and Work Beyond 2020 study, conducted by research firm Davies Hickman Partners, polled 10,000 consumers and workers in 11 countries to discover the impacts of COVID-19 on consumer wellbeing and values as the world embraces a new world of work.
Research
The research found that workers in the Mena region are fond of workfrom-anywhere models, with 64 per cent saying that the ability to conduct hybrid work – from a home or office – would contribute to their happiness. That compares to 40 per cent of respondents in Germany, 44% in the UK, and 62 per cent in the United States who said the same thing.
The survey also revealed that Mena workers are well-equipped for remote working, with 59 per cent claiming that they have access to the technology necessary to work from anywhere.
The UAE, with 64 per cent reporting strong access to technology, has a higher number of positive respondents than seen in any other country.
United States workers are second-best equipped with 62 per cent having access to the technology they need to work from anywhere, and Saudi Arabia came in at 60 per cent, while in the UK that number was 55 per cent.
As well as a preference for the ability to work from anywhere, the study revealed some of the biggest worries that Mena employees have about the future of work.
Half of them (50 per cent) said that returning to the office fulltime would be their biggest worry, while 43 per cent identified being replaced by younger workers as their top concern.
“Our Life and Work Beyond 2020 was an effort to identify and quantify the large-scale, impactful changes we have seen over the last year. The findings of the report are consistent with what we have seen among our regional customers, who have moved quickly to create enhanced experiences for employees and consumers in the face of new realities. What’s clear is that preferences for hybrid working models are here to stay, meaning Total Experience strategies need to be designed with this new reality in mind,” said Nidal Abou-Ltaif, President –International, Avaya.
Technology, working space key to productivity
While Mena respondents ranked among the world’s happiest and best equipped when it came to working from anywhere, the survey still revealed areas for improvement. Nearly a third (32 per cent) said that they had experienced challenges as a result of the remote working model, while 30 per cent said that they do not have access to the technology they need to work remotely.
What’s more, many employees struggle with their working environments at home, with 52 per cent expressing a desire for a larger working space, and 36 per cent saying that working from home was not appropriate for family life.