And the survey says...

The Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2010 provides a fascinating insight into the earning potential and job satisfaction of hospitality professionals in the region. Jamie Knights reports

Open to hospitality professionals across the region, 249 people took part in the Hotelier Middle East Salary Survey 2010 during the month of June.

Despite all the doom and gloom of the last year and a half, it was great to see that there were still that many people left in the industry.

All jokes aside, when compared to the inaugural salary survey in 2009 — which took place just as the global economic downturn engulfed the Middle East — the results provide a fascinating and clear depiction of how the tumultuous year has changed sentiment.

THE RESPONDENTS

Once again, there was a large mixture of respondents to the survey, with the majority holding management and sales and marketing roles.

F&B was represented in various roles with the sector providing 38 of total responses.

Of the 249 respondents that took part in the survey on HotelierMiddleEast.com, the breakdown of the roles was as follows (n=249):
Chef: 22
Food Service: 10
Bar staff: 1
Kitchen porter: 1
Conference & banqueting: 4
Receptionist: 6
Reservations: 4
Housekeeper: 9
Maintenance: 2
Management: 87
Sales and marketing: 24
PR & communications: 14
HR: 17
IT: 5
Finances: 12
Procurement : 7
Head/regional office: 8
Other front of house: 7
Other back of house: 8

The breakdown of level of role is as follows (n=249):
Director: 41
Senior manager: 17
Executive manager: 24
Regional manager: 6
General manager: 40
Manager: 52
Assistant manager: 29
Full-time employee: 38
Part-time employee: 1
Trainee/apprentice: 1

The breakdown of the age of respondents was as follows (n=249):
21-30 years: 21.3%
31-40 years: 41.8%
41-50 years: 27.3%
51-60 years: 8%
60+ years: 1.6%

MONTHLY REMUNERATION

The impact of the downturn on salaries can be seen when compared to the 2009 survey. Those earning less than US $1500 rose from 9.5% of respondents to 12.7%. Furthermore, those earning $1500 to $2000 increased from 21.8% to 22.4%, while those earning $3000 to $4500 dropped from 18.7% to 16.6%.

However, while it could be argued that many middle-range earners witnessed salary decreases, there were significant gains in the high-earner categories.

The number of respondents earning $7500 to $10,500 increased from 6.7% to 13.7%. Some possible causes of the apparent drop in mid-range salaries could be explained by mid-management redundancies and a pushing of salaries both up and down with job title repositioning.

When looking at the competitiveness of their salaries, 66.5% of respondents thought their pay was average for the region, however, much like the 2009 survey revealed, 46.2% believed when compared to their global counterparts, their pay was below average.

PAY RISES AND PROMOTIONS

Despite many people having a year they would like to forget, a lucky 49.3% received a pay rise in the last 12 months. Just over a quarter of respondents (26.9%) were also promoted in the same period.

However, for more than half of those who took the survey (52.3%) it has been more than two years since they were last promoted.

A further 40.6% are assuming they will be getting a promotion within the next year, with 36% thinking they will be promoted between one and two years.

A rather pessimistic/realistic/lazy 8.1% concluded it will be more than three years before they expect a promotion. However, this figure includes those at the top of the pile!

WORKING CONDITIONS

It is very rare that a hospitality job is ‘nine to five’ and 65% of respondents work more than 50 hours a week, with 29.9% working 40 to 50 hours. However, these figures represent a drop from 67.5% and 28% respectively last year.

Furthermore, those working less than 30 hours a week rose from 0.6% to 1%.

Although these are certainly long hours, 71.9% of respondents received more than 25 days’ holiday a year, a further 17.9% claiming 21 to 25 days’ holiday.

EMPLOYEE SENTIMENT

Employee sentiment has produced a mixed bag of results when compared to last year’s survey.

The good news is that those looking to the future with complete confidence has risen from 45.3% to 51.6%. Almost 40% of respondents in 2009 said they felt less secure than they did six months before, but the 2010 survey has revealed that 15.2% feel more secure than they did 12 months ago.

