Page 43 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2022

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Cisco Study Reveals How Hybrid Working Has Improved UAE Employees’

Performance

Hybrid working practices in UAE companies have improved several
areas of employee performance, according to the findings of the
new Cisco Hybrid Work Report. The survey polled 1,050 employees
throughout the UAE and discovered that almost 90 percent of
those questioned want to work either in a hybrid or fully remote
model in the future. These findings are fully in line with global
sentiment with just over 91 percent of international respondents
agreeing to the same question. The findings are from the Cisco
Hybrid Work Report, an extensive study which has examined the
impact of digitization and hybrid work on performance with a
focus on productivity, quality of work, new skills and growth. It is
part of a wide-ranging survey that focused on the role of the hybrid
workplace on wellbeing and readiness across a variety of company
and individual factors such as company culture; technology; and
cybersecurity as well as financial; physical; mental well-being and
more. Reem Asaad, Vice President, Cisco Middle East and Africa,
said: “The traditional model that required employees to follow a
strict timetable set out by employers has now changed. In today’s
UAE workplace, employees are defining hybrid work and that has
resulted in benefits for both employer and employees. As the
findings of the Cisco Hybrid Work Report clearly show, employees
are far more comfortable as a hybrid workforce and companies
should take note and adapt accordingly – both from a technology
and cultural readiness perspective. After all, they will be the ones
to benefit through higher staff performance.” Those questioned
for the study said hybrid and remote working practices had a
positive impact on the quality of their work and productivity. In
all, 67 percent of those polled said the quality of their work has
improved due to the hybrid workplace model. Almost two-thirds
of respondents said their productivity levels had risen. The greater
flexibility offered by hybrid working is enabling employees to get
better at their jobs too. 68 percent replied that they saw greater
self-improvement in job knowledge and skills. Meanwhile, an
impressive 86 percent said they have been able to learn, grow and
succeed in their roles. Despite the initial challenges for businesses
and employees in the UAE and across the world when organizations
had to rapidly switch to remote working at the outbreak of the
pandemic, several digital workspace and collaboration solutions
are now in place. It is therefore unsurprising that almost 79 percent
of the employees questioned said their role can now be performed
just as successfully remotely as in the office. The Hybrid work
concept centers the work experience on the needs of the individual
employees, giving them a choice to work from home, at the office,
or elsewhere. Companies that empower their workers by giving
them not only the choice, but also the right technologies to stay
securely connected and be able to collaborate, can help to foster
inclusiveness, engagement, and a sense of well-being among
staff. Cisco’s philosophy is that work is “what up do” not “where
you go”. As a result, it has implemented many practices aimed at
supporting the company’s own employees to work remotely. This
provides Cisco with extensive experience in deploying its extensive
range of networking, security and collaboration solutions and
workplace strategies to help other organizations to fully realize the
potential of remote and hybrid working.

43 JULY-AUGUST 2022