GCC staff motivation 'still high' amid downturn - study

Some 64 percent of UAE professionals are still motivated at work despite the negative impact the global recession has had on the region’s workplaces, a new study has found.

Across the Middle East the majority of employees are still enthusiastic about their work despite losing their colleagues to redundancy, according to research by YouGov for the jobs website Bayt.com.

In Saudi Arabia, the percentage of motivated workers dropped to 57 percent, while in Kuwait it was 61 percent and in Qatar 64 percent. Regionally, an average of 63 percent of workers said they were motivated.

Workers in Lebanon and Tunisia were found to be the most focused, with 72 percent of respondents in each country saying they were motivated in the work they did.

“When it comes down to the factors that make employees content and motivated, or the factors that make them distressed and de-motivated, more often than not it is the basic, straightforward elements such as being able to achieve a good work-life balance that matter,” said Amer Zureikat, regional manager, Bayt.com.

According to the study 73 percent of people thought that a good work-life balance was important for their motivation at work. Other drivers of motivation were career growth (36 percent) and company reputation (33 percent). Only five percent of employees said pay was the most important factor.

“It is extremely beneficial for organisations to focus on improving and maintaining motivation, as it is highly valued by employees, does not have direct costs attached to it and has a positive impact on productivity and returns,” says Joanna Longworth, chief marketing officer, YouGov.

Levels of stress at work were found to be high among the region’s employees, with 19 percent of respondents saying they were under severe stress, while 66 percent they felt some form of stress.

Countries with the most stressed employees were Jordan and Egypt, where 90 percent and 88 percent of employees respectively said they were suffering from stress at work. In the Gulf, workers in the UAE and Bahrain were the most stressed, with 87 percent in each country saying they were under pressure.

The survey questioned 13,376 workers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Pakistan between August 3 and 17.

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