The UAE is the world’s second hardest working country, according to a report by communications agency duke+mir. Residents in the Emirates work an average 50.9 hours per week, but they also have fun, with 97% going out for entertainment every month. The study, which included a poll of more than 1,000 residents, also found that seven in 10 people in the UAE dine out every single week.

The duke+mir study included a commissioned survey of UAE residents and global statistics from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO data showed that the UAE was only behind Bhutan for average hours worked per week. Lesotho, Congo and Qatar completed the top five.

Mir Murtaza Khurshid, Partner at duke+mir discussed the report’s findings, “This study highlights that the UAE is proudly one of the most hard-working countries in the world. Emirati nationals and expatriate workers are contributing to the UAE’s rapid growth and success, but also finding time to have fun and enjoy themselves. With some of the world’s most exciting entertainment options, it’s clear that the UAE is the global capital of ‘work-hard, play-hard’ culture.”

In line with the UAE’s vision for a healthy nation, the research also found encouraging participation in sports, with two-thirds (66%) of people playing sport every week, with that figure rising to 75% among young adults (18-24 years old).

In addition, the poll found that every week 37% of UAE residents go out to watch live sports, 24% go to the cinema and 23% go to a live performance (such as a concert, gig or theatre event).

The report also covers at-home activities. Every week, more than eight in 10 people (83%) watch movies and nearly seven in 10 (68%) tune in to live sports from the comfort of their home. The data also uncovered that much of that viewing comes from subscriptions – 81% of UAE residents have one or more paid subscriptions. However, nearly a third of people in the UAE have subscriptions that they rarely use and would like to cancel, potentially equating to millions of dirhams in dormant accounts.

The UAE Cabinet has approved an innovative system that allows employees in the private sector and free zones to invest their end-of-service benefits, and it’s optional for employers to participate.

Under this system, a savings and investment fund will be established, overseen by the Securities and Commodities Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation. Employees will have the opportunity to invest their end-of-service benefits in the fund, with multiple investment options available.

The announcement was made during a Cabinet meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The primary objective is to safeguard workers’ savings while providing stability to their families and ensuring their rights. This scheme is open not only to private sector employees but also to government employees.

The Process:

Employers can choose to enroll their workers in this system and make monthly contributions. The system offers three investment options, including a risk-free capital guarantee, various risk levels for traditional investments, and Sharia-compliant investments. Upon the termination of the employment relationship, employees will receive their end-of-service benefits and returns.

Over time, this scheme is expected to cost employers less than the traditional system and will help in retaining talent by offering more attractive terms for employees. Many experts have highlighted the dependence of UAE residents on their gratuity as a retirement fund. In a recent survey, 82% of workers expressed openness to having their gratuity invested on their behalf. Dubai had previously introduced a similar scheme for expatriates working in government departments in 2022, offering various savings opportunities and boosting their benefits and savings.

As the sun sets around a building housing the corporate home of Fun Asia Network (FAN) in Dubai’s Media City, for a bunch of people with the female gender prominent, Friday evening is actually a new dawn for them in a sense. Huddled together at the orientation ceremony of a radio jockey course at the ground floor of the Zee Tower, hopes of the aspirants are soaring in anticipation to a new beginning.

An initiative of the UAE institute of EMDI with FAN, who have four radio channels and are offering a two-month paid internship, “participants will learn not just about how to be a radio jockey, but also other aspects about radio programming,” according to the FAN business head Sunny Ahuja.

For some ‘students’, the six-month course to be held on weekends will allow many adults to re-write their destiny. There is Nidhi Vohra, for whom destiny willed to be the last enrolment for the course even though it was always her dream. “I wanted to be a radio jockey and follow my passion for music, but my parents said, choose a ‘proper career’ because this was not something you did normally back then,” she says.

“So I did law and became a lawyer. Then I got married, but stayed as a homemaker, discharging my duties as a mother to my two kids. I heard about the course on radio while on a school run, but did not muster much courage. Then a few weeks later, a friend who knows me closely and my dream heard about it and pushed me. Even now, I have taken the course fee as a loan from my husband, not sure how it will work out … but here I am as the last person to join!”

The trepidations about financials and doing something different from routine is a common under-current. Many turned out to be teachers who want to practice after preaching lessons on building self-confidence in the path to discover oneself.

Yet, there is someone, who is trying to re-ignite her passion. Ukraine’s Polina Dikanskaya is in the UAE for eight years and working in real estate. “I was a radio jockey when I was young and back in Ukraine. But, I left it and changed many fields, including the backend office at a real estate developer. My radio experience in Ukraine was in the Russian language. This course is to fulfill my expectations so that I don’t have any regret.”

Drishti Goyal, a mother of two, is also rekindling her passion. She appeared on the Indian singing talent show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 2008, but married life can go many ways for females. Now she is a Reiki healer. “When I joined the course, it was to be an RJ. But today, I realised there is a bigger picture (on being told that there will be other aspects of radio programming as part of the course curriculum)… And I believe every voice you utter, has the power to heal.”

With instructors from EMDI and a platform such as FAN, owned by US-based Indian Sam Thakkar, the power of healing for many RJ aspirants has begun. By the end of the year, some lives will take a new turn. A male participant, also a teacher, summed it aptly through an old Hindi song: ‘Ruk jaana nahin tu kabhi haarke .. kaanto pe chalke milenge saaye bahaar ke’ (Don’t you stop feeling lost, only after walking on thorns will you find the comfort of blooming flowers).