While most people around the world wait for the summer to enjoy the sunshine and warmer temperatures, the majority of respondents in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) see summer as the second least popular season, after autumn. In fact, when asked about their favorite season of the year, only 16.7% of respondents to the ‘Summer in the MENA Workplace’ poll, conducted by Bayt.com, answered summer, while the majority (42.6%) said winter was their season of choice.
Highlights from the poll:
• When asked about their productivity levels, 29% of respondents said that their productivity levels decrease during the summer months. On the other hand, 42.5% say that they experience an increase in productivity, while 28.6% claim that productivity remains the same, regardless of the climate.
• The summer influence job hunting. While half of the respondents claim that it is more challenging, more than a quarter (26.4%) say that the difficulty of finding a job is the same year-round, while 23.7% claim that it is much easier to find a job during the summer.
• Half of the respondents say that their work hours stay the same during the summer months, while almost a third (32.8%) tend to work longer. Just 16.5% of respondents say they leave work earlier during the summer.
• Respondents say that traffic gets worse during summer (44.4%); however, 40.5% claim that it remains the same.
• Four in 10 respondents claim that their workplace offers flexible working hours during the summer, while 23.1% say that they are sometimes given the flexible option. Just over a third (34.5%) claim that they do not have flexible working hours during the summer.
Data for the 2016 Bayt.com ‘Summer in the MENA Workplace’ poll was collected online from May 29 2016 to June 26 2016. Results are based on a sample of 7,024 respondents. Countries that participated in the poll are the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and others.
