# Negotiating salary



## sophiesarah

Hi, I am trying to negotiate my salary before I accept an offer to come to Abu Dhabi. The agency initially gave me a proforma of standard salary and allowance for the role I was applying for. Now they've told me the 'client' is offering 50% of the top band pay for my role. Are they joking, or are they testing the waters to see how cheaply they can get someone? Is this standard practice to negotiate a salary and package?
Many thanks.


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## newguyintown

sophiesarah said:


> Hi, I am trying to negotiate my salary before I accept an offer to come to Abu Dhabi. The agency initially gave me a proforma of standard salary and allowance for the role I was applying for. Now they've told me the 'client' is offering 50% of the top band pay for my role. Are they joking, or are they testing the waters to see how cheaply they can get someone? Is this standard practice to negotiate a salary and package?
> Many thanks.


Hi Sophie (or Sarah?)

Can't say if that is a standard practice but I would suggest that you ensure that the compensation commensurates with your work experience in the domain that you work in and that of course you'd be able to live comfortably and save at least little something with that package here in AD. 

Cheers!


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## sophiesarah

Thanks New Guy,
I am a senior nurse manager. The usual band for my grading is supposedly 16-20000/month. For my years of experience I am at the top end at 20000. The current job had 10000 (minimum) as the start level that they'd said to the agency. So, obviously very low.
The package seemed a bit more generous than the "standard" for nurse managers.
160000 pa for housing.
7000 per month for expenses 
30000 one off for furniture 
Flight home
30 days annual leave
Plus one months salary after each 12 month period.
Nurses aren't the best paid employees anywhere in the world, but am I being unrealistic to expect the top band of 20000/month? I have 13 years in nursing and 7 years as a manager of a specialist area (I was very young when first offered my current role).
Thanks for your response, Sophie


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## Welsh_lady

sophiesarah said:


> Thanks New Guy,
> I am a senior nurse manager. The usual band for my grading is supposedly 16-20000/month. For my years of experience I am at the top end at 20000. The current job had 10000 (minimum) as the start level that they'd said to the agency. So, obviously very low.
> The package seemed a bit more generous than the "standard" for nurse managers.
> 160000 pa for housing.
> 7000 per month for expenses
> 30000 one off for furniture
> Flight home
> 30 days annual leave
> Plus one months salary after each 12 month period.
> Nurses aren't the best paid employees anywhere in the world, but am I being unrealistic to expect the top band of 20000/month? I have 13 years in nursing and 7 years as a manager of a specialist area (I was very young when first offered my current role).
> Thanks for your response, Sophie


It seems to be the norm that they increase the package but not the pay for senior roles.

I know nurses in Abu Dhabi with 5 years ITU/ICU experience on 18k per month (18-20k) is average for UK nurses in specialised areas with 4+ years experience. BUT they are singles living in provided (furnished) flats and if the take a housing allowance the max they get is 60k per year with no extras. They get 40 days leave, and get medical and flights once a year with bonus same as everyone else. 

I'm in Dubai not AD and nurses pay here is worse! Do you need to move to AD? If not check out the American hospital Dubai - there web page has photos of staff accommodation and villas etc. nurse managers (senior level) there get pretty much the same pay you have been offered BUT you get a furnished 3 bed villa on a compound for you and your family to live and school/travel fees so at least what you earn you can keep as no real outgoings.

All hospitals here do long shifts and 48hr week min for all nurses/ managers /staff so I guess only you can decide if it's worth it.

Good luck


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## sophiesarah

Thanks Welsh Lady.
I'm not in any desperate hurry to move, but if the package was good enough I would. I've been a nurse unit manager for 7 years in a specialist area, with 10 years experience in the speciality.
I'll wait a while to see what the client comes back with. I know of another Australian that spoke to the agency, but laughed at the salary and didn't put in their CV. 
We'll wait and see.


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## TallyHo

You may not have yet grasped that the employer seems to be providing you with very generous benefits whilst keeping the salary relatively low.

From what I gather from your post, the offer is a base salary of 10K a month (or 120K per year), but on top of this you're receiving 160K for housing and 84K for allowances. That gives you an overall package value of 364K per annum or essentially 30K per month. That is a very good package for a single person. 

