Saturday 21 / December / 2024
MUSCAT: Nearly 58 per cent of respondents in Oman view the government as a favourable employer, with 37 per cent seeing the it as “extremely favourable” and 6 per cent saying it is “extremely unfavourable,” according to a latest survey.
According to the recent “Top Industries in the Middle East and North Africa” survey, conducted by Bayt.com, a career site in the Middle East, and YouGov, an online market research organisation, banking and finance emerged as the industry’s most attractive to women (38 per cent) in Oman.
Government, civil service, utilities are preferred by 30 per cent women, and human resources by 27 per cent of the women surveyed.
Close to a third of the respondents in Oman are satisfied with their current or most recent salary packages (32 per cent), inclusive of non-monetary benefits, 6 per cent of whom claimed to be “completely satisfied.” However, more than one in five of those surveyed said they are “completely dissatisfied” with their current or most recent salary package (23 per cent).
In terms of maintaining a work life balance, more than half of the respondents in Oman are satisfied (58 per cent), with almost one in five (18 per cent) being “completely satisfied.” Just 13 per cent of those surveyed are or were “completely dissatisfied.”
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Close to a third (30 per cent) of respondents are or were “completely satisfied” with their working hours, while a mere 13 per cent are or were “completely dissatisfied” and 17 per cent claimed to be “completely dissatisfied” with the job security offered by their industry.
In terms of training and development, 12 per cent of Omani respondents claimed to be “completely satisfied” and 24 per cent “somewhat satisfied” with the programmes available to them.
However, 47 per cent of respective respondents are “somewhat or completely dissatisfied” with the training and development programmes in their companies.
Construction emerged as the most stressful industry for 34 per cent of Omani respondents. Oil, gas and petrochemicals or energy, hospitality, entertainment, tourism and manufacturing or engineering were also perceived as stressful sectors by 27 per cent, 16 per cent and 16 per cent of the respondents, respectively.
On the other hand, internet, e-commerce, agriculture and charity or volunteer work was defined as the most stressful industries only by 1 per cent, 3 per cent and 4 per cent of the respective respondents.
Construction also topped the list for the longest working hours for more than a third of Oman’s respondents (38 per cent), followed by oil, gas and petrochemicals/energy (28 per cent).
Seeking employment
The most popular industry for respondents, who are currently seeking employment, across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), are IT/electronics/telecommunications (9 per cent).
Conversely, the least popular industries for job seekers are real estate, charity, volunteering work, management consulting and agriculture (all at 1 per cent).
According to respondents, industries with a propensity for hiring fresh graduates include government, civil services, utilities (28 per cent), banking, finance (25 per cent) and military, defence, police and security services (22 per cent).
Another major finding of the survey is that only 27 per cent of MENA respondents have changed their industry in the last two years. This was certainly the case in Oman, where 70 per cent of respondents have not changed their industry in the last two years. For those who have changed industry across the MENA region, better salaries (37 per cent), better opportunities for career growth (32 per cent) and a lack of recognition (30 per cent) are the top three reasons for their change.
Close to half of those surveyed in Oman are considering an industry change in the next few months (49 per cent), while just under one third (32 per cent) of the respondents “don’t know/can’t say.”
For 61 per cent of the MENA respondents, who consider an industry change, a higher salary was the top reason, while 39 per cent considered enhanced career growth opportunities as an important reason for changing industries.
Suhail Masri, vice president of Employer Solutions at Bayt.com, said: “It’s a very good sign that 46 per cent of respondents in Oman are satisfied with their work culture.
