Abstract
A survey was conducted by Zayed University students about work-life balance amongst Emirati men and women. In the survey, work balance was defined as achieving equilibrium between work and home. The survey focused on Emirati individuals.
Background Information
Are you Emirati?
Respondents were screened as Emirati. Among all the 42 respondents who participated in the interviews, 100% were Emiratis.
Gender
Both men and women in the survey formed 50% respectively.
Age
Further analysis of the age categories indicated that those aged below 25 years of age formed 11.9%. 25-30 year category formed 54.8%. Those aged 31-34 were 21.4%. 35-40 categories formed by 11.9%. The highest numbers of respondents were mid-age in the late twenties forming 55%. A general observation indicated that the Emirati community comprised of mainly young men and women below 40 years.
Type of organization
The Emirati community worked mainly in the public sector forming a significant number of 93%. Those in the private sector formed 7% which was a minimal number as compared to the public sector.
Number of Years Working
Emiratis had been working for mainly 6-10 years in the public sector. This category formed 52%. A few of them had worked for 0-5 years, a category that formed 28%. The least of them who had worked longest between 11-15 years formed 19%.
Marital status
Among those interviewed, 81% were married. 9.5% were either single or divorced. It can be deduced from the findings that a substantial number of Emiratis valued family values and that is why they stuck to their marriages.
Do you have children?
Most interviewees have had children, a proportion that formed 79%. Only 21% did not have children. Among those who had children, 33% had two children, 23% had three children while 11.9% either had four children or had no child.
Emirati Men and Women
Using a Likert scale where 1-3 meant extremely important, 4 meant important and 5-7 meant not extremely important, they were asked to rate how important work was to them. 83% felt that work was extremely important. 17% felt it was moderately important.
The same rating was applied to the family, and 100% felt it was extremely important. Their opinion on how important maintaining work-life balance was to them and 38% felt it was not extremely important. 35% felt it was moderately important while 26% felt it was extremely important.
Organizational Policies
The respondents were asked to describe their workplace environment. A statement was put to them that “my workplace has policies which attempt to produce a healthy work-life balance” and they were to rate it on a scale of 1-7 using the Likert scale. From their opinions, 41% extremely agreed with the statement, while 59% extremely did not agree.
A similar statement was put to them that “Emirati men and women utilized work-life policies equally in my workplace”, and 5% strongly agreed with the statement, 33% were moderate in opinion while 62% did not extremely agree.
Recommendations
On a scale of 1-5, they were asked to rate work-life balance strategies applied at the workplace, and 57% extremely agreed while 43% did not extremely agree they were present. One of the strategies tested was flexible time at the workplace, and 79% extremely agreed that it was necessary while 21% felt contrary. A similar statement was put to them about maternity leave, and 67% were extremely in agreement. 33% were not in extreme agreement. Another strategy put to them was part-time at the workplace, and 26% were in extreme agreement while 74% did not extremely agree.
Furthermore, the amount of work at the place was rated and 14% extremely agreed that it was necessary to apply it at the workplace. 26% were in moderate agreement while 60% did not extremely agree. Finally, they rated whether workplace child care should be applied and 79% extremely agreed, 11% were not in extreme agreement while 10% were moderate about the issue.