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UAE employees see rise in productivity with flexible work options

Citrix, the cloud computing company that enables mobile work-styles, today revealed findings of its research into the adoption and attitude towards mobile work-styles in the UAE.

The survey, conducted by YouGov ahead of this year’s GITEX Technology Week, highlighted that 78 percent of UAE employees would feel less stressed and more productive if they were given freedom and trust from organisations to work flexibly from outside the office.

In contrast, only 23 percent of companies surveyed actually encourage and enable employees to work from anywhere, using any device of choice. Moreover, 36 percent of organisations believe that employees may become less productive when outside an office environment, whilst 33 percent believe that a lack of security controls for devices prevents them adopting mobility solutions.

The survey also revealed that 17 percent of organisations do not currently enable employees to work outside of the office or use any personal devices, while a further 9 percent only allow it in special circumstances.

The findings reflect the increasing need for businesses to adopt mobility solutions to transform the way people do business. As organisations seek to recruit and empower skilled workers, flexible work strategies provide a more attractive experience in which people can choose the ideal time and place for their work. By enabling full productivity beyond the constraints of physical desks, offices and traditional work hours, organisations can increase productivity by empowering employees to work smarter, wherever they may be and attract and retain the best talent.

“Companies are waking up to the realisation that it’s less about a nine-to-five mentality, and more about working smarter, while also balancing out the pressures of a home life. However, as this research shows, there is still progress to be made,” said Johnny Karam, Regional Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Citrix. “Quite simply, by embracing mobility solutions, organisations can improve productivity, talent recruitment and employee retention.”

“This year, in the UAE specifically, employees can see the benefits of working from anywhere, and are keen to be able to build a work/life balance that suits them – as these results show. In some ways this is further emphasised by the emergence of “Generation Y” into the workforce, which has the desire and expectation for greater flexibility on where, when and how work gets done.” added Karam.

Citrix enterprise mobility solutions empower employees to work, meet and collaborate anywhere inside or outside the organisation, on any of the latest devices, as easily as they would in their own office simply and securely.