Despite its near legendary
reputation of a high-paying destination and no tax haven, UAE companies may not
be willing to pay unrealistic amounts to expats coming here for work.
Too many expats, even after the
recession years, have high expectations and often make unrealistic salary and
benefit demands, which, many a times is difficult to meet.
According to recruitment experts in
the country, the economy is in much better shape with annual increments and
bonuses coming again to the fore but expat expectations are often misguided and
in many cases out of touch with reality.
“Quite often they are too high,”
says Gareth Clayton, Director Finance and Banking at Charterhouse Partnership.
But, high expectations may not necessarily translate into what is finally
offered.
More jobs are being made available
in the market, which may put pressure on companies to improve their pay levels.
But this means getting back the annual increments (albeit in single digits) and
bonuses that had evaporated during the low growth years. Even though the job
growth has improved, the fact remains that number of candidates available for
work far outweighs the vacancies that need to be filled.
Job portals show a huge gap between
the number of registered vacancies and registered job seekers on the websites.
This will set the market trend and
the days of employers signing big amounts is nowhere in sight as of now.
“Whilst the market is buoyant, the
supply of candidates is also very strong. Simple supply and demand economics
will dictate that this will impact the wage level,” as Clayton puts it.
People coming from other countries
still believe that UAE companies will pay an all-expense paid package to them,
which recruitment analysts believe is only naïve.
For the past two years, inflation
has not played the devil and rents in Dubai have only appreciated in the past
few months in certain localities, keeping a lid on double-digit or out of turn
pay hikes.
Last year, a survey released by
recruitment firm, Robert Half revealed that four in 10 overseas candidates have
expectations for remuneration that exceed market conditions.
The survey indicated that while
nearly half (49 per cent) of respondents believed the number of overseas
candidates moving to the UAE has remained the same, many of these individuals
have raised their hopes for higher salary and benefits than what the market
prescribes.
