Employees across the UAE and wider GCC are placing greater value on health benefits, wellbeing, flexible work and paid leave than traditional office perks, a new study by workplace research firm NAVO has found.
The findings point to a shift in employee expectations across the region. Workers appear to be giving more weight to benefits that support their health, financial security and work-life balance.
Health benefits lead employee priorities
Health benefits emerged as the most frequently mentioned workplace benefit in the study, with 124 references.
These included medical insurance, private healthcare and employer-funded healthcare.
Wellbeing ranked close behind, with 122 mentions. Meanwhile, flexibility and remote working recorded 111 mentions.
When mental health benefits were included within the wider wellbeing category, the theme accounted for 179 mentions. This made it the strongest overall priority identified by the research.
The findings suggest that employees are increasingly looking beyond office-based perks. Instead, they are focusing on benefits that can have a direct impact on their daily lives.
Paid leave and financial benefits also gain attention
Paid leave was the fourth most-discussed benefit, with 101 mentions.
The category covered annual, parental and sick leave. Financial and retirement benefits followed with 90 mentions.
Professional development recorded 75 mentions, highlighting continued interest in career growth alongside health and financial security.
Together, the findings show a wider change in how employees assess workplace benefits. Practical support appears to matter more than perks designed mainly to make the office more attractive.
Employees highlight workplace comfort
The study also found a gap between the benefits employers promote and the issues employees discuss themselves.
For example, employees accounted for more than 80% of discussions around standing desks and ergonomic workstations. They generated 45 of the 56 mentions recorded for the category.
Employees also frequently discussed generic desks and chairs. This suggests that workplace comfort remains an important part of the employee experience, even when it does not appear as a formal benefit.
By contrast, free food and snacks generated only six mentions, making them the least-discussed benefit in the study.
Fewer mentions do not mean lower value
NAVO cautioned against interpreting low mention counts as evidence that employees do not value a particular benefit.
Healthcare and paid leave may, for instance, have become basic expectations for many employees. As a result, workers may not discuss them as often as newer or more distinctive workplace offerings.
The research analysed more than 3,000 employer and employee sources.
These included 2,000 job advertisements, careers pages and LinkedIn posts, as well as more than 1,000 employee reviews and workplace discussions on Glassdoor, Indeed, Reddit, Blind and Fishbowl.
After removing duplicate and generic references, NAVO identified 1,121 specific mentions of workplace benefits.
UAE and GCC employers face changing expectations
The study included 320 employer sources from the UAE and wider GCC.
However, NAVO said the findings should be viewed as broader workplace trends rather than conclusions about individual Gulf markets.
The results nevertheless reflect a wider change in employee expectations across the UAE and GCC.
Flexible working, financial wellbeing and stronger health support have become increasingly important themes in workplace discussions. Therefore, employers may need to review whether their benefits packages reflect what employees now value most.
For employers, the shift could mean moving beyond office perks and investing more in healthcare, flexibility, paid leave, financial security and sustainable ways of working.
As employee expectations continue to evolve, benefits may increasingly become a tool for attracting and retaining talent rather than simply making the workplace more appealing.
