Dubai’s Careem offers permanent work-from-home option to employees across 14 countries

Dubai-based Careem has announced that its employees across 14 countries can work from remote locations, effective immediately.

Careem colleagues across 36 offices will have the freedom to operate remotely. However, the office spaces will remain open for staff that would prefer an office environment.

Furthermore, the offices are being re-designed into spaces that facilitate collaboration and team building, while providing flexible workspaces for individual colleagues.

Careem anticipates that permanent remote working will increase productivity, reduce costs, and lead to a stronger value proposition for talent.

In the recent work-from-home arrangements, colleagues reported higher productivity and stronger relationships with peers in other countries – leading to strong business recovery in the last two quarters. The shift will also save real estate costs, as offices get optimised for collaboration and flexible working rather than day-to-day.

Careem colleagues valued the additional flexibility that came with remote work arrangements, as suggested in internal surveys.

“As a digital business with operations in more than 100 cities, we always invested in tools and mindsets to effectively collaborate with remote colleagues. When the pandemic hit and our movements were restricted, we were able to seamlessly adapt while continuing to support our customers and partners. As the work from home continued, our colleagues started reporting higher productivity and found they valued the flexibility. That’s when we went to the drawing board to challenge our set of beliefs on work and productivity,” said Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder of Careem.

“Going remote-first is deeply aligned with our values of ownership and trust which drove this strategic decision. Fundamentally, we believe remote-first is better for business and for colleagues. This is the future of work, and just like in other aspects, we would like to inspire our region to embrace it,” he added.

Careem colleagues can now work from anywhere they prefer acorss the country in which they were hired, and from anywhere worldwide for up to 60 days each year.

All processes within the business will be designed to facilitate the remote presence of employees. To enhance collaboration and sustain relationships, colleagues are expected to spend one day per week in the office.

Earlier this year, Careem launched its ‘super app’ to offer all its services on a single platform. The new app offers ride-hailing, food delivery as well as Careem Pay services to its users.

Read: Careem launches ‘super app’ to offer ride-hailing, delivery and payments on one platform