“Marketing is a contest for people’s attention”, says Seth Godin. In this context, Dubai has captured the world’s attention once again by leading the way towards a buoyant post-Covid economy.
An executive at work with the iconic Dubai skyline as a backdrop or getting meetings done basking in the hues of a glorious sunset are not just frames from an ad. Dubai walks the talk on making it a reality for people from around the world.
Understanding the massive shift towards working from home, the UAE has announced new remote work visas and multiple-entry tourist visas to make this a possibility for expat professionals, investors and families.
It won’t be too brash to say that before the Coronavirus pandemic gripped the world, working from home was not every organisation’s cup of Gahwa (do excuse the pun). While some companies offered the option of working remotely to their employees, many employers never took the leap as it was considered to be unproductive. Cut to COVID-19, when working from home was the only solution available to keep the show running, organisations including the ones that were never open to the concept had to adopt the remote working model.
PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) recent survey into attitudes about remote work indicates that the success of remote work has reimagined how corporate work gets done, as well as where the work takes place.
PwC’s US Remote Work Survey revealed that ‘Remote work has been an overwhelming success for both employees and employers. The shift in positive attitudes towards remote work is evident: 83 percent of employers now say the shift to remote work has been successful for their company.
‘Over half of employees (55 percent) would prefer to be remote at least three days a week even when pandemic concerns recede’.
Several prominent companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Siemens, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify have all announced an extension on remote-work plans, and in some cases, there are talks of it becoming a permanent way of work. That is right, some companies with the world’s best offices to work in are considering asking their staff to work from home permanently simply because it works.
Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey conducted by Workplace Evolutionaries (WE) revealed ‘80 percent people are able to focus for extended periods when working from home. 70 percent of leaders say that WFH (work from home) is the same or better for their team’s work performance, on average’.
Working from home also has an environmental advantage in the form of reduced pollution and traffic congestion caused by the commute to and from work. In big cities facing serious pollution-related issues, this is an opportunity to save the environment.
The UAE was quick to understand the seismic shift towards the remote-work culture and opened the country to people looking to work in a cosmopolitan location abundant with the sun, sand, beach, shopping, and no income tax. The country is also setting up for Expo visitors who may decide to stay and call Dubai home.
Research by Zillow, a leading real estate and rental marketplace headquartered in Seattle, shares ‘if given the flexibility to work from home when they want, nearly one-third of respondents say they would consider moving to live in a home with dedicated office space (31 percent), to live in a larger home (30 percent), and to live in a home with more rooms (29 percent)’.
Working from home occasionally pre-pandemic vs full-time during COVID-19 has changed housing requirements for executives especially for families where both spouses are working and with children having online classes. Working from home during the pandemic has contributed many interesting stories of creative clearing of clutter to achieve a half decent background, keeping a toddler calm, or ‘Dante’ off the keyboard during video calls.
More people now are looking for homes that are conducive to working and learning from home. Companies are open to the idea of reducing the cost of retaining a physical office space and encouraging staff to work from a location like Dubai that offers ease in doing business, a good lifestyle, healthcare, education, and more. For this, retrofitted homes in the UAE is the trend to stay for employees who choose sun-kissed serotonin over offices with pool tables and cozy sleeping nooks. And you can surely Trust the UAE to be the resonating flagbearer for the concept – even post pandemic.
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