Employees in the UAE do not have enough money set aside for rainy days, research by Friends Provident International (FPI) found.
According to the life company, as many as 57% of the UAE workforce would not be able to cope financially if they were laid off due to critical illness. The respondents said they did not have enough funds to survive for three months if they were to stop working.
Worryingly, over a quarter stated they would not be able to support themselves for a month.
The study polled 1,000 UAE employees across gender, age, income, nationality and relationship status.
“The survey shines a light on the average UAE employees’ unpreparedness for critical illness – especially the impact that debilitating illness can have on earnings and financial survival,” said Stuart Shilcock, head of sales for the Middle East at FPI.
Gender difference
A life-changing illness can seriously impact a person’s ability to work and earn, which could stop altogether.
Shilcock said that “all employees in the UAE are woefully unprepared to survive financially if they can’t work”.
Women were more confident than men about being able to support themselves for three months without a salary. But only 14% of women and 12% of men believed they could be able to survive a full year.
Surprisingly, older employees were less confident than their younger counterparts at making it to the six-month mark without earning money.
Despite this, 17% of them said they could go on for a full year without a salary. “This indicates a slightly higher level of financial preparedness amongst a nonetheless still very small segment of older employees,” Shilcock added.
‘The responsible thing to do’
Western workers were among the least confident, with 71% believing they would not be able to survive for three months without working.
Emirati, Arab expat and Asian employees followed suit, with two thirds stating the same.
In terms of relationship status, single people were among the most financially secure than their married, or married with children, counterparts. Yet, 66% still would not be able to survive for three months without employment in case of a critical illness.
As a result, Shilcock said that, regardless of age, gender, income or nationality, “critical illness cover is the responsible thing to do if you live and work in the UAE, especially under these very uncertain times”.
