The latest ‘Health and Lifestyle in the Middle East and North Africa’ poll, conducted by Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leading career site, has revealed that96% of polled respondents in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region believe it is the employer’s responsibility to support and promote employees’ health and wellness. Subsequently,87.1% of respondents claimed they will more likely exercise if their company offers a gym subscription. Only2.3% of respondents claimed otherwise.
Exercising and physical activities
The majority of MENA professionals take time to exercise throughout the week, with29.1% of them engaging in more than30 minutes of exercise three or four times a week.18.5% of respondents said they exercise once or twice in a week. Walking/running emerged as the exercise of choice for29.7% of respondents, followed by intramural sports (17.8%), swimming (15.5%) and lifting weights (14.6%).13.3% of the respondents confessed of not engaging in any exercises at all.
Only3 in10 respondents (30.2%) said that their companies provide fitness facilities or benefits to encourage a healthy lifestyle, while60% claimed the opposite.1 out of every10 respondents said they were not sure about the health benefits offered at their company.
Diet and eating habits
When asked about the overall healthiness of their diet,6 out of10 respondents agree that their diet is healthy, with17.5% claiming it is ‘very healthy’ and43.1% said it is ‘somewhat healthy’. Conversely,26.8% of respondents believe their diet is ‘not too healthy’.
Professionals generally eat more fruits and vegetables than fast food.42% of respondents said they eat vegetables and fruits on a daily basis,23.1% said they eat them ‘several times a week’, and11.5% said they eat them ‘less often’. Among the professionals who agree to eating fast food,16.7% eat out ‘every day’,14.1% ‘several times a week’ and23.8% ‘a few times a month’.
The poll showed that63.3% of the region’s respondents have improved their eating habits lately.37.7% claimed they have moved away from fast food, and23.6% claimed they have cut down on sugar and gluten.
Challenges to healthy living
The biggest challenge that professionals face when making healthy lifestyle choices is their busy schedule (30%). Other reasons cited include lack of management (15.8%), lack of motivation (15.3%) and lack of exercise facilities in or near their workplace (10.6%).
Smoking and tobacco consumption
When asked about smoking, the majority of respondents (73.2%) said they were non-smokers. Among the26.8% of the respondents who smoke,16.9% smoke less at work.
Sleeping schedule
Over half (53.5%) of polled professionals believe that their work schedule allows for adequate sleep, while31.2% disagree. More than4 in10 of them (41.6%) believe that they need6 to7 hours of sleep to function best during the day;22.8% said they require7 to8 hours, and20.6% believe they need8 or more hours.
In reality,30.1% of respondents get7 to8 hours of sleep on an average workday, followed by6 to7 hours (29.7%) and less than6 hours (26.9%).10.2% of them said they get more than8 hours of sleep a day.
“This Bayt.com workforce survey, like others we routinely conduct, aims to find ways to promote better lifestyles and careers for the MENA region’s professionals. In terms of health, we can conclude that managers are perceived to set the tone for a healthy lifestyle inside and outside the workplace. When the prevailing management philosophy is based on healthy lifestyle choices, leaders within an organization can direct employees by example and guide them in making decisions that promote increased wellness and happiness” said Suhail Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com. “Work-life balance is very important to the regions’ professionals, as we have repeatedly measured in previous career polls, and a significant ingredient in achieving this balance is finding and allocating requisite time to staying healthy, in terms of physical exercise and good eating and other improved lifestyle habits.”
“While the region as a whole has seen a relative dip in consumer confidence, future expectations amongst respondents remain positive and bright,” said Suhail Masri, VP of Employer Solutions, Bayt.com. “At Bayt.com there are currently more than10,000 jobs posted on the website on any given day. This augments the tremendous amount of recruitment that takes place via the Bayt.com CV Search functionality for employers who prefer not to immediately advertise their pressing job vacancies, which recruiters can try for free on www.bayt.com/en/search-cv/. Jobseeker registration on our website is growing at over12,000 new professionals a day and continues to reflect a healthy appetite for jobs across the industrial and career spectrum. In an extra-competitive job market though, we advise professionals to enhance their visibility to employers by creating online profiles on Bayt.com and increasing their visibility on popular search engines. At Bayt.com, we always endeavor to empower the region’s job seekers and employers by providing them with the latest technology and most relevant tools and market insights related to recruitment.”
Bayt.com has been one of the regional pioneers in promoting a healthy lifestyle in its ranks and encouraging employees to achieve optimal work-life balance. Bayt.com keeps its pantries region-wide stocked at all times with fresh fruits and vegetables of the day, teams are encouraged to join reading clubs and subscribe to training courses for mental stimulation as well as intramural sports activities for physical fitness. On top of the generous allowances for gym memberships that the firm metes out to all staff, there are also tie-ups for free leading gym memberships around the region for Bayt.com employees.
“Bayt.com has repeatedly won top awards for its world-class environment which starts with our open plan offices and friendly culture and extends to all manner of special touches that recognize that happiness and health of our employees is paramount. We have really invested over the years in building an engaged, happy, loyal workforce and this has reaped huge rewards in terms of client loyalty, brand equity and successful recruitment around the region,” concluded Masri.
Data for the Bayt.com ‘Health and Lifestyle in the Middle East and North Africa’ poll was collected online from December182015 and January122016. Results are based on a sample of8,205 respondents. Countries that participated in the poll include the UAE, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.