A 15% salary hike in UAE? These firms just handed one out to their employees

A double-digit pay hike does seem a rather optimistic figure for UAE employees who have had to do with a mere 5 per cent pay hike, less or none at all these past few years. This may seem the norm, but there are a good number of companies that are willing to give employees decent increments and a 10 per cent pay hike is their way to reward their staff. According to a new hiring survey by NaukriGulf, a job portal, as many as 41 per cent of the companies in the Gulf region that participated in their survey gave at least a 10 per cent pay hike to their employees. Of these 41 per cent Gulf companies, 17 per cent gave out increments in excess of 15 per cent in 2014, a figure that beats the average salary hike in the country by a huge margin. The remaining, 24 per cent of companies handed out a pay hike of between 10 and 15 per cent, and a further 34 per cent companies gave out increments in the range of 5 to 10 per cent. However, previous studies by recruitment firms show that minimal pay hikes are what employees got last year and they should expect the same in 2015. The latest salary guide by recruitment firm, Robert Half, reveals that pay hikes that professionals got last year were bleak. The company’s data shows that professional roles in finance and accounting, financial services, information technology, legal, HR and administration rose on average by 2 per cent over the past months in 2014. Aon Hewitt, a company into talent, retirement and health solutions says pay hike were very nominal last year and predictions are on the same lines for 2015 as well – an average increase of 4.8 per cent – figures that are completely different from the NaukriGulf survey.