UAE. Job pressures and financial worries weigh on the minds of UAE-based employees more than their counterparts around the world, according to Towers Watson’s Global Workforce Study (GWS) - a biennial survey of employee attitudes and workplace trends.

The study shows that 42% of employees feel excessive pressure from their job, with 56% also being concerned about their future finances.  In addition, only 30% of employees feel their employers support policies that promote employee health and well-being - 12% less than the global average.

Billy Turriff, business leader for Data, Surveys and Technology, at Towers Watson Middle East: “Such low scores could ultimately result in poor productivity among employees and is likely to negatively impact the financial performance of organisations in the UAE.”

The research, which includes employees’ opinions across a range of topics including reward, communication, leadership and career development, found that leadership was the top driver of employee engagement both globally and locally in the UAE.  However, employees in the UAE are more critical of their senior management compared to their global counterparts.

The lack of confidence in company leaders spans both business performance and interest in employees themselves. The research shows that only 42% of employees claim to have confidence in the job being done by their senior management and just 35% believe senior management have a sincere interest in employee well-being. Both results are below the global scores of 48% and 45% respectively.

The research highlights that company loyalty in the UAE is low, with almost half of employees anticipating a job move within the next two years and only 35% claiming to be satisfied with their employer at the present time, compared to a global average of 48%.

Billy Turriff said: “Given the insights into employee well-being and leadership, it is not surprising the number of employees that are considering changing employers. Overall the research paints a worrying picture of low employee well-being and engagement levels within the UAE. As a result many organisations will be operating with disillusioned workforces that are not realising their full potential.  It is vital that these organisations recognise this as a serious threat to their business performance and develop appropriate strategies, policies and programs to re-energise, engage and retain employees.”

About the Study:
The Towers Watson Global Workforce Study covers over 32,000 employees selected from research panels that represent the populations of full-time employees working in large and mid-size organisations across a range of industries in 29 markets around the world.  It was fielded by a third-party vendor via an online-questionnaire between February and May 2012. 

The study is designed to help companies better understand their diverse employee segments and the factors that influence employee performance on the job by gauging changing attitudes that affect attraction, retention, engagement and productivity.

About Towers Watson
Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) is a leading global professional services company that helps organizations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management. The company offers solutions in the areas of employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management.

Towers Watson has 14,000 associates around the world and is located on the web at www.towerswatson.com.

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