Wages in the United Arab Emirates are set to rise by an average of 4.6 per cent in 2017, following an average increase of 4.9 per cent this year, according to Willis Towers Watson’s latest Salary Budget Planning Study.

The inflation rate in the UAE in the past two years has been an average of 4 per cent; however, there has been an increase in the pay for employees across all industry sectors. In 2017, the salary has been projected to increase by 4.6 per cent in the region, in countries such as UAE and Bahrain, while Lebanon will have the highest increase in pay growth (5.4 per cent), followed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (5.0 per cent), Qatar (4.8 per cent).

Laurent Leclère, senior consultant and data services lead for the Middle East at Willis Towers Watson, said: “There are many factors that affect the employee attraction and retention such as the work environment, the managers they work with, health and insurance programs etc. The top-most factor however is the compensation that would also drive the employees’ performance.”

The report provides salary increase budget information for a large selection of economies across the globe, as well as projected inflationary and country GDP movements for the same period of time.

Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the report highlights countries where real pay differs significantly to the regional average. Lebanon has the highest pay increase at 7.1 per cent, whilst Zambia has the lowest at -13.6 per cent.  For Central and Eastern Europe, Poland is highest with a 3.1 per cent real-pay increase projected for 2016 and at the other end of the spectrum is Kazakhstan at -5.1 per cent.

On a global level the report shows employees in Asian countries are predicted to benefit from some of the highest pay rises with a regional average real-pay increase of 3.8 per cent, followed by EMEA at 1.9 per cent and Latin America at 1.8 per cent. North America has some of the lowest projected increases at an average of 1.6 per cent.

The General Industry Compensation Survey Report - which includes actual and target amounts paid for all employee salaries, allowances and bonuses, suggests that a similar rate of salary growth is likely to be maintained into 2017. But the research reveals that pay growth could be greater for certain skilled jobs with a smaller talent pool such as digital professionals.

“In an increasingly global and fast-moving talent market, effective use of the company’s salary budget should be high on reward professionals’ agendas,” added Leclère.

“Identifying key talent, for not only technical skilled roles but also for the skills necessary for succession planning, is essential to the long-term health of any company. By segmenting and differentiating to meet organisational and employee needs it is possible to ensure companies are offering a total rewards packages that employees value and that will better its chances of retaining and engaging top talent,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service