A few months ago an HR Manager showed me the (long, hard) work she had done on creating salary ranges for her company, and asked me for feedback. I have to say I was really surprised by what I saw : for a small-size company of less than 200 employees, she had created 9 different…
Full transparency about pay: is it right for you?
February 10, 2013 by 2 Comments
At the beginning of the year, it is not unusual to read articles about pay transparency, like this recent one from the Wall Street Journal : “Psst… This is what your co-worker is paid”. The season of questions about pay transparency In December-January, many organisations focus on evaluating past performance and setting goals for the…
Encouraging Emiratis to “try out” the private sector
February 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
I was a speaker last week at the second Emiratisation Summit, an event organised by IIR Middle East in parallel with the Tawdheef career fair in Abu Dhabi. Usually as a follow-up of my speaking activities, I write a post or two on the conference I attended, reacting on the presentations of the speakers. Unfortunately…
Admit you don’t know, or accept the risks of silence : a Compensation example
January 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Pressure to perform, fear of looking bad in front of others, feeling uncomfortable about admitting our limits…. Very often, at work, we are tempted to pretend. We don’t want to say that we did not understand what the boss meant when she gave us an assignment. We don’t want to say to the employee asking…
Frustrated : a story of customer service and data format
January 22, 2013 by 4 Comments
You know something that really annoys me ? It’s the way that the large survey providers tend to treat their customers in the GCC. Let me share an example. I have more, from other providers – maybe I’ll write them up too in the future. The customer by the way, yes, that’s me. And you.…
Do you pay for the job or the nationality ?
January 15, 2013 by 12 Comments
A recent article reviewing salary differences between nationalities in the GCC made me think. Obviously, in the region, we are all aware of these differences, even if we rarely mention them. According to the annual Gulf Business salary survey, “In the UAE, a Western expat makes 12.6 per cent more than an Arab expat and…
Case study – Give an out-of-cycle increase to my employee now!
January 8, 2013 by 5 Comments
Imagine the scene – you won’t have much problem doing so as I’m sure you have faced a similar situation in the past 🙂 : It’s August. The Head of Accounting calls you and theatrically announces : “There is something wrong in what you decided to pay my employee Hassan ! He is underpaid and…
