Dubai: Construction companies in the UAE and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region are the most generous when it comes to salary packages, with chief executives bringing home Dh4.4 million (about $1.2m) a year, according to an executive search firm.
“CEOs in the construction sector – incidentally the highest-paying sector for senior management executives in the region – now rake up to $1.2 million per annum as basic pay,” said Rasd in a press statement on Monday.
Mohamad El Turk, partner at Rasd, said the substantial salaries can be attributed to the “exponential growth” that the construction industry experienced in the last year.
“This is especially the case in Dubai, [Saudi Arabia] and Qatar, where multiple new projects are materialising. Top-level executives within these sectors are now in a position to reap the benefits of this momentum,” Turk said.
More projects have come on stream in the GCC region recently, with the amount of construction deals planned or underway posting a 13 per cent increase in April 8, 2014 compared to a year earlier. In the UAE alone, some $727 billion worth of projects were either planned or underway, according to Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) estimates.
The second-most generous in the region in terms of executive pay is the commercial banking sector, which is paying CEOs an average of $600,000 to $1 million annually.
Executives in the real estate, consumer goods retail and automotive industries are not far behind, earning between $350,000 and $550,000 a year.
Nadim El Said, managing partner at Rasd, said that companies in the region are willing to offer huge compensation packages to their staff, especially the ones that play a significant role in their business.
“Multinationals are willing to pay significant amounts especially for highly skilled leaders who also exhibit cultural-compatibility. This trend is even more pronounced with local groups and conglomerates who seek leaders possessing a deep understanding of the region and that can communicate effectively with native stakeholders.”