Middle East and Africa Remote Work 2025: Data, Trends, and What Employers Should Do

A data‑driven 2025 deep dive on remote and hybrid work across the Middle East and Africa. Internet access, adoption, job‑ad signals, office demand, engagement, policy changes, and country snapshots with rigorous sources.

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Table of contents

1. Scope and definitions
2. Regional adoption snapshot
3. Employer signals from job ads
4. Office market demand and space signals
5. People outcomes and engagement
6. Regulation and policy tracker
7. Sector lens
8. Country snapshots
9. Risks, constraints, and data gaps
10. 2025 to 2027 outlook
11. Employer playbook
12. Metrics that matter
13. References

1) Scope and definitions

We apply ILO statistical guidance that separates remote work, telework, and work at home to improve cross‑country comparability and avoid mixing occasional homeworking with regular telework. This keeps our adoption figures aligned to internationally recommended concepts. (International Labour Organization)

What this article covers

• The Middle East and Africa region including GCC, Levant, North Africa, and Sub‑Saharan Africa
• Employee remote and hybrid work, not gig delivery or industrial home‑based work, unless noted

2) Regional adoption snapshot

Connectivity sets the boundary conditions. Africa’s internet‑use rate averaged 38 percent in 2024, far below other regions. This limits both the pool of remote‑capable roles and the reliability of remote work at scale, especially outside major cities. (ITU)

Global context still matters. Stanford’s 2025 synthesis of 40 countries shows WFH levels stabilized after falling from 2022 to 2023, with the highest WFH in North America and other English‑speaking economies and the lowest in parts of Asia. The Middle East and Africa sit between these extremes, with wide within‑region variation by sector and city. (SIEPR, EconStor)

Key takeaways

• Urban hubs with diversified services and strong connectivity see the most WFH.
• Multinationals often apply global hybrid standards to regional offices, but office‑market tightness and local norms pull employees on‑site more days per week in GCC capitals.

3) Employer signals from job ads

Job‑ad data provides timely evidence of what employers actually offer.

• South Africa: CareerJunction’s national dataset shows remote or hybrid roles were 3.7 percent of all vacancies in 2024, down from 4.3 percent in 2023. IT accounts for 57 percent of remote postings, followed by Business and Management, Sales, Finance, and Admin.

These figures align with anecdotal RTO momentum and scarce remote options outside technology and certain sales roles.

4) Office market demand and space signals

Office vacancy and leasing behavior provide a complementary view of on‑site activity.

• UAE: Q2 2025 research shows Dubai citywide vacancy 7.7 percent and prime 0.3 percent, while Abu Dhabi citywide vacancy 1.5 percent and prime 0.1 percent. Tight supply raises renewal rates and supports earlier lease decisions. (JLL)
• Saudi Arabia: Q2 2025 snapshots show Riyadh prime vacancy near 0.5 percent and Grade A at 3.8 percent, underscoring very strong on‑site demand. (JLL)
• South Africa: National office vacancy sits much higher. SAPOA’s Q2 2025 update places countrywide office vacancy around 13.3 percent, reflecting structural shifts in CBDs and slower demand. (Property Wheel)

Implication
Tight GCC markets suggest many employers have sustained a hybrid‑leaning‑on‑site rhythm, while parts of Sub‑Saharan Africa are still rebalancing legacy stock with slower demand.

5) People outcomes and engagement

Gallup reports that UAE engagement is the highest in MENA at 29 percent, well above the MENA average near 14 percent. While engagement is not a direct proxy for WFH levels, the data reinforces that flexibility and manager quality correlate with better outcomes. (PR Newswire)

At the global level in 2025, Gallup finds engagement slipping and highlights a remote‑work paradox that also appears in MENA: employees value flexibility, while many organizations struggle to run hybrid effectively. The WEF summarizes this tension in its August 2025 “return‑to‑office paradox” brief. (StockWatch, World Economic Forum)

What this means for MEA

• Flexibility is a retention lever in competitive talent hubs like the UAE and KSA.
• Hybrid quality depends on management practice, not policy alone, which is consistent with current HBR debates about hybrid execution. (Harvard Business Review)

6) Regulation and policy tracker

GCC

• United Arab Emirates: The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) published guides for remote working in the federal government and has used remote work flexibly for weather or emergency situations. (FAGHR, UAE Government Portal)
• Qatar: The Civil Service and Government Development Bureau implemented a flexible and remote work system for government employees starting September 2024. (The Peninsula Newspaper)
• Saudi Arabia: The Telework Program under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development provides a formal framework for remote jobs in the private sector. Public‑sector adjustments have also recognized telework possibilities. (Teleworks, Ajel)

