Doha: The expectations of a pay rise in 2014 are high in Qatar, though 38 percent of professionals surveyed confirmed they didn’t receive any increase last year, according to the 2014 Bayt.com Mena Salary Survey by Bayt.com market research agency, YouGov.
Across the region, 67 percent of professionals said they received a basic salary plus benefits, such as housing allowance, transport, children’s education and more and in Qatar, the figure has reached 75 percent.
For four in 10 respondents receiving a basic salary and benefits, the basic pay consists of 51-75 percent of their total monthly earnings. About 7 percent said they also received commission on top of their basic salary and benefits.
The preferred pay structure in Qatar is fixed pay (favoured by 62 percent of respondents in Qatar).
A large number of respondents in Qatar was underwhelmed by their income, with 43 percent claiming to be dissatisfied compared to 5 percent who were highly satisfied with what they were earning.
About 24 percent believed that men and women received equal pay for doing the same work. Six out of 10 (64 percent) professionals believed that their salaries were less than what other companies in their industry were paying.
In 2013, 38 percent of Qatar respondents said they did not receive a salary raise.
Of those who received a raise, 53 percent were discontent with what they received and 48 percent were satisfied.
Over a quarter of Qatar respondents (27 percent) did not expect to receive an increase in 2014 though 32 percent anticipated a raise of up to 15 percent.
According to 67 percent of Qatar respondents, their company does not pay overtime they do. Companies that pay for extra office hours, for the most part, pay a normal hourly rate.
Only 17 percent of companies in Qatar pay their employees for time spent doing civil service.
According to 89 percent of Qatar respondents, the cost of living increased in 2013, with 24 percent claiming it rose by more than 20 percent.
Increases have mostly been in rents, food and beverages, entertainment and education – 83 percent of respondents expected that prices of these will continue to rise throughout the year.
The rising cost of living has also limited respondents’ ability to save; 20 percent in Qatar claimed to have saved nothing from their monthly salary.
Yet, 54 percent of Qatar respondents believed that they were better off now in terms of quality of life than they were compared to their peers in their country of residence.
About 55 percent of Qatar respondents intended to look for a better job in the same industry in the next 12 months, and 73 percent believed that salaries in Qatar were on the rise.
This is considered to be due to inflation and the rising cost of living, opportunity and economic growth, and rising salaries/economic growth in other countries.
The Peninsula
