The vast majority of respondents (87.7%) across the Middle East said that they are loyal to their current employers, according to the latest online poll series conducted by the Middle East’s number one job site Bayt.com. The results of the ‘Employee Motivation at the ME workplace’ showed that66.4% of respondents are very loyal to their current employers,21.3% are quite loyal,6.5% are not very loyal and5.8% are not loyal at all.
When asked what their number one loyalty motivation was,27.9% of respondents said salary,18.7% said available growth opportunities,16.5% said relationships with their boss/management/colleagues,14.2% said the nature of the job,7.2% said training and development schemes,6.9% said the company’s position in the market,5.9% said corporate culture, and2.6% indicated that reasons other of the above are keeping them motivated.
Participants in the poll were asked how important transparent communication channels are to their loyalty motivation levels;73.7% said very important,19.2% said important to a certain extent,2.7% said not too important,4.5% said not important at all. The respondents were then asked how transparent the communication channels are in their companies. About half (50.5%) stated they are not transparent as employees are not kept in the loop of any corporate happenings or developments while49.5% stated they are transparent to varying extents.
“Bayt.com was recently voted as one of the UAE’s Top employers to work for first and foremost because it constantly promotes and supports a culture of transparency and that is something that employers in the region need to look closely at. Respondents for the majority agree that transparency is very important however not really very well practiced in the region. Luckily the region is seeing an increase in efforts to gain more transparency such as the UN’s Pearl Initiative", said Amer Zureikat, VP Sales, Bayt.com.
When asked if respondents would consider leaving their current job, only5.8% said no. More than half (64.2%) said they are actively searching and30% said they would for a better salary but are however not searching at the moment. When asked as to what would most boost their job loyalty,28.3% said a salary increase,25.8% said more promising career growth opportunities ,20.2% said a better life-work balance,13.5% said more room for recognition appreciation ,6.7% more compelling training/development,3.1% said clear corporate communications channels, , and2.4% said more group activities outside the work place.
“With such a large number of ME Professionals emphasizing on the importance of work life balance, the time for employers to stand up and take notice has come. Western countries have long been trying to promote a better work- life integration and it seems that the MENA’s work driven societies are all starting to feel the need for it as well”, added Zureikat.
Finally when asked what they were currently most loyal to,20.1% of respondents said the overall company brand/values/vision,10.3% said their immediate boss,8.3 % said their colleagues,7.3% their clients,3.9% said their subordinates,2.2% said the senior management team,36.1% said all of the above and11.8% none of the above. Moreover, when asked how motivated they were at their current job,33.3% of respondents answered very motivated,25.3% motivated to a certain extent,21.1% not very motivated and20.3% said not at all motivated.
Data for the ‘Employee Motivation at the ME workplace poll’ series was collected online between December1,2010 and January7,2011, with a total of10,929 respondents from across the Middle East. This and other Middle East research, as well as information on Bayt.com’s classifieds, are available online on www.bayt.com.