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Hello All

I was offered employment in Dubai and this is the package i was offered what are your thoughts on it:
Salary 60,000 AED annual

Accommodation Allowance 35,000 AED Annual

Commission Variable 15,000 AED Annual based on a revenue target



Other Benefits:

Annual Flight ticket, End of Leave benefit, Private medical insurance with BUPA, upto 22 days holiday a year.

Upto 10,000 AED assistance to bring you over to Dubai

busybee wrote:Hello All

I was offered employment in Dubai and this is the package i was offered what are your thoughts on it:
Salary 60,000 AED annual

Accommodation Allowance 35,000 AED Annual

Commission Variable 15,000 AED Annual based on a revenue target



Other Benefits:

Annual Flight ticket, End of Leave benefit, Private medical insurance with BUPA, upto 22 days holiday a year.

Upto 10,000 AED assistance to bring you over to Dubai

60,000 AED is 5,000 per month. Factor in expenses: (1) you will probably need to buy a car; (2) bills which would include DEWA, mobile, and in all probability cable; (4) food, which is not cheap; (5) clothing; (6) social life and (7) petrol. If you buy a car and things don't work out you will have incurred debt, something you don't want to do early on - especially in Dubai!!!! If you don't buy a car you could rent one or get around by taxi - which could be expensive. Depending on where you live and work, there is public transportation but that could require alot of time getting and fro.

35,000 AED rent: depending on where you want to live your can get a studio or a 1 bedroom apartment. Who is going to furnish it - you? If so, factor that in.

Commission - not guaranteed.

Holiday: 22 days. Is this vacation time? Are they 22 working days? Anything about standard holidays and sick leave?

End of leave benefit is madatory (by law), but you would have to complete a full year of service to collect anything and on your salary it would not be very much. I don't think it would even cover the cost of a ticket back home. Also, the payment may differ depending on voluntary or involuntary termination.

To be honest, I wouldn't do it.

I agree Bora, the accomodation allowance isn't very good, unless you are sharing you will need to contibute to it out of your annual salary.

busybee wrote:Hello All

I was offered employment in Dubai and this is the package i was offered what are your thoughts on it:
Salary 60,000 AED annual

Accommodation Allowance 35,000 AED Annual

Commission Variable 15,000 AED Annual based on a revenue target



Other Benefits:

Annual Flight ticket, End of Leave benefit, Private medical insurance with BUPA, upto 22 days holiday a year.

Upto 10,000 AED assistance to bring you over to Dubai

That's an odd combination. BUPA is not cheap, unusual to see it offered with a 5k a month salary - I'd have expected govt health card only. Unless it's a regional only package from BUPA, or even UAE only?

In answer to your question, no it's probably not a good package depending on what the job is. If it's for a labourer on a construction site then it's 5x to 10x what the average is. If it's a secretary it's about average. If it's a teacher, it's at the very low end for western curriculum schools, about average or better for Indian schools. Commission implies it's some sort of sales job. Sounds like a very poor commission expectation, only 1200 per month.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/salaries-dubai.php

You can survive but you won't save much, you won't have a good car (cheap car rental for AED 1500 per month might be better than buying a POS that breaks down all the time), you won't be able to enjoy many of the more expensive activities in Dubai. But depending on your background, experience, qualifications, desires, maybe it's not a bad starting point. Here's a list of some expenses ...

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/cost-of-living-in-dubai.php

If company near metro station, and you find accommodation near metro station (Dubai Marina is nice enough place to live and you could probably find a studio for 35k, JLT across the road a bit cheaper), then you can get by without a car.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/dubai-metro.php

22 days holiday should be working days - I think labour law says employees are entitled to 1 month per year but not certain.

The job gives me the oppurtunity to travel worldwide and the company takes care of those expenses i would imagine, you are all getting me worried, the package is for a starter a junior consultant role with a software company. I am not too sure what to do especially with the responses i am getting here, i was told its not great but its a start and should take up the offer as i could always gain experience and then move on to something else.

Do your homework. Read everything you can regarding employment laws in Dubai. It can get very sticky. Also, there have been many people who were offered a certain package but once they arrived in Dubai it was considerably less than the intial offer. Ask for a copy of the contract that they plan to issue.

I still think it would be very tight for a you, especially if you are a young, single individual who enjoys going out.

Bora Bora, thank you i will get the contract looked over, especially as i have a child to support. where can i get information on dubais employment law?

busybee wrote:Bora Bora, thank you i will get the contract looked over, especially as i have a child to support. where can i get information on dubais employment law?

Search for UAE Federal Labour Law number 8 of 1980. There's always a few pdf downloads appear. Watch out for the Al Tamimi one, it's easier to read but has some inaccuracies.

busybee wrote:The job gives me the oppurtunity to travel worldwide and the company takes care of those expenses i would imagine, you are all getting me worried, the package is for a starter a junior consultant role with a software company. I am not too sure what to do especially with the responses i am getting here, i was told its not great but its a start and should take up the offer as i could always gain experience and then move on to something else.

