Dubai: Salaries in UAE could increase by as much as 8.9 per cent in 2016, with the highest adjustment expected among those who hold in-demand positions and add value to the company.
The latest Robert Half 2016 Salary Guide showed that salaries of employees in finance and accounting, financial services, information technology, legal, and human resources and administration, will grow by 1.7 per cent on average next year.
Employees working as internal auditors and learning and development managers are forecast to enjoy the biggest increase of 8.9 per cent and 7.6 per cent, respectively.
Gareth El Mettouri, associate director at Robert Half, noted that companies are finding it a challenge to recruit for certain positions, hence they are giving away attractive pay adjustments to select employees despite the current uncertainty.
“Businesses are actively seeking skilled professionals for new roles and to fill open vacancies [thus] driving salary rises well above average for in-demand roles. Hard-to-fill roles are experiencing higher than average pay rises due to the increased competition for these candidates,” El Mettouri said.
Pay hikes per sector
Within the financial services industry, salaries are expected to grow by 1.5 per cent, on average, next year. However, employees holding in-demand roles, such as compliance and private equity and asset management, can expect to receive higher-than-average increases.
The biggest gainers in the industry next year will most likely be the compliance managers, whose paycheques are expected to rise by 5 per cent, anti-money laundering specialists (4.2 per cent) and those who work as assistant vice president in private equity and asset management (4.2 per cent).
Technology
Professionals in the technology field can expect salaries to increase by 1.1 per cent. Network architects, senior business systems analyst and enterprise architects with more than 16 years of work experience, however, will likely get more than 2 per cent.
Human resources and administration
HR and administration professionals are predicted to see their salaries grow by 2.4 per cent, on average. The biggest gainers will be learning and development managers (7.6 per cent), followed by heads of learning and development (5 per cent), and HR directors (4 per cent).
Explaining why learning and development professionals are in demand these days, El Mettouri noted that companies in the UAE are looking for ways to maintain competitiveness and develop their "talent pipeline."
"As a result, this is driving demand for learning and development professionals, especially managers who are able to bring experience and drive employee development strategies," El Mettouri told Gulf News.
"Demand for skilled professionals in the UAE is expected to continue outweighing supply well into 2016, and from that we can expect to see businesses looking to upskill their existing employees to support their medium to long-term growth goals."
Legal services
Professionals with law degrees or background, including those handling legal functions, both in-house and private practice, can expect pay increases of 1.4 per cent, on average.
The highest increases will go to regional legal counsels (2.6 per cent), followed by paralegals, whose increases can vary between 2.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent, depending on length of work experience.
