Middle East Operational Resilience | Employment and Workforce Considerations

The evolving situation in the Middle East continues to present a range of complex considerations for organisations with employees or operations in the region, including employee safety and wellbeing, mobility and evacuation planning, operational continuity, regulatory compliance, and broader duty-of-care obligations.

Essentially, employers have the difficult task of balancing their duty of care to employees with the need for business continuity and resilience. 

This note summarises the key employment and workforce considerations discussed during our recent client session and highlights practical steps employers may wish to review.

1. Employee safety, wellbeing and communications

Employee welfare remains a key priority. Many organisations are reinforcing wellbeing frameworks through employee assistance programmes, occupational health support and dedicated wellbeing channels.
Clear and regular communication with employees is also essential by way of weekly update emails and regular townhalls (often held virtually with global leadership attending). Employers are providing updates through leadership messages, team briefings and internal information hubs to ensure employees receive accurate and consistent guidance.

Employers should remind employees to:

• register with their embassies;
• ensure passports and key documents are valid and accessible; 
• exercise caution when posting on social media given the strict cyber and media laws in several jurisdictions; and
• register on employer apps to track employee travel and record personal contact details.

Employees may also be sponsoring domestic staff and they will owe duties to them as their employer.  It may be worth reminding them to ensure their domestic staff are registered with their embassies, have access to their passports and have considered arrangements. 

2. Business travel 

Some organisations have tightened controls on business travel. Common measures include restricting non-essential travel, centralising bookings through approved providers, and using travel tracking tools to monitor employee locations where appropriate. In some cases, organisations have also introduced additional controls on business travel, with enhanced approval processes for travel to and within certain parts of the Middle East.

3. Remote working arrangements

Approaches to remote working continue to vary across jurisdictions and sectors. Employers are typically distinguishing between critical on-site roles and those that can be performed remotely, while issuing clear guidance on expectations (e.g. a requirement to work normal business hours, meet client/customer needs and generally maintain business continuity).

Insurance coverage and health and safety considerations should also be reviewed where employees are working remotely or performing higher-risk roles.

For critical industries (including energy, power, transport and aviation), additional care is being taken to manage workforce availability, fatigue and health and safety risks.

4. Critical roles and enhanced protections

Some employers are reviewing protections for employees in critical or frontline roles. This may include reviewing life insurance coverage, monitoring fatigue where employees are working extended shifts and considering additional support or allowances where appropriate. 

5. Evacuation planning and cross border working

Although authorities in the Gulf have generally advised residents to continue life as normal, some foreign governments have encouraged their nationals to leave the region. Some employers are reviewing contingency plans, including evacuation scenarios. In certain cases, employers are advising employees that any decision to leave is a personal choice, but within the context of sustainable business-related measures. Key considerations include identifying employee nationalities and dependents, reviewing immigration requirements if relocation becomes necessary and determining whether remote working from another country will be permitted.

Where remote working abroad is allowed as part of standard contingency planning by employers, our advice is to implement structured approval processes and consider payroll, tax and regulatory implications. It will also be important for businesses to communicate to employees that they will be expected to return to their contractual place of work upon the employer’s reasonable request.

6. Duty of care and health & safety obligations

Employers continue to owe a general duty of care to their employees, supplemented by specific statutory obligations under local labour and health and safety laws. These obligations may be heightened where employees are exposed to increased risk.

Where employers provide support for employee relocation or alternative travel arrangements, careful consideration must be given to insurance coverage and risk mitigation. Liability exposure will depend on the specific facts and circumstances in each case. Employers should be mindful that under the Labour Laws in the region travel to and from work (whilst not included in measuring working time) is included within the statutory framework for health and safety obligations owed by an employer to its employees. This means that any injuries suffered to and from work could potentially trigger liability for workers’ compensation. 

7. Workforce management and longer-term considerations

Operational responses are also affecting broader workforce management issues, including:

• requiring employees to take annual leave and/or agreeing periods of unpaid leave where remote working abroad is not feasible;
• delaying start dates for new joiners located outside the region; and
• permitting temporary remote starts from alternative jurisdictions or offices.

Looking ahead, some employers are conscious of longer-term implications for talent retention, employer brand and future recruitment. How organisations manage the current situation may influence employees’ willingness to return to the region or relocate in the future.

Similar measures to those engaged during the Covid pandemic may be applicable in the present circumstances for employers looking at how to manage a potential force majeure in an employment context; namely that employers should take measures short of dismissal before looking at termination; including mandating use of annual leave, granting exceptional paid leave, agreeing reduced pay with an employee for a period of time, or agreeing unpaid leave. 

Closing remarks

There is no single “correct” approach in the current environment. Effective responses are fact specific and require careful balancing of employee welfare, legal compliance, operational resilience and reputational considerations. We recommend that organisations continue to review their position as the situation evolves and seek advice where complex employment, tax or regulatory issues arise.

Please contact your usual Clyde & Co adviser if you would like to discuss any of these issues in more detail. 
 

Periods of regional uncertainty rarely create risk in isolation. We help organisations understand how different risks connect and what that means in practice, so decisions can be made with clarity and confidence. If you have questions about your Middle Eastern operations or would value support navigating the current environment, please reach out to your known Clyde & Co contact or using the button below.

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