UAE firms prove COVID-19 resilience with 4 percent pay hike in 2022

UAE firms prove COVID-19 resilience with 4 percent pay hike in 2022

Businesses in the United Arab Emirates are expected to raise employees’ wagesby an average of four percent in 2022, higher than this year’s 3.6 percent increase, according to a new salary survey.

Firms across the emirates are also expected to hire more people within their companies next year, the Total Remuneration Survey (TRS) by human resources consulting firm Mercer showed, due to the promising economic recovery experienced in the UAE.

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The survey covered 599 companies in the UAE. Respondents indicated that salaries in the country went up by 3.6 percent this year, which is still slightly below 2019 and 2020 figures of 4.5 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

About 14 percent of employers froze salary increments last year, but the number went down to 10 percent this year.

In 2022, only five percent are expected to freeze salary adjustments.

Employers are also looking at developing attractive long-term incentive (LTI) plans to attract and retain “world-class” professionals, which are required by many startups in the Middle East region.

Those polled for the survey indicated that they are prioritizing hires for in demand skillsets that will help their business grow. Companies in high-tech, life