Revealed: Top 3 things that motivate UAE residents

With a big expat population in the UAE, most assume that for a majority of residents in the country money is their number one priority, and every increment that comes their way motivates them to work harder and attain new goals.

Yes, many of us here, perhaps on a limited period of contract, try and want to earn and save as much money as possible before moving on to another country or returning home, where tax and higher costs of living may mean more expenditure and less money in the bank at the end of the month.

A new survey by Oxford Strategic Consulting (OSC) dispels this myth.

According to its findings, factors like family life, finances, religion and beliefs are far more important and these are the things that motivate GCC nationals and residents alike.

This close similarity in responses not only shows important motivating factors, but also challenges another often-heard employer stereotype - that GCC nationals and expats possess very different sets of motivations and expectations when it comes to juggling the work-life balance.

The findings show that 57 per cent of expats and 41 per cent of nationals believe family as the most motivating factor.

This is followed by finances (27 per cent for both categories of people) and 25 per cent say striving to achieve is something that motivates them.

Status and materialism comes really down the list with respondents only in single digits describing these as motivating factors.

Only 2 per cent of those surveyed said these are motivating factors to them, along with an easy life, that too came down the list.

Helping society also ranks low in the list.

Getting recognition from others also doesn’t seem to be a motivating factor for most of the residents.

“The importance of family to both nationals and expats reflects the fact that most expats in the GCC are from similar ‘collective cultures of South East Asia and the other Arab countries – this supports our view that models of leadership and human resources coming from Western ‘individualistic’ societies may become less and less useful in the new world economy,” reads the survey.

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