Kuwait City, Kuwait,29 January2018: Nowadays, what makes a company or an organization an ideal place to work for in Kuwait depends on many different elements that may extend beyond salary and benefits. Bayt.com, the region’s leading job site, explored this topic and just released its latest report entitled “The Ideal Workplace in the Middle East and North Africa” in partnership with global online market research company, YouGov. According to this report,79% of employees in Kuwait say it is important that their work challenges them. Being challenged at work has ranked the top job attributes that Kuwaiti professionals want to have. What Matters Most to Kuwaiti Professionals In addition to seeking a challenging work environment, respondents in Kuwaiti believe that advanced technology in the workplace is of great importance, according to78% of respondents. While only36% of workplaces reportedly utilize advanced technology, this factor is also of great importance for respondents when they look for a potential workplace. In fact,68% of job seekers saying that their potential company should use advanced technology. Work-life balance is another highly important attribute for79% of Kuwaiti employees. Other elements that were considered important in a workplace include innovation and creativity (77% of employees say it is important), transparent communication (76% of employees say it is important), and fair evaluation (76% of employees say it is important). Besides attractiveness, retention is an element that many organizations strive to master. When asked about factors that mostly drive loyalty, the top responses were ‘opportunity for long term career advancement’ (according to40% of Kuwaiti respondents), and ‘training and development opportunities’ (according to35% of Kuwaiti respondents). “It is essential to acknowledge what is most important to those employed in Kuwaiti, as well as what they look for in potential workplaces. By understanding this, organizations can work towards boosting their attractiveness, retention, and even reputation and performance, all while meeting the needs of their employees,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com. Business values and culture In addition to workplace attraction and retention elements, respondents were asked about company culture and its impact when choosing a workplace.50% of Kuwaiti respondents said company culture is ‘one of the determining factors’ when joining a company,40% said ‘it is important but not a determining factor’, only4% said they ‘don’t pay attention to company culture’, while the remainder (6%) didn’t provide an answer. When asked about business values that make a company more attractive in Kuwait,45% cited ‘good ethics and practices’,42% said ‘friendly company culture’,18% said ‘corporate social responsibility’, and8% said ‘green consciousness / efforts’, indicating that Kuwaiti professionals are wary of the various elements that make up a company’s mission and impact on societies. Physical attributes Not only do values and cultural elements matter to the region’s professionals, physical elements have a significant role as well. In Kuwait, there seems to be a higher preference for larger companies, as64% of respondents feel that an ideal company size has more than50 employees. In regards to office layout, the opinions vary.34% of Kuwaiti professionals prefer ‘closed rooms’,18% prefer ‘open plan’,13% prefer ‘workstations’, and10% prefer ‘cubicles’, while20% have ‘no preference’ in this matter. When it came to the interior design of an office,39% of Kuwaiti respondents said that the interior design of their offices ‘reflects the company’s brand and value’.43% disagreed with this statement, while19% were unsure. That said, the majority of respondents in Kuwait (78%) said they are allowed to personalize their workplace, at least to some extent. Finding the perfect workplace In order to pick the ideal workplace, professionals in the region need to access information on all the different attributes they value. When asked how easy it is to access information about company culture and work environment, the responses varied.16% of Kuwaiti respondents said it is ‘very easy’,31% said it is ‘somewhat easy’,31% said it is ‘neither easy nor difficult’,13% said it is ‘somewhat difficult’, and5% said it is ‘very difficult’. To understand this issue further, respondents were asked about the most useful company information to which62% of Kuwaiti respondents said ‘company benefits and perks’,33% said ‘employee testimonials and reviews’,21% said ‘company events and socials’,20% said ‘awards and milestones’, and9% said ‘photos and videos of the workplace’. Masri adds: “At Bayt.com, we’ve been working with over40,000 employers and over30.5 million job seekers across the MENA region for more than18 years. As part of our endeavor to provide the tools and information to all professionals in the region, we are working on making more company information readily accessible through a new and advanced Bayt.com company profile solution. As the survey indicated, professionals find online ‘company profiles’ to be one of the most effective sources of information for job seekers and professionals, and we look forward to rolling out this tool very soon to help align expectations and increase hiring activities.” “The ideal workplace survey allows employers to understand what they need to do to meet the needs of their employees and future talent as well as what types of information they need to make available. By doing so, companies and organizations can do a much better job at securing their talent needs and making more career opportunities available region-wide,” Anjali Chhabra, Associate Research Director, YouGov. Data for the2017 Bayt.com “Ideal Workplace in the Middle East and North Africa” poll was collected online from December6 to22,2017. Results are based on a sample of4,418 respondents. Respondents come from many countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Qatar and KSA.