The majority of workers in the UAE are seeking a new job this year amid a lack of pay rises, according to an online poll carried out by The National.
Almost 4,000 people took part in the poll, which was accompanied by HR experts' latest salary ranges for a host of sectors (see above).
We asked respondents if they received a pay rise in 2019, and 77 per cent said that they did not, while 9 per cent received a raise of between 1 and 3 per cent. Fourteen per cent said they received a raise of more than 3 per cent.
There was not much optimism when asked if they thought a pay rise would be forthcoming in 2020, with 57 per cent saying their company does not give out raises. Thirty-eight per cent said they believe they have earned a pay hike and 8 per cent "do not deserve a raise".
Meanwhile, the vast majority of respondents (85 per cent) felt they should be earning more when asked if their salary was at the right level, and 69 per cent said they will be looking for a new job this year rather than being content where they are.
How did this compare to last year?
The results of the survey followed similar trends to a separate poll carried out by The National at the beginning of 2019.
That time around, 74 per cent of the more than 3,000 respondents said they did not get a rise in 2018, while 54 per cent said they were not expecting a rise in 2019 as their company did not provide one.
Furthermore, 83 per cent said they should be earning more and 67 per cent confirmed they would be looking to change job.
What have the HR consultants been saying?
A new report from HR consultant Hays found that 40 per cent of employees' salaries in the UAE rose in 2019, "most commonly by less than 5 per cent".
It added that 57 per cent of UAE employees expect a pay rise in 2020.
"Once again, individual performance related pay rises were more common than companywide pay increases in 2019," Hays said in its GCC-wide report.
"This is most likely down to employee engagement strategies, with organisations recognising and rewarding their top performers. In many cases, this approach also saves organisations money by upping the pay for only a select number of employees rather than the workforce at large."
Cooper Fitch said that salaries are expected to remain broadly flat across most sectors this year. It predicted a 1 per cent increase in market salary ranges for new hires on average.
This comes amid Abu Dhabi’s Dh50bn Ghadan 21 stimulus package, the hosting in Dubai of Expo 2020 and more stable oil prices which currently sit around $65 a barrel.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
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Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Celtic Prince, David Liska (jockey), Rashed Bouresly (trainer).
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7.40pm: Handicap Dh190,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Grand Argentier, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 2,200m
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8.50pm: The Entisar Listed Dh265,000 (D) 2,000m
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Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Who are the Sacklers?
The Sackler family is a transatlantic dynasty that owns Purdue Pharma, which manufactures and markets OxyContin, one of the drugs at the centre of America's opioids crisis. The family is well known for their generous philanthropy towards the world's top cultural institutions, including Guggenheim Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Tate in Britain, Yale University and the Serpentine Gallery, to name a few. Two branches of the family control Purdue Pharma.
Isaac Sackler and Sophie Greenberg were Jewish immigrants who arrived in New York before the First World War. They had three sons. The first, Arthur, died before OxyContin was invented. The second, Mortimer, who died aged 93 in 2010, was a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma. The third, Raymond, died aged 97 in 2017 and was also a former chief executive of Purdue Pharma.
It was Arthur, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical marketeer, who started the family business dynasty. He and his brothers bought a small company called Purdue Frederick; among their first products were laxatives and prescription earwax remover.
Arthur's branch of the family has not been involved in Purdue for many years and his daughter, Elizabeth, has spoken out against it, saying the company's role in America's drugs crisis is "morally abhorrent".
The lawsuits that were brought by the attorneys general of New York and Massachussetts named eight Sacklers. This includes Kathe, Mortimer, Richard, Jonathan and Ilene Sackler Lefcourt, who are all the children of either Mortimer or Raymond. Then there's Theresa Sackler, who is Mortimer senior's widow; Beverly, Raymond's widow; and David Sackler, Raymond's grandson.
Members of the Sackler family are rarely seen in public.
