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The pandemic served as a wake-up call for the world to fully realize life’s fragility. Employees across the UAE are increasingly prioritizing their health and wellness, desiring to lead more balanced and fulfilling lives.
The UAE has been on a steady onward march to development with many regions immersed in focused preparation for a post-oil future. Workers are committed towards collectively building a promising tomorrow. At the same time, employees are also conscious of a rising need to take special care of their mental health to combat high stress.
In a 2022 pan-GCC McKinsey study, 66% of the 4,000 employees interviewed reported facing mental health challenges, which include symptoms of anxiety, depression, burnout and distress. In the same study, 62% of employees reported facing physical health challenges. Anxiety and depression emerged as significant mental health issues in the Wellbeing in the Private Sector Report released by UAE’s National Program for Happiness & Wellbeing. Besides, private-sector employers had to deal with the rampant problem of employee burnout. Clearly, workers across the UAE want stress relief measures. Employers acknowledge the urgent need to understand and accommodate employees’ health needs. An HR manager at a giant FMCG business told Michael Page that she implements ‘Have Your Say’ surveys to get employee views on improving the work environment. “Based on this feedback, I introduced group fitness classes during lunch and after-work hours to foster improved mental health and wellbeing,” she said.
Faced with extreme stress, employees are assessing their work roles on what Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2022 calls the ‘worth it equation’. Employees are asking if it is worth it to continue in a role that might not offer the best work-life balance. This index found that 56% of people in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) are prioritizing finding a new job in 2022 that would better align with their newfound flexibility and wellbeing goals.
Having tasted the benefits of hybrid work during the pandemic, employees are hesitant to go back to a full-time office working role and are confident that employers will offer greater flexibility in working arrangements in the coming year. Hybrid work styles are now less a luxury and more a necessity — a must-have — for employee retention in a buoyant candidate-driven market.
The trend of caring for workers’ wellbeing is not new. The farsighted UAE government has been encouraging employers to prioritize employee wellness since 2016 when it launched the National Programme for Happiness and Wellbeing to ensure employee welfare in the private sector. The programme offers clear, actionable points for leaders to implement in their companies so that the average mental health status is maintained at a desirably high level.
More recently, the new UAE Labour Law passed in February 2022 guides employers to provide concrete measures for improved employee wellbeing. Corporate leaders and HR managers are stepping up in creative ways to ensure a sense of security and comfort for employees.
A Group HR Manager in a Professional Services company said that he reviewed all the notes regarding existing employees and benchmarked them on the company’s competitors. It is one effective way to track information and spot recruitment and attrition trends. The company is doing more for health security. “We offer free eye tests and three sessions of general health checks per year to our employees before rolling it out as an addition to the company-provided health insurance,” he said.
On World Mental Health Day in October 2022, the Ministry of Community Development released the ‘Positive Mental Health Guide in Workplace’, which is in line with the region’s National Wellbeing Strategy 2031. Optimizing technology for improved health, UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention is supporting the Healing Clouds project, a Metaverse-enabled mental health support system for workplaces.
It is, perhaps, due to these sustained efforts that employees believe that their employers are indeed looking out for them. Almost half (49%) of UAE employees strongly agreed that their company cared about their overall wellbeing, in the Key Workplace Trends in the UAE released in 2022 by Gallup. This positive sentiment is an 18-percentage point increase over the figures in 2019.
The main challenge for employers is to attract and retain the best talent in the region. In a candidate-driven market, this is a tough ask but recruiters rise up to the challenge by using a combination of research and implementation of welfare programmes.
Some companies are assigning wellbeing coaches and organizing seminars on mental health management. Employee assistance programmes (typically provided by an external specialist company) that offer professional counselling, stress management and support services are a great way of showing the employers’ commitment to employee wellbeing.
Policies and programmes are great but the commitment to employee mental health has to be embedded in organizational culture. A top-down approach to awareness works, where leadership teams are trained to manage stressed employees. Employees should feel that it is okay to not be okay, and that they are heard and understood.
Empathy often emerges in social settings where teams feel valued. An HRBP from the retail industry said, “We host team building exercises like team sports days, team puzzles, obstacle courses and a National Food Day when each employee brings a homemade dish representing his/her culture. I arrange lunch-hour meditation classes for employees.” An easy working culture comes through in the day-to-day by encouraging diverse ways of conducting meetings, such as ‘walk and talk’ meetings and offsite meetings.
Physical health is a more tangible goal compared to mental health. Companies can invest in ergonomic equipment like chairs and rising desks to ensure occupational health and safety for employees.
The HRM at Michael Page says, “We offer group fitness sessions and also encourage employees to participate in sporting events like the Dubai Fitness challenge and the Dubai Marathon that takes place in February.” To raise awareness and support , Michael Page employees can take half a day off in October (World Mental Health Day is October 10) to unwind and relax or indulge in activities they find comforting.
While the package and the perks are important, why employees leave a company is often a complex mix of factors, which could include stress levels, incompatibility with managers, or a non-alignment of their work goals with the company’s goals. Leadership teams can reduce employee stress by creating an open and empathetic work environment.
Employee wellbeing has emerged as a deal breaker for aware candidates who aim to lead cantered lives. Employers cannot ignore this real and urgent demand from top talent. The only way forward is to take proactive measures to protect workers’ mental and physical health.
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