Eighty-four per cent of employees in Qatar would feel less stressed and more productive if they were given the freedom by organisations to work flexibly from outside the office, a report said.

In contrast, only 23 per cent of companies surveyed in Qatar encourage and enable employees to work from anywhere, using any device of choice, added the report from Citrix, the cloud computing company that enables mobile workstyles.

Moreover, 36 per cent of organisations believe that employees may become less productive when outside an office environment, whilst 29 per cent believe that a lack of security controls for devices prevents them adopting mobility solutions.

The survey also revealed that     14 per cent of organisations do not currently enable employees to work outside of the office or use any personal devices; a further 8 per cent only allow it in special circumstances.

Only 25 per cent of Qatar businesses are examining the impact of mobility on productivity, whilst 39 per cent do not have any way of understanding the potential impact of mobility on their business, according to the report.

“Companies are waking up to the realisation that it’s less about a nine-to-five mentality, and more about working smarter, while also balancing out the pressures of a home life. However, as this research shows, there is still progress to be made,” said Johnny Karam, regional vice president, Middle East and Africa, Citrix.

“Quite simply, by embracing mobility solutions, organizations can improve productivity, talent recruitment and employee retention.”

The findings reflect the increasing need for businesses in Qatar to adopt mobility solutions to transform the way people and organizations do business, he added.

As organisations seek to recruit and empower skilled workers, flexible work strategies provide a more attractive experience in which people can choose the ideal time and place for their work.

By enabling full productivity beyond the constraints of physical desks, offices and traditional work hours, organizations can increase productivity by empowering employees to work smarter, wherever they may be – and most importantly, attract and retain the best talent, said Karam.

“This year, in Qatar specifically, employees can see the benefits of working from anywhere, and are keen to be able to build a work/life balance that suits them – as these results show,” Karam explained.

“In some ways this is further emphasised by the emergence of “Generation Y” into the workforce, which has the desire and expectation for greater flexibility on where, when and how work gets done.”

The survey into the adoption and attitude towards mobile workstyles was conducted by YouGov, a top market research organisation, ahead of Gitex Technology Week in Dubai. – TradeArabia News Service