Income gap widens in emerging markets
Asia Pacific - While pay disparity may be widening in emerging markets, salary gaps are not as wide in more established and slower growth economies due to the narrowing skills level between senior executives and junior employees.
The Hay Group study reflects a correlation between the pay gap and the education or skills level of the country's workforce. Charlotte Park, managing director of reward information services, Hay Group Asia says "the larger the population of well-educated and highly trained workforce, the smaller the pay disparity".
As a result of a highly trained workforce, the global talent crunch is not affecting countries with stabilising economies like Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Australia as hard as emerging nations. In fact, results show that the gap in Singapore has narrowed 5.1% from 2006 to 2007 due to the ability to find and grow management talent.
Citing Singapore as an example, Park says, "While salaries tend to start low, [local] employees are able to enjoy up to 24% salary increase within the first two years due to high productivity and good performance."
However, junior employees in emerging markets such as China, Thailand and Vietnam are bearing the brunt of the widening pay gap.
The research shows the gap between the salaries of managers and clerical workers in these fast developing countries has increased due to overwhelming demand for management talent in country. This makes them the top three fastest growing pay gaps in the world.
As economic globalisation continues, Park adds: "Companies will continually need to review their strategic choices in which geographies, which part of their businesses to best spend their wage budget versus the skills and capabilities available."
Source: Hay Group PayNet
Employees get no satisfaction
Middle East – Middle Eastern employees are unsatisfied with their jobs due to reasons such as the lack of career development opportunities and job security, to the lack of IT and systems support in the company.
After surveying nearly 10,000 Middle Eastern employees, 40% of Saudi Arabic employees say they have low levels of work satisfaction. UAE and Qatar employees also agree at 34% and 30% respectively.
Out of those who are satisfied with their current employers, 93% of employees across the Middle East say they are fully engaged in their work while 92% agree that they feel motivated to perform well in the workplace.
Nassim Ghrayeb, CEO, YouGovSiraj, says despite the high-growth economy, companies are not putting enough effort into making employees feel valued, and the situation has to improve dramatically.
“This knowledge is of fundamental importance to businesses, especially in the face of increased costs of recruiting staff, compared to the actual costs of retaining them,” Ghrayeb says.
Source: The 2008 Employee Loyalty, Engagement and Satisfaction Survey
