On average, the amount spent monthly by UAE companies on fuel reimbursements for their staff has increased by over a third (38 percent) between January through June this year, according to a new report released by Dubai-based employee benefits platform Bayzat.
As petrol prices in the UAE have risen by nearly 60 percent since the start of the year, organizations in the Emirates have begun to see the knock-on effect this has had on their operating costs.
According to the report, the company also found that fuel is among the most requested reimbursements for UAE employees, with the average amount per reimbursement also having increased by 18 percent.
Along with requests for fuel reimbursements, there has also been a significant spike in requests for travel reimbursements. Data from the Bayzat platform showed that on average, the amount spent per month by UAE companies on reimbursing travel expenses grew over five-fold over the first six months of 2022.
Digging deeper, the data also revealed that the average amount spent per travel reimbursement in June, was 144 percent higher than in January this year. As this reimbursement category potentially includes travel expenses such as companies’ obligatory issuance of annual tickets home for employees, it isn’t possible to confidently draw the inference that business travel has been on the rise. However, with average travel reimbursements having steadily increased month-on-month since the start of the year, it is evident that employees now have an increased comfort level for travel in the post-pandemic world.
