In 2015, the majority of businesses expect to increase salaries by a maximum of 5 percent, whereas working professionals believe their monthly salaries will jump by over 10 percent this year.
The difference in expectations between employers and their workforce could motivate employees to look elsewhere for opportunities, BI-ME reported.
The Hays (P)GCC 2015 Salary & Employment Report, published Wednesday by Hays UAE, the leading global professional recruiting group, surveyed over 2,000 working professionals and over 200 hiring managers in the (P)GCC, and found that 79 percent of employees are expecting their salaries to increase by a minimum of 5 percent, a fact which is only mirrored by 35 percent of employers.
“This difference between employee and employer salary expectations coupled with the increased number of vacancies we’ve seen, will create a market driven by job seekers,” says Chris Greaves, Managing Director of Hays UAE.
“As the economy in the Middle East continues to strengthen, professionals are more confident about changing jobs in order to realize their salary expectations. In 2015 this means that businesses are at real risk of losing key staff members”.
The report has found that a startlingly high 78 percent of surveyed employees will consider looking for a new role in 2015, and with high salary being the main motivator to accepting a job offer, companies will soon need to address salary expectations of their workforce.
Positively, this report found the recruitment market in the (P)GCC to be optimistic. Seventy-six percent of surveyed hiring managers expect to increase the headcount of their organization in 2015, and 38 percent (the majority) aren’t experiencing any skill shortage. But with the emerging struggle between salary expectations, employers’ positive outlook could be disrupted.
“A larger salary shouldn’t be the primary driving factor in seeking new employment but there’s no doubt that it plays a part in securing the interest of a new hire,” says Greaves when offering advice to employers. “The message in here is that employers need to be particularly mindful of the financial welfare and career development of their key staff in 2015 or risk losing them.”
