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Expat packages are being re-worked consciously to accommodate the rising cost of living in the country

There are more jobs being advertised now than before and recruiters are voicing their concern that it is increasingly getting difficult to get the right people onboard.

Some have dubbed it as a “war for talent” – something we were accustomed to see in the years before 2008. If this were the case, then professionals working in the UAE – or rather those coming to the country now – should be boasting of hefty expat packages.

This, however, is not the case.

Experts in the industry believe we are not seeing madness seep in yet, and expat packages cannot be termed “crazy” or much different from what we got used to in the past few years.

Ideally, an expat package consists of a basic pay, housing allowance, annual tickets, health insurance and, in some cases, children’s schooling allowance. This is true for most professionals in the country with, of course, exceptions in place.

Konstantina Sakellariou, Partner, Marketing & Operations Director at Stanton Chase, believes the benefits still fit in the broadly outlined parameters.

“Depending on the seniority of the executive and the policy of the company, the remuneration is either basic + bonus + allowances (housing, schooling), or one amount per month that includes everything (except insurance and, in most cases, tickets home),” she says.

One sector where expat packages are fatter seems to be banking and financial services.

According to efinancialcareers, a jobs website, “financial services recruiters in the Middle East are not only competing for candidates with local rivals, but – because of the tendency to look internationally for candidates – they’re also trying to increase salaries to compete with firms in Asia, the UK and the US.

“Traditionally, financial services firms in the Middle East would have offered similar salaries to Western locations and cited the tax-free income as a selling point. However, a combination of dissatisfaction over bonuses and an emergence of counteroffers has fuelled rapid salary inflation over the past few months,” an article on the portal reads.

Not all roles are created equal, however, and only a select few are offering pay-hikes that go into the double-digits, the portal maintains.

Agrees Hasnain Qazi, Gulf Region Head, Huxley Associates. “Expat packages continue to vary widely with no consistency in how they are structured locally. It’s quite ad hoc and organisation specific. This has pros and cons, ultimately giving employers more flexibility. However, for jobseekers, this makes it difficult to compare and contrast different offers structured differently,” he explained to Emirates 24|7.

A survey carried out last year by Bayt.com, an online job portal, showed that pay packages only consists of basic salary, personal medical insurance, bonus and transport allowance and majority of the respondents expressed moderate to low satisfaction with their current salary then.

And so the trend continues. “The same structure still exists, and I am not sure if there will be immediate changes (and in what direction). Executives will push for higher allowances especially for housing, but I do not see any other major changes at the moment,” Sakellariou told this website.

As pointed out by Sakellariou, expat packages are being re-worked consciously to accommodate the rising cost of living in the country. This includes an increase in housing and schooling allowance.

This is affirmed by the latest GCC Allowances and Benefits Survey conducted by Aon Hewitt. The consultancy highlights that companies across the country are starting to shift their budget allocation to employee allowances and benefits and this primarily includes a push in housing and education allowance, the bane of many residents.

Another general industry survey published by HR consultancy Towers Watson also points in the same direction. The company highlighted that a significant number of organisations are considering reviewing their housing allowance in the face of rising rents in the country and offering schooling allowance to more employees to help them cope with ever increasing school fees.

But, if you are wishfully thinking of having your driver’s, maid’s salary and visa costs covered, think again.

There was a time when (some) employees did get four flights home every year, all costs of domestic help covered, phone and the Internet bill as well as all international calls paid for and even the costs to relocate the employee’s pets were all part of the package.

These were outrageous and it isn’t happening – for now. The rationale behind these packages is also fading out. So-called hardship allowances do not make sense anymore and local talent with local experience is preferred over talent without any knowledge of the UAE or the regional market.

So, barring some categories like investment bankers and senior professionals in private equity, the majority of us will have to contend with a 5 to 6 per cent hike in the overall package as projected by companies like Aon Hewitt and Towers Watson.