RIYADH — There will be an average salary increase of 5.8 percent for Saudi Arabia in 2013, Aon Hewitt, the global human resources business of Aon plc, forecast Monday in it's annual “Middle East Salary Increase Survey 2012". The report, based on inputs from a robust comparator group of over 500 organizations from 26 sectors in the Middle East, suggests that a 6.08 percent salary increase was projected in 2013 for the Middle East as a whole and an average increase of 5.4 percent for the GCC, the same as the projection made in 2011 for 2012. Aon Hewitt has been conducting the survey on an annual basis across the globe for 36 years and launched it in the Middle East for the first time in 2009. The survey is conducted in 9 countries in the region, including: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The projected salary increase for 2013 in Saudi Arabia was the same projection made in 2011 for 2012, indicating that organizations continue to show confidence in the economic stability of the region and optimism for future growth. This was particularly the case for I.T. which gave a high salary increase of 7.2 percent this year against a much lower increase of 4.4 percent given by telecommunication services. Foreign owned companies in the Kingdom projected a 6.6 percent salary increase against local companies' projection of 4.8 percent. The majority of companies gave salary increases based on employee performance, this trend was apparent across all levels but slightly increased at lower levels compared to middle and upper management. The report also highlights that fewer organizations in the Middle East are thinking about salary freezes. In Saudi Arabia, 6.3 percent of participating organizations reported salary freeze for 2012 but this decreased to 4.9 percent for 2013. Martin McGuigan, Head of Reward Consulting, Aon Hewitt Middle East, said: “All macro-indicators have shown that the economic scenario continues to move in a positive direction with corporates continuing to show confidence in the 2013 economic outlook. At large, there are no further reductions in the salary increase projections for the next year which is good news for employees. We have also observed that organizations have increasingly been linking salary increases to performance, which is a healthy trend and indicates the increasing maturity level of the market." — SG
