DOHA: Qatari employees can look forward to an average 5.2 percent increase in pay for 2013, the latest Total Remuneration survey that tracked over 50 companies operating in Qatar, has said.
The survey, conducted by Mercer, noted that Middle East employees can expect an average 5.4 percent raise in pay for 2013.
General salary increase expectations in the GCC region range from 5 to 6 percent, UAE (5 percent), Bahrain (5 percent), Oman (5.1 percent), Qatar (5.2 percent) and Kuwait (5.4 percent), while Saudi Arabia is anticipated to enjoy the highest increase in pay of 6 percent in 2013.
The study coincides with the Salary Movement Snapshot, which tracked pay plans of 570 multinational organisations operating across 76 countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The data provides information from multinationals on median base pay increases across all employee groups including ‘blue’ and ‘white collar’ workers up to management and the senior executive level.
The Middle East and Africa has the largest variation in forecast pay increases due to the diverse nature of the region. Companies in Morocco (4.9percent), Tunisia (5.3 percent) and Algeria (6.8 percent) are predicting high pay increases to employees compared to those in Western Europe, while employees in Egypt and South Africa are anticipated to receive 10 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Companies in Africa are anticipating average increases of 8 percent and companies in the Middle East expecting to give employees increases of 5.4 percent in 2013.
Zaid Kamhawi, Middle East Business Leader for Information Product Solutions at Mercer, said: “Anticipated pay increases are affected by consumer price inflation, the anticipated pay increase in 2013 are predicted to be above the forecast inflation generating real pay growth for employees.”
Companies however are placing less emphasis on inflation rates when budgeting for pay increases, and factoring such variables as relative pay competitiveness, affordability, labour market conditions and confidence in their business outlook.
“In 2012, like in other regions, we saw the introduction of salary freezes in a number of Middle East markets. Our forecast shows that an estimated 5 percent of companies will look to freeze salaries in 2013 across the region. The Middle East region showed the lowest and healthiest figures across the ME and Africa region in terms of salary freezes”.
The figures provided are figures which Compensation and Human Resource Managers – those responsible for planning salary increases – are forecasting in each country. These forecasts, of course, have to be approved by company management and depend on numerous economic factors, as well as an individual employee performance, said Zaid Kamhawi.
The Peninsula
