Reader Question – When shall I review salaries for staff on Fixed Term contract ?

Tips for deciding when to review salaries for staff on fixed-term contract, whether they are employees or external.

What does “utilities at cost” reimbursement cover ?

Nadim, one of my readers asks : “In our company for certain senior grades we do pay Utilities at actual cost which is the DEWA bill (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority). In my opinion utilities should cover the water and electricity, however I got employees who are claiming also for the household gas, or even…

2013 Compensation best practices [infographic]

It’s my birthday today, and I want to share with you a “gift” in the form of quick infographic from Payscale.com. It covers best practices in Compensation & Benefits for 2013 and is interesting for companies in all countries even though the study is based on US organisations. I strongly suggest you get the full…

Are you using comparatios without thinking ?

In the compensation world, comparatio is defined as an employee’s base pay divided by the midpoint of the salary range linked to the employee’s job grade. Comparatios can be expressed as a percentage (110%) or a number (0.9). Uses of comparatios We use them mostly at the time of salary reviews, in companies that use…

All you need to know : common pay challenges and how to handle them

Some time ago, I published a resource page which I encourage you to explore and share : All you need to know: from compensation surveys to salary ranges and salary review. This page has proven very useful and many of my readers sent me emails to say they appreciated having a compilation like this available…

A nightmare about salary ranges

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…

Do you pay for the job or the nationality ?

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…