More than 94 per cent of UAE office workers would feel less stressed, be more productive and achieve better balance between work and family responsibility if they were given the freedom to work flexibly outside of the office, according to a recent research.

The Citrix report, which was conducted by YouGov ahead of the ongoing Gitex Technology Week, revealed the findings of its research into the adoption of and attitude towards, mobile and flexible working in the UAE.

The demand for flexible working has increased by a further 20 per cent since last year, with many UAE workers also indicating that the ability to work from anywhere would significantly increase their job satisfaction, it said.

Meanwhile, only 23 per cent of businesses surveyed fully encouraged and enabled employees to work from anywhere, using any device.

A further 34 per cent of UAE organisations believed that employees may become less productive when outside an office environment, while 33 per cent believed that a lack of security controls for devices prevents them adopting mobility solutions.
 
The survey found that only 17 per cent of organisations do not currently enable employees to work outside of the office at all - or use any personal devices; and another eight per cent only allowed it in special circumstances.

About 30 per cent of UAE businesses are examining the impact of mobility on productivity, 29 per cent are examining the impact on employee morale, while 20 per cent have not taken steps to understand the potential impact of mobility on their business, it said.

The findings reflected the increasing need to transform the way people and organisations do business – compounded by the profound impact of consumerisation.

By providing the technology to enable full productivity beyond the constraints of physical desks, offices and traditional working hours, businesses can empower employees to work smarter wherever they may be – and most importantly, attract and retain the best talent in a highly competitive labour market.
 
Johnny Karam, regional vice president, Middle East and Africa, said: “These latest results demonstrate a slow but clear cultural shift in the attitude and adoption of mobile working technologies – employee demand is strong, but businesses still have some progress to make in meeting that demand.

“As technology has become a seamless part of people’s work and personal lives, Citrix has provided desktop, mobile, app and data services to enable people to work better. Mobility in the workplace has become both an expectation and necessity very quickly – any business that does not address this opportunity could soon be at a significant disadvantage.” - TradeArabia News Service