Workday, Inc., the enterprise AI platform for HR, finance, and IT, announced the launch of its operations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To mark the launch, Workday released new findings from its report "Beyond Productivity: Measuring the Real Value of AI in the UAE," which explores how organisations are measuring AI's impact not just through time savings, but through the value it creates for people and the business.
New Dubai office, expanded local leadership, and fresh research signal Workday's long-term commitment as AI adoption accelerates across the UAE.
The UAE launch is anchored by a new office in Dubai, dedicated regional operations, and expanded local leadership, creating a local hub to engage directly with customers, build strong partnerships, and attract top local talent. The investment positions Workday to help organisations modernise HR and finance, manage change, and get more value from AI as they support the UAE's national transformation goals.
Workday convened senior leaders including Angelique De Vries-Schipperijn, President, EMEA, and Zakaria Haltout, Group Vice President, Middle East, Turkey & Africa to mark the opening.
The Middle East is a cornerstone of Workday's global growth strategy, as strong customer demand, growing cloud adoption, and national transformation agendas make this an increasingly important market. Momentum is building across both the public and private sectors, and the organisations that modernise now will set the pace for the years ahead.
The UAE is a key market in Workday's growth strategy, with organisations pursuing transformation against some of the world's most ambitious national agendas. To succeed, they need technology that helps them move faster, adopt new ways of working, and show clear results while maintaining the trust and control large, regulated organisations require.
While AI adoption continues to accelerate across the UAE, the research found that realising its full value still depends on human oversight, trust, and continued investment in skills. Employees spend an average of 3.4 hours per week clarifying, correcting, or rewriting low-quality AI-generated outputs, highlighting the continued importance of people, clear rules, and careful review.
Crucially, UAE organisations are reinvesting AI gains in their people rather than focusing solely on cost reduction: 33% use AI-enabled efficiencies to handle greater workloads without increasing headcount, 32% are directing time and cost savings toward training, upskilling and reskilling, another 32% are channeling efficiencies into workload management, workplace flexibility, and employee well-being. Only 24% say savings are primarily used for cost reduction. Just 0.2% said AI has not generated meaningful time or cost savings.
Organisations across the UAE are moving from AI experimentation to everyday use, with 90% of employees using AI at least weekly. But lasting value depends on trust, human oversight, and continued investment in skills, which is why Workday helps organisations bring AI into the flow of work with the context, guardrails, and trusted processes they need.
About Workday
Workday operates at the heart of the enterprise, HR, finance, and IT – where the margin for error is effectively zero. By tightly coupling AI with the context, guardrails, and trusted processes that run the business, Workday goes beyond AI that assists work to agents that do the work and drive measurable outcomes. More than 11,500 organisations worldwide, including more than 65% of the Fortune 500, trust Workday to deliver.
