Experience no longer the complete package
UAE employers favour younger candidates as they become less willing to subsidise families and provide other perks
Companies are hiring more young professionals on lower wages because they are reluctant to subsidise the living costs of employees’ families.
Cutting living allowances and driving a harder bargain on pay is being regarded as an overdue correction in the jobs market, analysts told The National.
But even with reduced salary and benefits packages and the cost of living on the rise, the UAE remains a highly attractive destination for jobseekers.
“The good old days of the eye-watering packages are long-gone,” said Gareth El Mettouri, associate director of recruitment consultancy Robert Half Middle East.
“We’re seeing some of these fringe benefits being removed, so we’re not seeing clients pay for schooling any more” Mr El Mettouri said. “And if they are, it’s normally capped at two children and a certain amount, whether that’s Dh20,000 or Dh30,000 a child.”
Last month EdArabia research found school fees in Dubai had fallen by up to 15 per cent in the past year, as schools compete to retain pupils.
Business-class flights used to be standard for senior employees but “now we’re seeing economy”, Mr El Mettouri said.
But some industries are picking up.
The Robert Walters Middle East jobs index released last week shows advertisements for professional positions rose 25 per cent in the last three months of last year and the first three months of this year across the region.
Demand in the UAE is strongest for banking, financial services and accounting.
Chris Greaves, managing director of recruiter Hays Gulf Region, said the company received 9,000 applications a month, from all nationalities.
“The desire to relocate here and to take up employment is phenomenal, and it’s from all parts of the world in all job sectors,” Mr Greaves said.
Hays’ GCC Salary and Employment Report released in January found more than a third of employers cut jobs but four in 10 added to their staff.
The survey, which assessed 4,250 professionals across the region at the end of last year, found 9 per cent of respondents had their salaries reduced in some way over the course of last year.
Companies are continuing to be “very cost-conscious” about salaries, and are squeezed by pressure from their clients, rising costs of running a business and a workforce that wants pay rises but is not getting them, Mr Greaves said.
“It’s not unusual for us to get an interview for people and then the company will offer them a lower salary than what they are on,” he said. “And you think, ‘why would they do that?’ It’s because their accountants have very, very strong controls over salary inflation.”
And people do opt for the lower salaries, whether it is for personal reasons,or to move to a more respected or well-known brand, Mr Greaves said.
Employment packages are undergoing big changes with all-in-one payments now the most common.
But one reason those “good old classic packages” are fading away is changing demographics, with a lower age and career level emerging in the expatriate workforce, said George Karam, regional managing director for Korn Ferry Hay.
“People come earlier, before they have families, before they have things to worry about,” Mr Karam said. “So that also helps packages to normalise.”
Because of school fees, it is becoming more common for those on mid-level salaries from within the region to leave their families at home, he said.
Others with more vulnerable jobs and inflexible passports who have sought refuge in the UAE from war-torn countries have begun the long process of looking to emigrate to Canada or Australia, just in case.
Despite jitters from expatriates who fear they will lose their jobs and the frightening reality of those who already have, recruiters say the employment situation is far from doom and gloom.
Some clients who left after job losses or because they wanted to move home are trying to return, Abu Dhabi financial adviser Svetia Deshais said.
Mr El Mettouri said that although salaries were flat, rents were generally coming down.
And the zest to come to work here lives on. In a recent survey with an independent research company, 275 general managers were asked if the country was still attractive for expatriates compared to five years ago.
Thirty-two per cent said it was still very attractive and 34 per cent said it was somewhat attractive, with 27 per cent of respondents listing lifestyle and leisure as the top draws.
Of those who said the UAE was no longer attractive, 27 per cent blamed the rising cost of living, 25 per cent VAT, 18 per cent stagnant salaries and 16 per cent were put off by economic uncertainty.
Sam Instone, chief executive of financial services company AES International, has heard the lament that the UAE is facing “another 2008” but he says it is not reflected in his client base.
“I do hear lots of people say, ‘the world is ending, it’s all terrible’, but we always see this country just keeps on expanding,” Mr Instone said. “We keep seeing more companies, more buildings appear, more expatriates appear.”
Mr Instone said cost cutting was not the only reason that benefit packages were shrinking.
“The traditional ‘hardship’ packages of expatriates moving from America or the UK to work in the Middle East and being compensated highly for it are gone because it’s really an employment destination of choice now,” he said.
“Everyone wants to come and work here now. I’d call it a paradise posting.”