Africa

• South Africa: The government gazetted a Remote Work Visitor Visa in 2024, enabling foreign remote employees to reside in the country under specified conditions. (Government of South Africa, Department of Home Affairs)
• Island and tourism economies: Mauritius operates a renewable Premium Visa suitable for remote workers. Cabo Verde and Namibia have dedicated remote‑work or digital nomad visas. These are targeted at inbound remote earners, not domestic telework, but they signal policy openness. (Passport Mauritius, visit-caboverde.com, NIPDB)

7) Sector lens

• Information Technology: Dominates remote postings in South Africa and in many GCC job boards, reflecting distributed software, data, and design workflows.
• Professional and business services: Hybrid norms common among multinationals, with variance by client‑facing intensity and confidentiality requirements. Market commentary from JLL and CBRE for UAE points to high on‑site collaboration needs in prime locations. (JLL)
• Online gig and exportable services: The World Bank’s 2023 report documents rapid growth in online gig work in developing economies, which includes Africa. Youth and women participate at relatively high rates due to flexibility and entry pathways. (World Bank, World Bank)

8) Country snapshots

9) Risks, constraints, and data gaps

• Connectivity and power reliability limit remote feasibility in many African markets. The ITU’s 38 percent internet‑use rate for Africa highlights the structural constraint. (ITU)
• Measurement is tricky. ILO warns against conflating occasional work at home with regular telework. Many national surveys do not yet harmonize terminology, which complicates cross‑country comparisons. (International Labour Organization)
• Selection effects. Job‑ad data tends to over‑represent formal urban employers and under‑captures informal sectors that dominate in parts of Sub‑Saharan Africa.

10) 2025 to 2027 outlook

• Baseline: Remote share grows slowly in high‑connectivity hubs, stays flat elsewhere. Tight GCC office markets support hybrid with more on‑site days. (JLL)
• Upside: Faster broadband rollout, stable power, and regulatory clarity unlock more distributed service teams and cross‑border remote hiring.
• Downside: Mandated RTO waves without hybrid‑management upgrades may depress engagement, consistent with global trends. (StockWatch)

11) Employer playbook for MEA

1. Right‑size the remote footprint by role using ILO‑aligned definitions to avoid category errors. (International Labour Organization)
2. Hybrid discipline. Tooling alone is not enough. Fix meetings, manager cadence, and onboarding quality, a recurring theme in HBR’s 2025 work. (Harvard Business Review)
3. Connectivity allowances where home networks are weak.
4. Hub‑and‑spoke in GCC. Use flexible seats in prime locations and structured home days for focus work, consistent with space scarcity. (JLL)
5. Tap regional talent online for project work while addressing protections in line with World Bank and ILO guidance on digital labor platforms. (World Bank, International Labour Organization)
6. Measure and iterate using the KPIs below.

12) Metrics that matter

• Remote share of roles and days by function and city
• Output and cycle time vs on‑site benchmarks
• Managerial quality scores and turnover
• Workspace utilization by day and zone
• Engagement and wellbeing pulse surveys aligned to Gallup items, tracked by work pattern (StockWatch)

Numbers to know (MEA 2024–2025)

• 38 percent of Africans used the internet in 2024. (ITU)
• 3.7 percent of South African job ads in 2024 were remote or hybrid, down from 4.3 percent in 2023. IT held 57 percent of remote vacancies.
• UAE office vacancy: Dubai 7.7 percent citywide and 0.3 percent prime, Abu Dhabi 1.5 percent citywide and 0.1 percent prime in Q2 2025. (JLL)
• UAE engagement: 29 percent engaged, highest in MENA, vs regional average near 14 percent. (PR Newswire)

References

TLDR

• Connectivity is the ceiling. Only 38 percent of people in Africa used the internet in 2024, the lowest regional share globally, which constrains broad WFH adoption. (ITU)
• MENA engagement is improving from a low base. Gallup’s latest regional snapshot shows UAE engagement at 29 percent and MENA average near 14 percent, with flexibility and manager quality as differentiators. (PR Newswire)
• Job‑ad signals in Africa show limited remote options outside tech. In South Africa, 3.7 percent of all vacancies in 2024 were remote or hybrid and 57 percent of remote postings were in IT.
• Office markets in the Gulf are very tight, indicating active on‑site demand. Dubai citywide vacancy at 7.7 percent, prime 0.3 percent; Abu Dhabi citywide 1.5 percent, prime 0.1 percent in Q2 2025. (JLL)
• Saudi Arabia is formalizing telework through a national Telework Program and public‑sector remote allowances, while Qatar launched a government flexible and remote system in 2024. (Teleworks, Ajel, The Peninsula Newspaper)
• Remote work is sticky worldwide. Stanford’s 2025 research finds WFH levels have stabilized after a post‑pandemic dip, with regional differences by occupation and country mix. (SIEPR, EconStor)