2022 has been a year of rebound for the GCC advertising and marketing industry, but are employers and employees on the same wavelength? Let’s find out.
It’s been more than two years since an unknown virus abruptly changed the world and the way we work in it, and its aftershock continues to ripple through. What was once taken for granted keeps being questioned with no clear answers in sight. Is work from home here to stay? And if so, how? Have employees really revised their expectations from the workplace and employers? What do they want and, most importantly, what do they need? Is money still the main driver for them to stay in a job? What other factors should employers prioritize?
Add to the mix global uncertainties around the environment, politics, inflation, and more, and the pressures keep mounting on both the workforce and organizations. Understanding these forces and their practical implications is crucial for employers aiming to attract and retain talent, and ultimately build resilient and future-proof businesses.
Yet, optimism is in order in the GCC – a marked difference from other markets. The region’s economic activity has picked up, which translates into hiring, salary hikes, and other positive developments. This doesn’t mean in any way that employers in Dubai, Riyadh, or elsewhere in the Gulf have found the perfect formula; but it gives them more amplitude to test and learn different approaches to the future of work. This is what Communicate’s 2022 edition of the Salary Survey will explore.
Methodology
To determine the salaries, we conducted two different lines of inquiry that will be reflected in two separate sets of data.
Firstly, we asked agencies to share the salary package they offer, including allowances and benefits, along with a number of other details that delineate the shape of their workforce. More than 30 organizations, including multinational networks and independent groups or agencies operating in the GCC, took part in this initiative (this number includes the individual agencies under the networks that answered and are, indeed, covered by the survey).
We asked participants to give us brackets within the range of AED1,000 less or more – or the SAR equivalent for Saudi Arabia – than the salary they pay for each position. We chose not to disclose figures for the roles/countries for which we did not receive enough responses to get a result truly indicative of the market. You can read the aggregated results, maintaining complete confidentiality of each participant’s answers, below.
In part 2, to be released tomorrow, we'll show another series of findings about what employers have to say about their workforce, salaries, benefits and more.
This article was published in Communicate's latest issue.
