Education allowances offered by more than a third of employers in the Gulf

According to findings from Hays GCC Salary Guide 2022, child education allowances - which were identified as the most important benefit to employees - are offered by 36% of employers in the Gulf. Yet this is only the fourth most common benefit provided as part of a standard employment package. The top three include life insurance, offered by 48%, company car or car allowance, offered by 47%, and flexible working, offered by 46% of employers in the region.

“There are a number of factors influencing what benefits employees are offered here. We typically see child education allowances for example, be offered according to a candidate’s level of seniority and generally provided to senior, C-Suite level only,” says Sarah Dixon, Managing Director of Hays Gulf Region.

“Industry, company and job role also have a bearing and of course, there are significant variances based on location of work,” she adds.

Indeed, the report found that the number one most common benefit provided by employers in Saudi Arabia was company car / car allowance as offered by 61%, while a lower 43% of employers in the UAE provide this benefit. More than half, 53%, of UAE employers provide life insurance, in contrast to 30% in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to flexible working, 49% of UAE employers offer this as part of a standard package, versus 39% who do in Saudi Arabia. Finally, child education allowances are offered by 32% of Saudi Arabia based employers and 37% of those in the UAE.

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“It is impossible to generalise as to what salary and benefits package an expat should expect in the region and offerings have also changed significantly over the years. Furniture, food and utility allowances for example were more common over a decade ago - prior to the global financial crisis. At the same time, employees in the Gulf were often offered guaranteed bonuses or a ‘golden handshake’, and my colleague even once interviewed a candidate who got a shoe allowance, but that was a bizarre one-off and these perks are certainly not the norm that we see today,” said Sarah. 

“What is standard in the region is employee salary packages are broken down into three main components, including: basic salary, which typically accounts for 60-65% of total salary, housing, which is roughly 25-30%, and flight allowance, which accounts for around 10-20%. Then medical insurance and end of service gratuity come as standard, as required legally of employers.”

“Ultimately, what an employee gets offered on top of these is at employers’ discretion,” adds Sarah.

What workers want
From an employee perspective, the guide found education allowances, flexible working, and share incentives to be the top three most important benefits when considering a new employer. 

“Obviously the more perks an employer is willing to provide, the more attractive they are and the more confident they can be in securing and retaining top talent.”

“Most notably, flexible working has grown significantly in precedence these past two years following the pandemic and this is certainly one offering employers cannot afford to overlook going forward,” said Sarah.

Victoria alderson
Senior Marketing Manager
Hays Gulf Region
victoria.alderson@hays.com
+971 4 559 5898

About Hays GCC Salary Guide 2022
The Hays GCC Salary Guide is our annual remuneration guide for the Gulf region. This year marks our 8th annual edition which details latest recruitment market trends, as well as salary rates for more than 350 different job roles. Get your copy via the Hays website: https://www.hays.ae/salary-guide 

About Hays

Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 30 June 2021 the Group employed c.10,800 staff operating from 256 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2021:

– the Group reported net fees of £918.1 million and operating profit of £95.1 million;
– the Group placed around 60,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary roles;
– 17% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 27% in Germany, 22% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 34% in Rest of World (RoW);
– the temporary placement business represented 61% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 39% of net fees;
– Technology is the Group’s largest specialism, with 26% of net fees, while Accountancy & Finance (14%) and Construction & Property (12%), are the next largest
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA

© Press Release 2022