UAE boardrooms: Embracing wellness for productivity and growth

Free gym memberships and fruit baskets belong to another era. In today’s UAE workplace the conversation about wellness has grown up. It is no longer an add-on from HR or a colourful perk to brighten up the staff pantry. Wellness has entered the boardroom. It is being discussed in the language of productivity, revenue and retention. It is shaping investment decisions and even influencing the way global talent views the UAE as a place to work and live.

Across the Emirates, companies are waking up to the reality that employee wellbeing is not soft or sentimental. It is a hard business lever that directly shapes performance and brand reputation. The pandemic may have set the stage but what we are seeing now is an evolution into something far more strategic. The UAE is turning into a laboratory where wellness is measured, monetised and mainstreamed.

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The boardroom awakening

Aakanksha Tangri, Founder and Chief Executive of Re:Set, believes the evidence is undeniable. When companies structure wellbeing programmes thoughtfully, they see up to 11% increase in revenue per employee, morale and happiness levels that double, and productivity that climbs by 12%. These are not vague mood indicators. They are business numbers that move balance sheets and quarterly reports.

Her words reflect a wider awakening. Leaders who once saw wellness as an indulgence now recognise it as an operational and reputational advantage. In the war for talent, it can mean the difference between keeping your best people or losing them to a rival across the road.

Jamil Kabbaj, who leads Mercer Marsh Benefits in the UAE, sees the same shift unfolding. He says organisations here are embedding wellness into strategy in ways that go well beyond perks. The company’s Health on Demand research reveals that employees with access to wellbeing benefits are nearly twice as likely to thrive as those with none. With 88% of UAE employers boosting their budgets the message is clear. This is no longer about handing out free yoga mats. It is about creating retention strategies that belong in the boardroom.

The economics of feeling good

When investors run the numbers, the return becomes clear. Global studies show wellness programmes can return up to four times the investment. Higher engagement means fewer absences. Lower stress means stronger output. Mercer Marsh Benefits data shows productivity gains of 25 per cent across the GCC when wellbeing is embedded, along with significant drops in absenteeism and turnover.

Tangri phrases it simply. The question is not whether employers can afford to invest in wellbeing. The question is whether they can afford not to. Poor mental health translates directly into missed deadlines, quality problems and regretted attrition. By contrast a thriving workforce means stronger client satisfaction and greater resilience.

The hidden costs of burnout

For companies that want to move from good intentions to action the challenge lies in measurement. Tangri explains that diagnostic assessments and behavioural psychology are vital because they turn the invisible into data. Instead of anecdotal whispers about stress or overload companies can use anonymous validated tools to understand the state of mental health inside their teams. These tools give employees a safe space to speak while giving leaders a clear map of the hotspots.

The benefit is simple. Interventions become targeted and effective rather than generic and forgettable. A webinar on work life balance may tick a box but it will not fix the real cause of stress if that stress is rooted in role ambiguity or stakeholder conflict. With the right diagnostics companies can act with precision. That builds trust and retention in ways no superficial perk ever could.

Kabbaj reinforces this with Mercer’s data which shows that employees who feel their employer values wellbeing are up to three times more confident about receiving support during crises. In a world where stress is a daily companion that confidence is gold. 

Technology and its limits

In a nation that prides itself on being future focused it is no surprise that technology is playing a role in wellbeing. Companies are experimenting with apps that track habits, tools that deliver AI powered counselling and platforms that gamify wellness goals. In the UAE 85% of HR leaders say they are already using or about to use AI in benefits management.

The benefits are obvious. Tech allows wellbeing support to scale. It lowers costs. It personalises the experience. But Tangri sounds a note of caution. Apps are not a silver bullet. They can complement but they cannot replace culture. True transformation happens when leaders listen, when managers lead with empathy, and when human connection is nurtured inside teams. Digital fatigue is rising, and no app notification can replace trust or psychological safety. The real differentiator will always be how leaders show up.

