Dubai: In the United Arab Emirates, salaries have been restored for selected employees to the level of pre- Pandemic in large corporates following cuts made in the wake of COVID-19.
However, employees in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are not so fortunate due to the severe impact on the sector.
Jon Ede, Regional Director for the Middle East at Michael Page, said salary cuts were temporary across most industries last year.
While speaking to the Khaleej Times, he said, “From what we can tell, most of those have now been removed and employees are enjoying their full salary once again. In 2021, businesses with high demand for niche talent will have to be competitive in terms of salaries and benefits to attract candidates, while those with a large talent pool to choose from will have more flexibility.”
The country manager at Adecco Middle East, a recruitment and HR solutions firm, Mayank Patel, said, “The post-Covid-19 pandemic world of work itself is very different. It’s more agile, freelancing, remote and flexible working. In that light to wish that salaries will go back to 2019 will not be appropriate to consider. But, yes, from the third quarter of 2021, the market should rebound to the 2019 level and we hope that most companies should go back to the normal way of work by December or January 2022,”
“Sectors that were heard hit during a COVID-19-pandemic such as retail, airlines, tourism will show a slow recovery based on how the pandemic will phase out in the region,” said Patel.
Some companies have also delayed their normal appraisal cycles due to Covid-19.