A few questions regarding compensation in Bahrain

Hi,

Wanted to get some feedback on compensation policies prevalent in Bahrain.
While I am aware, there can be no generic rule, it would be great to get some pointers as to the most prevalent practice.

1.  Are there annual increments ? In Oman, its either 3% and (in many cases, it remains the same. So even if you got a good starting amount, it may not be look that great after 3 years).

2. What are the usual perks that government companies are likely to provide ? Let me provide some common examples that comes to my mind.

a) medical insurance for self and family
b) Return airfare to home country for self and family
c) Car allowance  (is there any example of providing car with driver ?)
d) Education allowance

It would be great if members could add to this list .

Also, my understanding is , like other GCC countries , till now there is no Income Tax .
Is there a remittance tax yet ( or VAT ? )/

Appreciate your feedback on the same.

Thanks

1) Depends on company to company.  A lot have frozen increments due to the economic conditions.  Also when increments are given, these are not very high and usually in single digits.  Remember that GCC countries have hard currencies pegged to the US dollar and relatively stable inflation rates so you can't compare increments to India/Pakistan where there are exchange rate fluctuations and rising inflation.  You don't get double digit increments for most countries with hard currencies and stable inflation e.g. when I was in the UK, we never saw more than 2-3% as increments and same for other areas like Singapore, hong kong etc.  The only exception is for exceptional performers in companies which have those policies e.g. multinationals - definitely not government companies :)
2) Medical and return airfare is standard. Education varies but generally senior roles get some form of education assistance.  Car allowance is usually also standard but is cash based - senior employees can get cars and car with driver is rare
3) Till now there is no income tax, remittance tax or VAT.  VAT is likely to come in 2019

Many Thanks Xtang for your prompt response. Your comments on increments are very valid.

Let me ask very specifically, especially for Governement companies, is there any other perks which can be listed ?

I asked this , as contrary to my belief (that these are pretty standard), I realized - based on 'who-has-asked-for- what', there are wide variance on type of perks offered in Oman.

The idea is not to miss out anything out of ignorance ;-)

Thanks

It varies depending on:

Company
And whether you are local or expat

For most government companies, localisation pressures means that they are exiting expats and / or curtailing benefits to expats.

Before these hard times, I had heard of good perks.  Mind you, these were for very senior roles i.e. directors and above which included club memberships, multiple business class tickets back home, access to low interest loans, guaranteed bonuses on completion of fixed tenures etc.   Today, pretty much forget about any of these if you are an expat and don't even think about these if you are not senior enough i.e. are below 6,000 BD a month or so.

And in my experience, the level you are at or the uniqueness of your position, makes a big big difference.  I was approached years ago by a government entity in GCC and in the end, I didn't move but during negotiations, they were very open to adjusting perks - as their salary ranges are not that flexible but perks they can always expense off :)

That pretty much answers my question . Thanks again ! :)