Working conditions

Salary & Working hours

Working conditions

Salaries in Dubai are usually similar to or greater than those paid in western countries.

But because the region has no personal taxation, net income is usually much greater, which is one of the major attractions of working in Dubai. In the past, remuneration packages were split into various elements: basic salary, car provision or allowance, housing provision or allowance, medical cover, education for children and air tickets for home visits. Today, however, most employers tend to just pay cash packages, which cover all these expenses, although in some cases there are performance related or other bonuses.

In addition to their salary, contract workers are awarded an ‘indemnity’ at the end of the contract period. The indemnity is usually based on basic salary excluding any bonuses. The indemnity can be a significant amount of money if you’ve been working in Dubai for a long time, and many people manage either to accumulate a reasonable financial cushion or to live the high life. If you’re clever and disciplined, you should be able to do some of both. The indemnity has nothing to do with insurance but is an end-of-contract bonus which is required by law to be paid to expatriate workers as a sort of ‘thank-you’ for being of service to the state. (It’s also known as ‘end of service benefits’.) Indemnity scales usually amount to 21 days of basic pay per year of employment for the first five years and thereafter 30 days salary per year of employment.

Note that some Arab companies regularly delay the payment of salaries, as cash flow problems are passed on to staff. In this event, you have little alternative but to wait.

Working Hours & Overtime

The working week in Dubai tends to vary between 40 and 48 hours, depending on the particular company’s policy. Office hours are usually from 8.30 or 9.00 am to 5.30 or 6.00 pm, but some companies also split the working day into two, usually from 8.00 to 1.00 and 4.00 to 7.00. There is no difference between summer and winter hours. In the month of Ramadan, the working day is reduced to six hours and legally this should apply to all staff, but many companies only apply it to Muslims, who fast during daylight hours.

Friday is the Muslim day of rest and in the past many companies had Thursday-Friday as the weekend. However, nowadays the weekend is on Friday and Saturday since taking Thursday off would mean a reduction in the number of operational days in common with much of the rest of the world.

This article is an extract from Living and Working in Gulf States & Saudi Arabia. Click here to get a copy now .

Further reading

Does this article help?

Do you have any comments, updates or questions on this topic? Ask them here: