The Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2014 reported hoteliers are fearful that to fill the MEA hotel development pipeline of 581 hotels (STR Global), employers will resort to recruiting a new low-cost workforce rather than increasing packages to retain existing talent.
While some respondents felt that more hotel openings would “lead to more demand on management and therefore better salaries” and that with more competition, “esteemed companies would offer more competitive benefits”, others felt the opposite was true.
One respondent commented: “With high profile events in the pipeline, I do not see any major impact on the salary structure as demand for work will increase and also the inflow of potential expat workforce, which will encourage existing companies to work with new talent at less costs as compared to retaining talent.”
Another participant said that employers will not increase salaries for existing staff, but “newly created business will offer attractive cash incentives on short term contracts to poach existing professionals and fast track their business plan in time for 2020 and 2022. So executives will have to choose between security and no prospects or more cash and high risks.”
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The results revealed that hoteliers are unsatisfied with wages, with around 68% of participants claiming wages for management positions are inadequate while 79% said the same about line staff positions.
Meanwhile, 55% or respondents said their peers get paidmore in the same positions, revealing a sentiment of dissatisfaction in pay packets among the industry in their current positions.
Despite this, hoteliers reported an increase in confidence with 50% saying they feel confident about the future; however this also applies to employers.
One participant said that due to the development pipeline, pay for line staff may remain static as “more demand of applicants will create an opportunity for employers to choose from a wide range of skills and experience available.”
On a scale of one to five, where five is the highest, 44% of participants gave themselves a five in terms of loyalty to their companies, however only 15.3% thought that their company’s loyalty to them was a five, signaling a feeling among staff of being undervalued by their current employers.
Download the Hotelier Middle East app through iTunes to read more on the Salary Survey in the June Edition of Hotelier Middle East on your iPhone or iPad.
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