62% of Kuwait Professionals save a portion of their monthly income, shows

KUWAIT: A research study conducted amongst professionals in Kuwait by Bayt.com in partnership with YouGov, revealed a variety of insights on employees' perceptions of salaries and benefits. Close to half (46 percent) of employees expect to receive a raise in 2019, with 12 percent expecting a raise of up to 10 percent.

The survey, administered by Bayt.com, the Middle East's #1 job site, and YouGov, a global pioneer in online market research, aims to gauge employee satisfaction with their current salaries and the varying components that contribute to it, as well as explore the drivers of loyalty towards employers and the significance of salary in career satisfaction and general wellbeing.

"Salary is an integral part of an employee's reward and the Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey 2019 aims to define major factors driving the salary expectations and how they are evolving," said Omar Tahboub, General Manager of Bayt.com. "We make this data available to our 36 million members and our 40,000 employers to ensure everyone is empowered with the right pieces of information to help them make educated career decisions."

Salaries, Benefits, and Raises
In terms of salary, 39 percent of Kuwait respondents claim that their current salary package consists of basic salary with benefits, while 48 percent claim that it consists of basic salary only, 12 percent said they receive a basic salary as well as a commission and benefits.
When it came to the preferred pay structure, 61 percent of respondents said they prefer a '100 percent fixed pay structure', 30 percent said they prefer a 'partially-fixed pay structure with a variable pay for commissions and incentives, while 9 percent prefer a '100 percent variable pay structure.

Among the various benefits employees receive, personal medical insurance (21 percent), transportation allowance (16 percent), bonus (21 percent) and housing allowance (18 percent) are found to be the top benefits in Kuwait.
In addition, almost half (46 percent) of respondents expect to receive a raise in 2019, with the largest proportion of these respondents (14 percent) expecting a raise of 1 to 5 percent. 62 percent of respondents in Kuwait still manage to save a portion of their monthly income, 54 percent of respondents repatriate some portion of their salary to their home country, and 16 percent make regular financial investments.

Respondent Profile
Among those surveyed, almost half (47 percent) of all respondents have been working in their current industry for up to six years, with another quarter (27 percent) having worked in their industry for more than 10 years. When it came to specific employers, a majority (83 percent) of respondents have been working with their current employer for six years or less, with 50 percent having worked for their employer for less than three years.
In their current role, 32 percent of professionals claim to be 'midway in terms of seniority' when asked about the level they have reached in their career path, with another 31 percent claiming they are 'fairly senior level but not at the top yet', 23 percent report being in the 'early days of their career', and 14 percent being at the 'most senior level' they can achieve.
Kerry McLaren, Head of Omnibus MENA at YouGov said: "The Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey 2019 illustrates the job market from employees' perspective, helping candidates understand their worth in the current job market, and provides professionals with evidence when deciding whether to invest time and money in further qualifications. It also helps you determine if your current remuneration is fair when compared to industry standards."

Data for the Middle East and North Africa Salary Survey 2019 was collected online from 21st March 2019 to 9th April 2019. Results are based on a sample of 3,788 respondents from the following countries: UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, and others.

Bayt.com and YouGov Survey