The corporate resilience in the Gulf region throughout 2009 has set the scene for an aggressive economic rebound in the year ahead with several firms setting higher revenue targets for 2010, according to a new study.

The survey conducted by the global HR consulting firm Mercer, said about 65.4 per cent of respondents said they expected to meet or exceed their revenue targets for 2009. A similar number (68.9 per cent) said they were setting higher revenue targets for 2010.

The companies’ hiring intentions appear positive, with a majority 56.4 per cent planning increases in their workforce in the coming year. Of these, one in five firms indicated they would be lifting their workforce numbers by at least 20 per cent, said the survey.

“The predictions of a positive end to the year and an optimistic outlook for 2010 are backed up by what we heard during a mid-year business sentiment survey, and what we hear every day from our clients,” said Bassam Gazal, head of Mercer’s Information Products Solutions practice for the Middle East.

The survey also revealed that contrary to expectations, 40 per cent of firms did not reduce headcount at all during 2009. Of those that did, a substantial majority indicated the reduction was less than 10 per cent.

A majority of the firms surveyed (87.2 per cent) said they had no plans to reduce headcount in 2010.

Bucking the global trend, two-thirds of firms (70.5 per cent) surveyed stated they had granted pay hikes during the year. On 2010 plans, nearly half the respondents (48.1 per cent) indicated they would be providing base salary increases, while 45.6 per cent were still to decide.

Gazal pointed out that 67.9 per cent of firms had said HR would play a more important business and strategic role in future. This, he said, was a sign of a significant trend in the GCC market.

“It’s now abundantly clear that companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the people side of their business, and the strategic role that HR can play in business planning,” Gazal noted.

The results from Mercer’s end-of-year survey of 79 organization show that the rate of cost-cutting measures that companies took, including right-sizing and restructuring, also appears to be slowing dramatically from earlier in the year.-TradeArabia News Service