New findings show employees in the UAE seek more than productivity, they want purpose, flexibility, and creativity from the workplace.
Gensler, the global architecture, design, and planning firm, has released its 2025 Global Workplace Survey, offering timely insight into the evolving needs of workers in the United Arab Emirates. Now in its twentieth year, the survey is one of the most comprehensive studies of the workplace to date, drawing on responses from more than 16,800 full-time office workers across 15 countries, including a deep sample from the UAE.
As the UAE continues to accelerate national priorities such as the “We the UAE 2031” vision and the National Strategy for Wellbeing, the findings offer clear guidance for organisations designing future workplaces that match the country’s ambitions in innovation, talent attraction, and sustainable urbanism.
Edith Eddy, Senior Interior Designer, Workplace, at Gensler Middle East, commented: “The UAE has become a global benchmark for ambition and adaptability. In cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, we are witnessing rapid shifts in how people live and work, and the workplace must evolve accordingly. Our research reveals a clear gap between what employees need to thrive — flexibility, creativity, and connection — and what their current spaces provide. Bridging this gap will be essential for organisations aiming to attract talent, foster innovation, and design workplaces that truly support the future of work in the Emirates.”
Three Key Findings Reshaping the Future of Work in the UAE:
First, the physical workplace is improving, but incremental change is not enough.
UAE office workers are clear: the workplace is improving, but it still isn’t keeping up with their needs. Despite post-pandemic renovations, only 31 percent of UAE employees strongly agree that their current workplace enables them to do their best work. This places the UAE in the middle tier globally for workplace satisfaction, higher than France and Japan, but behind the UK, India and the United States.
Noise, lack of room availability, and layout inefficiencies remain common challenges. Top improvement priorities include quiet spaces for focus, better meeting room acoustics, and access to informal collaboration zones.
Second, UAE workers are moving beyond traditional office formats.
Only 15 percent described their ideal workplace as a formal “business hub,” compared to 29 percent who said that described their current environment. In contrast, there is a growing desire for “creative labs” and “nature retreats”, flexible, tranquil, and purpose-driven environments that better support innovation and wellbeing. This reflects a global trend away from rigid corporate settings; in fact, the UAE ranks among the top five countries globally where employees prefer imaginative and wellness-focused spaces.
Third, the UAE office remains vital for connection, but only if it’s designed with purpose.
For UAE workers, coming into the office is about more than attendance, it’s about access to experiences that matter. The top reasons cited for in-office presence include team meetings, confidential conversations, and visibility to senior leadership. Yet only 28 percent believe their meeting spaces are equipped to support these activities effectively.
The UAE also ranks among the top countries where employees say they need the office to do their best work, with respondents indicating that ideally 67 percent of their workweek should be spent in-office, well above the global average of 60 percent. However, actual attendance remains lower, due in part to workspace limitations.
Amenities define experience, both inside and outside the workplace.
Within the office, UAE workers prioritised cafés, coworking zones, quiet rooms, libraries, and innovation hubs. Compared to the global average, UAE employees are more likely to value informal and flexible work areas, with coworking spaces and food halls ranked especially high.
In surrounding neighbourhoods, the UAE placed above the global average in preference for walkable access to coffee shops, medical centres, outdoor green spaces, and religious or spiritual facilities, highlighting a need for workplaces embedded within holistic, community-focused environments.
As the UAE strengthens its position as a global hub for commerce, talent, and urban innovation, this year’s Global Workplace Survey offers organisations a roadmap to reimagine the office, not as a fixed space, but as a dynamic platform for creativity, connection, and long-term performance.
