Dubai: If surveys were to be believed, the majority of employees in the Gulf region received a salary increase in 2014, with nearly 8 out of 10 companies giving away increments in the range of 5 to 15 per cent.
According to Naukrigulf’s research, the biggest salary hike granted in 2014 was 15 per cent, which was handed out by 17 per cent of companies in the UAE and the rest of the Gulf.
About 34 per cent of the employers surveyed said they had distributed salary increases in the range of 5 per cent to 10 per cent, while almost a quarter (24 per cent) rewarded their staff with 10 to 15 per cent wage adjustments.
Naukrigulf, which conducts a half yearly survey, came up with the findings after analyzing the responses of 355 companies in the region.
Human Resources (HR) experts in the UAE earlier said that despite the persistent decline in oil prices, companies are still willing to grant pay rises as the region’s economies continue to post better performance compared to their peers outside the Middle East.
The job creation and hiring scenario in 2015 also look better in comparison to 2014, as the Expo 2020 draws closer, more investments continue to pour into the region and governments are increasingly focused on infrastructure development.
Consulting firm Mercer has predicted that companies across the Gulf will grant pay rises of between 5 per cent and 5.5 per cent this year. Employers in the UAE and Qatar intend to reward their employees with wage increases of 5 per cent, while those in Saudi Arabia are forecast to hand out 5.5 per cent salary hikes in 2015, according to Mercer’s 2014 Total Remuneration Survey.
As of last year, the average wage increase granted across the UAE was 4.9 per cent, a bit lower compared to 5.1 per cent in Saudi Arabia and 5.3 per cent in Qatar. Employees in the consumer goods, life sciences, and services sectors in the region received the highest pay rises.
A number of UAE residents, however, complained that they have not had any pay rise in years.
A Gulf News reader, Muthukumar, said he has not received any increment for three years now. “I am living in Dubai, working for the last 10 years. I did not get any increment in the last three years, but the cost of living, rent, transportation, etc., is increasinging. Only God’s grace we are surviving,” he said.
Sanu, an Indian expatriate who has been working for a big company in Dubai for five years, said the last and only salary increment he received, equivalent to Dh60 dirhams a month, was in 2011 yet.