Culture as competitive advantage

Culture is the soil in which wellbeing either flourishes or withers. High performing teams almost always exist in environments where psychological safety and clarity are present. Wellness programmes must therefore be embedded into leadership behaviour and daily decision making rather than sitting on the margins.

Mercer Marsh Benefits found that 67% of UAE organisations still rely on generic webinars as part of their wellness strategy. This shows how far there is to go. Tailored initiatives that reflect the unique needs of employees are what truly move the needle. Without them culture becomes fragmented, and employees spot the disconnect between messaging and reality.

A war for talent that goes beyond salary

The UAE’s workforce is one of the most international and mobile in the world. Professionals here can pack up and relocate with relative ease. That reality raises the stakes for companies competing to attract and retain them. Wellness has become a litmus test of employer brand. A company that ignores it risks being written off no matter how attractive the salary package may look.

Hybrid work has sharpened this reality. As boundaries between office and home dissolve employees are choosing employers who protect their time and prioritise mental health. They are looking for flexibility, support and a sense of belonging. Tangri captures the mood. Wellness is no longer a nice extra. It is central to resilience and growth.

What investors are watching

Investors are taking note of the wellbeing revolution. Research from Oxford University’s Centre for Wellbeing Research shows every single point rise in employee happiness lifts firm value by more than three tenths of a per cent. That translates into hundreds of millions of dollars in profit for large companies.

For investors focused on the UAE the message is clear. Firms that treat their people as assets rather than costs are more innovative, more resilient and ultimately more investable. The rise of wellness technology is also catching investor attention. Startups offering AI monitoring, digital coaching or gamified health platforms are seeing demand surge as companies scramble to differentiate their benefits offering. Wellness is not only a retention strategy. It is an emerging market in its own right.

Why the timing matters

The hybrid workplace is no longer a stopgap. It is the future. Yet it brings new challenges in the form of digital fatigue, blurred boundaries and emotional strain. In this environment wellness has become not just desirable but urgent.

The UAE is uniquely positioned to lead. Its government has placed wellbeing high on the national agenda and has the policy frameworks to back it. The private sector is responding with expanded budgets and more ambitious initiatives. Together these forces are creating an ecosystem where wellness is recognised as central to national competitiveness.

A new language of business

Wellness as a corporate strategy is not a passing fashion. It is becoming part of the DNA of how businesses operate and how they measure success. The days when wellness was an HR line item are fading fast. It is now being recognised as a multiplier that affects every area of performance.

Tangri puts it succinctly. A team in survival mode cannot innovate. Thriving teams emerge only when wellbeing is built into leadership behaviour and company systems. The UAE is quickly proving itself a testbed for this thinking. The winners will not be the companies with the flashiest perks. They will be the ones that weave wellbeing into the fabric of their operations as deeply as finance or technology.

The shift feels especially powerful here because the UAE has the ambition, the government support and the talent ecosystem to put wellness at the heart of its economic vision. Across industries leaders are moving beyond token gestures and embedding wellbeing into strategy in ways that make the workplace both more human and more productive.

This is not wellness for appearance. It is wellness as infrastructure. When companies invest in health, resilience and psychological safety they are investing in the same foundations that drive growth, innovation and competitiveness. The UAE has recognised this truth earlier and more decisively than many markets. That is why it is increasingly viewed as a testbed for the future of work.

The message is clear. The future of business in the Emirates will not be measured only by the size of towers or the scale of payrolls. It will be measured by the quality of environments where people thrive, create and stay loyal. By putting wellness at the centre the UAE is not only protecting its workforce but building a sharper edge in the global race for talent. It is showing that in the modern economy the most valuable investment a company can make is in the wellbeing of its people.

Sana Eqbal

Staff Writer

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sana@khaleejtimes.com

Sana Eqbal is a journalist with over 10 years of experience and a media strategist specialising in corporate communications, public relations, digital media, and content management.