Interestingly, the number of people who are anxious over keeping their jobs has increased from 8.8% in 2009 to 12.5%. However, this was offset by a reduction in those who believe they will be made redundant in the next six months from 3.7% to 1.6% and a drop in those who have already been told they will be made redundant from 2.7% to 1.1%.

While 34.2% said they would leave their current job for a higher salary, unsurprisingly this figure rose to 55.8% if you only look at those who thought their salary was below average for the region.

SALES AND MARKETING IN FOCUS

Last year we put a spotlight on the GMs, but in 2010, sales and marketing gets deeper analysis.

More than 80% of the sales and marketing respondents were below 40 years old and 50.1% came from either Lebanon, the UAE or Western Europe.

Although 22.4% of all respondents registered an average monthly salary of $1500 to $3000, the figure was far higher for sales and marketing (43.8%). However, 31.3% of respondents said 0—5% of this remuneration was made up of commission and bonuses.

Interestingly, while 19.6% of all respondents said they were completely happy in their current job, only 7.7% of sales and marketing respondents could say the same.

Furthermore, while 33.2% of total respondents said they would leave their current job for a more prestigious position, a whopping 61.5% of sales and marketing respondents said they would jump ship for the same reason.

While 29.1% of all respondents expect a pay rise of more than 10% within the next year, 50% of sales and marketing respondents are looking forward to a significant rise in their remuneration.

One thing is clear, those in sales and marketing roles are more optimistic than the group as a whole.

HOW THE MONEY MAKES A DIFFERENCE

When you look at the difference financial rewards make in sentiment, the findings would suggestion a fairly strong link between amount of pay and job satisfaction.

No real surprise, but something employers should take note of, especially when you consider 19.6% of total respondents said they were totally happy in their current job and only 34.2% would leave their current job for a higher salary. However, when you focus on the respondents who earned less than $1500, a paltry 6.3% said they were completely happy, with 62.5% stating they would leave their current job for the higher salary.

While 46.9% of those who were in the lowest pay category actually felt they were totally loyal (posting a five out of five rating), 68.8% felt their company only showed a rating of three out of five or less for loyalty to them. This negative view was 10.4% higher than the total respondents figure.

For 70.2% of those earning $3000 or less, better training schemes were rated as extremely important or a deal breaker when considering a move to another company. High on the agenda was pay, with 86.4% claiming the wage was extremely important or a deal breaker.

These figures are in direct contrast when compared with those who earn $10,500 or above a month – only 22.6% rating training schemes as extremely important or a deal breaker. Only 68.8% put wages in the same categories of priority.

Considering the cost of training, a balance between pay and happiness is key when tackling remuneration.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

While raw data is not an answer in itself, trends can be observed.

The hospitality industry is more optimistic about the future than it was a year ago, when people were uncertain as to how the economic crisis would develop.

Yet this optimism is offset by a concern over job security. It is little wonder that people are more anxious, many having seen colleagues either made redundant or relocated.

However, normal sentiment appears to be returning. Roughly the same percentage of people expect promotions and pay rises as they did in 2009. Whether or not they get them remains to be seen.

Those who earn the least are looking for ways of improving their situation and have therefore placed a greater amount of importance on training, respect and remuneration.

Those who already earn a healthy monthly wage are not so concerned with training, although money still plays a part, but they are looking at the reputation of the company they would work for.

It will be interesting to see if 2010 proves to be the year many believe it will be. But, for now, we will leave you with our favourite comparison.

While 57.6% of respondents earning under $3000 would leave a job for a higher salary, only 12.5% of those earning more than $10,500 would do the same.

However, 40.6% of people earning $10,500 would leave for a more prestigious position, while only 22% of respondents earning under $3,000 would move for the same reason.

It would appear that once you have the money, you go on the search for prestige – happy hunting whichever you are chasing.