Dubai: As the UAE adapts to the inrush of Expo 2020 and the workforce continues to make their way back to the office after a prolonged work-from-home experience, concerns about how noise rage will ultimately affect their productivity, especially after being used to isolated and quiet environments are now emerging.
A new survey conducted by Poly that outlines the evolution of the workplace and changing employee attitudes to the 9-5 has exposed a trove of worrying issues that will ultimately impact the UAE workforce output as local and international businesses and organizations try to accommodate the relatively new work model.
The Report
The Poly ‘Evolution of the Workplace’ report provides analysis on the findings of a survey of 7,261 hybrid workers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Poland and the UAE.
The report shows that 37.2 percent of UAE employees are more concerned about noisy phone calls and meetings while 31.60 are worried about their noisy colleagues.
Thirty-six percent of the employees polled across the UAE also indicated that they will most likely get fed up if their noisy colleagues break their concentration with those in the healthcare sector at 53 percent expressing their concerns.
Women vs Men
The report cites that female employees are likely to be more affected at 41.68 percent compared to their male counterparts at 34.76 percent while 50 percent of employees aged over 55 years are more worried about noisy colleagues.
Thirty-nine percent are, however, hopeful that people will be more aware of the noise they make in the office while 37 percent of men compared to 34 percent of women admitted that they will be more prone to office outbursts and their inability to mute themselves or even turn off their cameras when they are with other colleagues.
More men at 37 percent also raised their concern that noise levels in the office will most likely make them less productive compared to 34 percent of women while 34.15 percent of men compared to 32.56 percent of women also said that they will be fed up if noisy colleagues interrupt their concentration.
Gen Z
On the flip side, only 27 percent are looking forward to returning to the office because they find their homes too noisy to get any meaningful work done with 31.25 percent of workers aged between 16 and 24 also feeling the same way about returning to the office. 34.38 percent of Gen Z workers also admitted that they’ll be more prone to outbursts in the office.
Based on the report, technology, culture, and technology are now the key ingredients in the recipe for a successful hybrid model.
