Study reveals how many GCC employees are working from home amid coronavirus spread

With the increasing number of coronavirus cases spreading throughout the region, workplaces are taking precautionary measures. At the start of the week, the UAE ordered the closure of schools until April to combat the spread.

Based on responses from 1,600 company executives, managers, and human resource professionals in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, employment portal Gulf Talent found that only 11% would not be asking their employees to work from home. The survey found that 12% of employees were already currently working remotely while 6% had just started and 12% were considering the move.

Bahrain is currently the country with the “highest rate of remote work plans” at 38%. Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, all currently have 37% of their employees working remotely. According to Gulf Talent, the 12% of companies who said they definitely will not apply remote working plans have implemented other precautionary methods including “restricting business travel, providing health advice to employees and limiting external meetings of staff with clients and suppliers.”