UAE Government Advocates for Remote Working Policies in New Report

The UAE government covers attractive aspects of telecommuting in a recent release and push all organisations in the country to embrace such polices. That is why the white paper entitled ‘Remote Work in the UAE’1 emphasises the advantages of the existence of such work models, including the following:

The Pros of Promoting Working Models That Blend the Workplace and Remote Locations
The research proposes that, through the integration of well-structured remote work alongside conventional assigned office schedule, there is potential for a very high increase in workforce productivity. Employers raise opportunities for individuals with caregiving commitments, or those restricted to traveling to an office by extending the option of working from home.

Omar Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, credited the author of the preface of the report, mentioned that, the introduction of remote work policies is a persuasive reason that may open numerous opportunities for the nation.

Trends in Remote Work and Experiences of Countries All Over the World

As per the YouGov survey, 46% people from the UAE workforce already do work from home to some extent. Also, Dubai was named as the unparallelled world’s most popular city for expatriate executives in the two-year-old 2024 Savills Executive Nomad Index. The study also included enhanced remote work examples from countries like the USA, Portugal, and Norway for benchmarking the UAE.

Dubai’s Government’s RTA also did research on how Flexible working could help reduce traffic and this was another reason that the policies were needed.

Addressing Challenges

Notwithstanding the economic and societal benefits highlighted in the report, the report also recognizes culture as an impediment to remote work within the public and even in most private organizations. It also states that remote work may affect the access to the workplace training and development.