Be careful about imagining things with respect to employment in the UAE. You're probably right with the specific example but it doesn't hurt to be sceptical about anything promised unless you see it in writing, and even then, be wary.

The reason for so few positive comments is that most people who have lived here for a period of time, especially if they've had more than one job, have been burned by employers to a greater or lesser extent. You sort of get used to it if it's not anything too dire, but it's the kind of thing that disappoints many newcomers.

Package is not great but check costs carefully, do your sums, and then decide. If potential for future earnings is good then factor that in also.

My first salary here was similar, and it was an improvement on where I came from. I'm glad I took the job because when I left I found a better one.

Thanks bonk, i think the problem i have is i dont know the average cost of things in the UAE, silly as it may sound what kind of household bills will i be faced with or does the rent cover that, how does it all work oout in dubai. , if i know where to get the average cost of things i should be ok. I have a family member there who has a very well paid job and her advice was its not a lot but the oppurtunity will open alot of doors for me given the competition within the IT industry. i really want to weigh up both sides of things but also keep a positive mind and not be blinded. what would you say the average salary in dubai is

As you will see in my first post I gave you an idea of expenses that you would incur. It's hard to give you a guesstimate on what you would spend on food, electricity, mobile, etc., but I will tell you it would be very, very tight with your salary.

Do you plan on bringing your child? If so, you would then have to factor in either school - which is very expensive. You would probably also need a full time housemaid which at the minimum would cost you 1,000AED a month in addition to the cost of sponsoring her as well as factoring in a round trip ticket once a year, possibly once every two years. You will never save any money while you are here and you can only hope that the experience you would get will pay off in the future. If you don't bring your child, you will have very little, if anything (which is more likely), to send back for his/her care.

At least you have a family member in the event something goes wrong.

For those of us who have been here for some time we are all too familiar as to how things can go wrong, and very quickly. There are few, if any, safety nets here for expats.

Sorry to be so negative. With regard to bonk and his employment, I assume he came to Dubai sometime ago and seen the good days. Times are rough right now in Dubai, and IMO I don't see it getting better for some time, if ever.

busybee wrote:Thanks bonk, i think the problem i have is i dont know the average cost of things in the UAE, silly as it may sound what kind of household bills will i be faced with or does the rent cover that, how does it all work oout in dubai. , if i know where to get the average cost of things i should be ok. I have a family member there who has a very well paid job and her advice was its not a lot but the oppurtunity will open alot of doors for me given the competition within the IT industry. i really want to weigh up both sides of things but also keep a positive mind and not be blinded. what would you say the average salary in dubai is

Average salary? Depends what you mean by average. Might be AED 15k-20k per month but that's distorted by quite a few extraordinarily high salaries. Less than AED 10k is a common salary especially in the service industry. Some numbers here ...

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/salaries-dubai.php

As for costs in the UAE, here's a guide to some prices ...

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/cost-of-living-in-dubai.php

Depending on the nature of your work, you will be competing for jobs with many well-qualified and experienced IT personnel from Asia, for whom a 5k salary is often a significant increase on what they'd be paid for the same job in their home country.

You could go with the attitude of trying it for a year but I think especially with a child, that would only be a good idea if you know you can go easily go back to employment in the UK in a year's time (and be ready for an extra tax bill on what you earned in Dubai).

Bora Bora wrote:Sorry to be so negative. With regard to bonk and his employment, I assume he came to Dubai sometime ago and seen the good days. Times are rough right now in Dubai, and IMO I don't see it getting better for some time, if ever.

It was a while ago and yes I've seen good and bad days ... still here for the time being . I perhaps should have clarified, the same job today I think is paying about AED 7-8k per month.

Good point about education for child. That is a significant cost. Some nurseries have annual fees not far off your total salary. And a few schools have annual fees significantly higher, even almost twice as much in a couple of cases. There are no free education options for non-Arab expats in the UAE, except maybe home-schooling but there are still costs associated with that.

Didn't see an indication of age but if young (<5), there are some nurseries that are open for childcare all day, so you might be able to avoid the cost of a maid/nanny that way. But of course, then you pay extra to the nursery.

http://www.dubaifaqs.com/nurseries-dubai.php

You also need to know if medical insurance provided for child. Otherwise that's another significant cost.

How negotiable are they? Was that their final offer (usually most negotiations see a couple more adjustments after "last price" or "final offer" )? How much do they want you in particular?

Suggest either no commission and a higher salary (try 90k or more), or increase commission to a significant level (try 45k or more). Then you're somewhere in the ballpark of something more doable. Still not great though.

This is not a good package in my opinion. Drivers and other similar jobs where the individual is not educated, can not speak nor write english pay up to 5,000 Dhs per month. I have a driver and I pay him 3,500 AED per month (no accomodation). My maid gets 1,800 Dhs per month. In the company I work the most junios or expats are at least on 10k+. Sorry if this popped your bubble - ultimately its not all about money but the opportunity as well. Do what you think is best.