Dubai: One in every two employees in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is not engaged at work, according to a new study.
The research, carried out by recruitment specialists Aon Hewitt, found that employee commitment level in the GCC region is the lowest worldwide, at only 49.5 per cent. This means the majority of employees in the region are not likely to be putting in more discretionary effort into their jobs to produce positive outcomes.
This is in sharp contrast to other emerging markets like Latin America, where engagement is high at 63 per cent, or even compared with Asia Pacific at 58 per cent. A significant cause for concern is that the average GCC engagement level has declined almost 4.5 per cent since the 2010 average of 54 per cent, according to Aon Hewitt.
The latest study, called Qudurat, an Arabic word that means “capabilities”, includes the responses of approximately 18,500 respondents based in around 100 organisations and institutions across UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The research concluded that within the Gulf, Saudi nationals are the least engaged at 40.6 per cent, followed by Emiratis at 41.6 per cent. Omanis, Bahrainis and Kuwaitis are “moderately” engaged and the Qataris are most committed at 51 per cent. Among the expatriates, those in Bahrain and Kuwait are most engaged, followed by UAE and Qatar.
Dr Markus Wiesner, chief executive officer at Aon Hewitt Middle East, said the findings are a primary cause for concern, citing that due to low employee engagement levels, retaining employees will be a pertinent challenge for employers in the GCC region.
“Employees and their behaviour are at the centre of business success or failure and thus, low engagement levels are a serious cause for concern among regional employers. Getting employee engagement right will not only contribute towards short-term performance, it will also foster competitive advantage that will drive business results,” Wiesner told Gulf News.
Helena Houia, principal consultant at Talent 2, said building career development programmes for employees is a good approach to improving engagement levels. “Be creative, organise monthly meetings with teams of staff to brainstorm improvement initiatives for the business. Companies should commit to open and honest communication at all levels of staff,” she told Gulf News.
Aon Hewitt’s study also found that younger employees are the least engaged, and since they form a large proportion of the region’s workforce, their low engagement levels could significantly impact the overall commitment average.
“Organisations in the region will need to adapt to the changing expectations of the region’s youth, who clearly expect more from their employers than their older counterparts and are expected to be a key constituent of the overall employee population in the short to medium term in the GCC,” said Wiesner.
