Workday Expands Middle East Footprint with UAE Launch to Accelerate AI Transformation Across HR, Finance, and IT
Workday has officially established local operations in the United Arab Emirates, marked by the opening of a new regional hub in Dubai and an expanded leadership team across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META). The launch coincides with the release of Workday’s regional study, “Beyond Productivity: Measuring the Real Value of AI in the UAE,” which highlights a rapidly maturing AI landscape:
- Widespread Enterprise Adoption: 90% of employees use AI at least weekly (with 58% using it multiple times per week), delivering an average time savings of 3.6 hours weekly.
- Executive Buy-In: Over 50% of C-suite executives and directors incorporate AI tools into their weekly workflows.
- Value Over Cost-Cutting: Rather than simply slashing budgets, UAE leaders are reinvesting operational gains into their workforce—33% use efficiencies to absorb larger workloads without hiring surges, 32% reinvest savings into upskilling, and 32% dedicate gains to employee well-being and workplace flexibility. Only 24% focus primarily on direct cost reductions.
- The Human Factor: Employees still spend 3.4 hours per week verifying or correcting AI-generated content, underscoring the vital need for robust enterprise guardrails and domain-specific context.
“The UAE is a cornerstone of our global growth strategy as organisations align with some of the world’s most ambitious national digital agendas,” said Angelique De Vries-Schipperijn, President, EMEA, Workday. “Our presence ensures local enterprises have the enterprise-grade AI, governance, and agility required to scale securely.”
“Organisations across the UAE have moved past experimentation into daily execution,” added Zakaria Haltout, GVP, META, Workday. “Lasting business value requires trust and human oversight. Workday delivers AI natively into everyday workflows, providing the contextual accuracy and guardrails leaders need to transform with confidence.”
