Pay hikes in UAE to beat increments in Europe

Executives in the UAE and the GCC are faring better than their counterparts when it comes to pay hikes and bonuses.

Data by Towers Watson, a professional services company, shows that total pay for European CEOs including salary, benefits, and all incentive plan pay-outs have remained flat during 2015.

The research, CEO pay in the Eurotop 100, reveals that almost two-thirds of CEOs did not receive a salary increase for the last financial year – up from 40 per cent in the last survey. 

In contrast, Towers Watson research across the GCC shows that senior executives can expect fixed pay increases of around 5 per cent this year.

In Europe, median actual bonus in the last financial year was 100 per cent of base salary - a drop from the previous year of 115 per cent. 

The survey across the GCC found that actual bonuses paid were significantly higher than target opportunity in addition to a slowdown in fixed and variable pay,

European CEOs also saw a decline in the annualised expected value that is derived from long-term incentive plans where the value dropped from 135 per cent of base salary to 119 per cent. 

“These results show that large European companies are practicing pay for performance whilst many companies in the GCC continue to struggle with implementing such a culture.  Interestingly, the requirement for CEOs to hold their shares for longer periods reflects the views of many shareholders in this region who believe that long-term pay plans should be just that, set over five years or more and not over three years as is common in Europe and North America,” said Andrew Marshall, Middle East Practice Leader.  

A previous study by the same company stated that average pay rises in the UAE for 2016 are expected to outweigh the regional inflation rates, giving employees real increases for their wages. The study primarily covers employees in the private sector.

Increments are expected to reach 5 per cent next year for employees in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, while Jordan and Lebanon employees will enjoy average pay rises of 6 and 5.8 per cent, respectively. Bahrain will have the lowest increases of 4.6 per cent, while Saudi Arabia average rises will be 5.5 per cent.

According to Aon Hewitt, a human resources consultancy, UAE firms projected a 5 per cent increase in pay in 2016, up from the 4.8 per cent projection made for 2015. In terms of actual increases for 2015, the UAE recorded a 4.8 per cent increase.

For the GCC, Aon Hewitt expects pay hikes will average 5 per cent in 2016, down from an anticipated 6 per cent in 2013, 5.5 per cent in 2014, and 5.1 per cent in 2015.

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