DUBAI // Barely one in three workers feels their employer helps them achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Of 1,000 people surveyed, just 27 per cent felt their employer offered initiatives that encouraged them to live a healthier lifestyle.
And only 37 per cent felt the company helped them to find a healthy work-life balance.
Both figures are well below the global averages of 35 and 45 per cent respectively.
Only a quarter (23pc) of respondents said employers rewarded them for living a healthy lifestyle, compared with a third globally.
Those surveyed included 87 Emiratis, 195 Arab expatriates, 498 Asian expatriates and 166 westerners, across a range of mid to large-scale companies.
It was the first time research has been conducted in the UAE for the regular worldwide survey, carried out by the recruitment consultancy Towers Watson.
It found employees would like more initiatives to help them be healthier in and out of work, such as corporate rates for gym membership.
"Perhaps because of the global economic climate, people are being asked to do more," said Billy Turriff, head of data, surveys and technology at Towers Watson. "However, the overall stress levels in the UAE are lower than the global average."
Fewer than a third (30pc) said their employer offered healthy snacks in the workplace cafeteria, compared with 42 per cent globally.
Mark Carroll, the founder of Kcal Healthy Fast Food in Dubai, a cafe and catering company, said: "We are finding larger, multinational organisations taking the initiative to promote healthy eating in the workplace."
His business counts the oil company Shell among its clients.
"These are the companies that see the importance of healthy eating and have witnessed the effects and benefits of healthy eating in the workplace," Mr Carroll said.
"A reduction in absenteeism, improved productivity and a boost in energy levels are a few of them."
Such factors not only save money from loss of earnings but enhance employee performance and lifestyle, he said.
"It would be nice to see smaller companies take this vital subject more seriously."
Mr Carroll agreed the situation in the UAE was improving, despite cost-cutting measures during the recession, when few companies made the link between preventative treatment for staff, such as annual health checks, and money lost through sick leave.
In the UK, for example, many companies give out the flu jab to reduce sick leave.
"A lot of the UAE initiatives are in their infancy, where in other countries they have been going on for much longer," said Mr Turriff.
"There's a lot more going on here now but it's more the top employers than something common across all organisations."
Guillaume Mariole has been part of corporate health initiatives in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for seven years.
The head of Ignite Fitness, he has worked with the likes of Dubai Holding and Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development. He said convincing companies to invest in such initiatives has not been easy.
"It has been a challenge making organisations understand the overall benefits of a corporate wellness programme," he said.
"What they don't realise is that if it is the bottom line they are most concerned about, this is one of the components that a corporate wellness programme addresses ... [it is] proven worldwide to increase productivity, reduce sick days and increase camaraderie."
While more action is being taken by companies, it lacks momentum. "There have been attempts by companies to put things in place, however there is little follow up," Mr Mariole said.
"A wellness initiative cannot have a 'band aid' approach, a one-time fix.
"To ensure the success of a wellness programme and the acceptance and contribution by staff, they must be rewarded and acknowledged when they reach personal and company milestones that have been put in place."
