Covid-19 may have accelerated the pace of uptake, but remote and flexible working in the Middle East is now here to stay.
According to one of the Gulf region's most popular job websites, Bayt.com, 90% of Middle East and North African (MENA) professionals expect remote working to keep on increasing, and 74% prefer jobs that give them this option.
While the growth of flexible working was instigated by the need to keep businesses running during the pandemic, organisations have now truly embraced the concept of hybrid working —where employees are split between working remotely and in an office — and made it a critical part of their technology landscape.
In fact, when IDC conducted their COVID-19 impact survey on the ICT market earlier this year, 65% of respondents confirmed that investments in collaborative applications over the following 12-18 months would be a critical part of their 'future of work' strategy.
"I think what organisations have been through in 2020 has been unprecedented and I applaud organisations who've been able to radically reform their businesses," said Varun Kukreja, senior program manager, security, IDC Middle East, Turkey and Africa. "We've seen some businesses chart a course to digital-only, and the pandemic has pushed many organisations towards adopting cloud in their business processes and helped enable a hybrid workforce for better productivity."