Bonus time for UAE employees: Will you get one?

Expectations are high among employees in the UAE as they believe it’s that time of the year again when their companies will dish out bonuses and, this time, perhaps more generous ones.

Employees in the UAE and across the region are, in fact, the ones who expect bigger bonuses as compared to counterparts in the rest of the world.

According to a new survey by eFinancialCareers, a financial services career site, bonus expectations in the Middle East exceed the global average.

The findings reveal that six in 10 finance professionals (59 per cent) working in the Middle East expect a bonus this year. Two-thirds of those surveyed (65 per cent) are expecting higher bonuses compared to last year, more than their counterparts in the UK, the US, Singapore, France and Germany.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who have little hope and foresee these annual amounts going down. However, the number of such employees is in single digits.

Only nine per cent believe bonuses will fall and a little over 25 per cent say they will hold steady this year.

For those expecting either an increase or no change in their bonus, company and personal performance were the most cited reasons – traditional factors that have influenced bonus payouts. 

“This year’s results almost mirror last year’s confidence in bonus expectations, with those expecting to receive an increase in their bonus (65 per cent) marginally higher than last year (61 per cent),” says James Bennett, Managing Director of eFinancialCareers.

“The market’s sentiment for the region has been on a high this year, thanks largely to the MSCI’s classification of the UAE and Qatar as emerging market.

"These markets in particular have witnessed an increase in foreign and domestic investment aiding the robust recovery within financial institutions, with employees expecting recognition for their hard work and effort in recent years,” he added further.

Many companies are also moving beyond the performance bonuses and also offering joining ones as well to attract talent.

In an earlier article published by Emirates 24|7 (Read: UAE talent war: Banks hike joining bonuses ), experts said that joining bonuses have picked up a lot in the banking industry this year and an increasing number of banks in the UAE are enticing candidates by offering them an amount to join them.

Employee bonuses overall, whether joining ones or performance based, are perhaps as important as the base salary and can largely influence the decision of a candidate to join a company or not.

Global bonus expectations this year as compared to last year

                                 UK          US          SG          ME         FR           DE

Increase                 56%        60%        42%        65%        42%        52%

Decrease               17%        14%        22%        9%          21%        21%

No change             27%        26%        36%        26%        37%        27%

Source: eFinancialCareers Bonus Expectation Survey 2014

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