From Gratuity to Growth

What the UAE's workplace-savings shift requires from digital financial experiences.

The UAE is turning end-of-service gratuity from a payment made when employment ends into money invested while people are still working. Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2023 gave private-sector employers a funded alternative to the traditional model — and with it, quietly shifted investment risk onto employees, most of whom have never had to make an investment decision before.

The demand is clearly there. In BlackRock's 2026 survey, 91% of UAE expatriates found a workplace savings plan appealing — yet only 6% expect to rely on one in retirement. That gap isn't only about awareness; it's about execution. The data needed to answer a simple question — am I on track? — already exists, but it sits scattered across payroll, administration, custody and asset management, and no one owns the combined answer. This paper sets out, in practical terms, what a production-grade workplace-savings experience actually has to do.

What's inside

• What changed under Resolution 96 — the mechanics, the contribution rates, and where investment risk now sits

• Why interest is high but expected reliance is low — and what employers say is holding adoption back

• The six separate figures an employee's position depends on, and why they rarely agree

• Why a single growth-rate projection misleads, and what honest, stochastic projection requires

• A ten-point specification for teams building or buying a workplace-savings journey

• How Decision 49 of 2019 offers a ready-made disclosure standard providers can borrow now

Who it's for

Employers weighing the scheme — and the banks, insurers, wealth managers, advisers and product teams building the experience around it.

Click here to download the full whitepaper.