According to a ‘Work Satisfaction in the MENA’ poll conducted by Bayt.com, the region’s number one job site,90% of employees in the region claim to be loyal to their company. However,61% do not feel that they are well compensated in their current job.
Overall, the majority (58%) of people in the MENA region are satisfied with their current employment, with27% of these being ‘very satisfied’. Seven out of10 (71%) like the company that they work for, while eight out of10 (80%) are proud of their employer’s brand and94% say that their job is meaningful to them.
When asked if they feel challenged in their current position,83% stated yes, with a further three quarters claiming that their job stresses them either ‘occasionally’ (39%) or ‘most of the time’ (35%). Most feel that they are growing and learning in their job (although35% would like to grow more).
In terms of possibilities for promotion, a quarter (23%) say that there are ‘plenty’ of opportunities in their company, while38% state that there are none.
A third (32%) of poll respondents claim that the thing they would most like to change about their job is their salary. Other respondents would like to change their role and responsibilities (23%), or their training and development path (20%).
“There is a general level of satisfaction with their employment situation amongst the majority of people across the MENA region, though there are clearly areas in which employees wish their company would improve. These seem to be mostly incentive-based, which suggests companies looking to reduce churn should consider more training and motivation schemes for their staff,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Sales, Bayt.com. “At Bayt.com, which was twice consecutively voted among Top Ten Places To Work in the UAE by GPTW, we gather information from the region’s job seekers, employers and employees, to create a comprehensive picture of the MENA workplace environment.”
Management style plays a significant role in employee levels of satisfaction, with the majority (45%) of poll respondents stating that they are supervised ‘just right’; that their management’s expectations of them are mostly realistic (according to60%), and that the communication channels in their company are open (70% - though36% of these state that they are not open enough).
“Communicating openly, honestly and often is one of our key values at bayt.com and repeated HR surveys we conduct across the region emphasize the importance of maintaining transparent open communication channels to ensure maximum employee engagement and lift employee morale which directly affects output and productivity” added Suhail Masri. “Our emphasis on communication is manifested both internally via various structured and unstructured mechanisms as well as externally through our bayt.com Blog, Jobseeker Career Digests, Recommended Jobs mailers, Jobs alerts, and various other newsletters and bulletins.”
Only28% of polled professionals believe that their management is unprofessional. A further13% claim that their co-workers are unprofessional, though95% state that they do in fact get along with their co-workers.
Data for the Bayt.com “Work Satisfaction in the MENA” poll was collected online from September13 – October29,2012, with13,655 respondents covering more than12 countries in the MENA region.