Still, I don't care for the breakdown of the package as your end of service gratuity is based only on the salary component (10K) and not the overall monthly package value (30K). Big difference, no? What you should find out is if the housing allowance is yours to spend as you wish so you can rent a cheaper property and pocket the remainder or if it's a use-it-or-lose-it allowance where the company will write the cheque to the landlord for a year's rent up to 160K but won't give you the remainder. You also need to find out exactly what this 7K month in additional benefits means although I imagine it is defined as 'such and such' but in reality is merely additional income that isn't classified as salary but benefit for the aforementioned gratuity reason. 

As such, it looks as if you're getting 17K/month in disposable income + a generous housing allowance, so I'd consider that a perfectly fine deal. The 17K is close to the 20K month figure you mentioned as being the top of the band pay for your role. 



sophiesarah said:


> Thanks Welsh Lady.
> I'm not in any desperate hurry to move, but if the package was good enough I would. I've been a nurse unit manager for 7 years in a specialist area, with 10 years experience in the speciality.
> I'll wait a while to see what the client comes back with. I know of another Australian that spoke to the agency, but laughed at the salary and didn't put in their CV.
> We'll wait and see.


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## Welsh_lady

I understand from another thread that the op will be sponsoring her husband and 2 children - so i think the package will be tight for a family of 4 with no schooling allowance.


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## sophiesarah

Thanks again for your replies.

Tally Ho, you are right that I should break the package down further to work it out better. It turns out a flight home isn't included (so I'll allow 8500 for that - current price with Etihad). Also, Welsh Lady is right, I am married and likely to be sponsoring my husband (he is a farmer, and hence unskilled as far as education etc) and two children. 

The agency gave me a generic list of what to expect in the UAE and on much closer investigation, the package was worse, but salary a lot more generous... so depending on what the eventual salary I am offered depends on which works out more attractive. It has certainly helped me get my head around how it's all done in the UAE. As for accomodation, it looks like they'll pay direct to the landlord as there is an option to take 3000 cash instead. 

As I've mentioned before we are not in a desperate hurry to move (my father is dying here at the moment, so obviously I want to be here for him). If the overall package was generous enough we would really like the opportunity to travel now whilst the children are still small. We are at an inbetween point with our own business... and I'm a little tired in my current position and ready for a change. We don't want to go to Abu Dhabi just for the sake of going there, we want to be able to save some money, hence the questions. To work out what is reasonable and what is not.

Thank you so much for your help, it's been great. Thanks also Welsh Lady.


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## sophiesarah

Can I also ask, what some likely monthly expenses are for:
Water/Electricity
Phone (what are the plans etc like?... or does everyone just use Skype?)
Transport (I've seen this included in some package options) what is public transport like? Is it easiest just to get a car?

Many thanks.


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## TallyHo

Does your package include school fees for the children? If not, it's absolutely a no-go. 

Even with school fees it's too low. I wouldn't recommend a family of four to move to Dubai unless their package was worth a minimum of 40,000 AED/month (inclusive of housing, school fees and flights), and 45,000 AED/month is still slightly low but more manageable. Abu Dhabi is more expensive due to the higher housing expenses. 

If your father is dying, stay home and spend the time with your family. You will never get that time back if you move to the UAE.


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## sophiesarah

Thanks Tally Ho, your input has been invaluable. So, from what you are saying, if I got the package they are offering, plus the 20000/month that I am asking for then I'd be close to the mark (about 42000/month). The agency has said that my CV has gone to a higher group at the employers to discuss an increased salary offer (which she said is very promising). So, I'll wait and see. I've told them that I couldn't go for at least 6 months, so that I can still be here for dad over the next couple of months.
Thanks again


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## lilly white

*nurse salary in abu dhabi*

hai sarah and rest of friends in the thread..

i work as a nurse in ireland and i had an offer from hospital in duabi and it was very low. 12.5 k with other normal allowences excpt school fees. thats been droped.

now i am looking for a job in abu dhabi. could someone advice me how much a 12 yrs picu exp. nurse can expect there? whats the other allowences and facilities they normally do offer?.

pls advice...


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