Remote Working: The New Norm For The UAE?

Remote working strategies are becoming a more common method of employment throughout the world. With the advent of cloud computing technology and the omnipresence of the internet, this fact is hardly surprising; many countries have adopted this cost efficient strategy. Take the US for example, where 43% of employees have spent time working from home. Moreover, 1.5 million workers from the UK have also partially or fully adopted this strategy.

UAE: New Laws and Regulations

One such example is the UAE, where laws have shifted rapidly to combat the pandemic. With this shift comes the issuance of a mandatory remote working policy by the Ministry of Human Resources for all private entities. According to the new law, companies are not allowed to have more than 30 percent of their staff working from the office, with a specific emphasis on customer service staff. Other enforcement include mandatory screening of employees across all offices, which happens twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Furthermore, businesses will now be limited to 25% of its previous passenger capacity.

A New Report: Remote Working here to Stay?

Furthermore, these changes are only the first steps in adopting remote working strategies as the country’s new norm. Although a plan has yet to be properly defined, the Dubai Future Foundation has released a series of reports detailing how the country will implement a return-to-work strategy after the pandemic is over. In this regard, the deputy CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, Abdulaziz Al Jaziri has stated that the pandemic has already made the country start to question the need for ‘physical working space,’ and that there is an acceptance of remote working to remain an essential function of the country’s overall business model in the future.

This is surprising, as such was not always the case. Quite the opposite, in fact; the UAE had one of the lowest remote working rates globally in just 2019, where only 10% of its workers engaged in remote working practices, compared to 62% which is the global average.

However, the large shift towards nationwide remote working strategies begun even before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The study by the Dubai Future Foundation had detailed that certain industries in Dubai, specifically IT, marketing, app development and some forms of retail had made the natural transition much earlier.

Overall, on a short term basis, it makes sense to implement remote work during a time in which it is ultimately necessary to do so. However, in light of recent assessments of the situation, it is likely that such policies will prove to become prevalent throughout Dubai’s working culture, rather than a short term convenience.