When it comes to employee compensation in Qatar, it is quite similar to other western countries. But, due to the lack of personal taxation, employee’s net income is generally higher and is the major plus point for the people working in Qatar.
In earlier times, remuneration packages were divided into various forms like Basic Salary, Car allowance, Housing allowance, Medical cover, Children education, and Air tickets to travel home. But, nowadays, employers pay salaries to cover these expenditures with bonus options as an exception.
In contrast, here are some of the common benefits that employers offer to employees –
Indemnity
The contract workers have benefits of Indemnity at the end of the contract period. The indemnity is decided based on basic salary which excludes bonuses.
The employees who are working in Qatar for long, Indemnity can be a financial benefit. The indemnity is an end of the term bonus which is required to be paid to expatriate workers by the law thanking them for serving for the state.
The term is also known as ‘End-of-contract benefits’ or ‘End-of-service benefits’. The indemnity scales range from 15 to 20 days of basic pay per year of the employment for the first three years, and a month’s pay each year thereafter.
Gratuity
An employee is accredited with an end of service gratuity, once his/her service expires. To get the benefit of accreditation, the employee should have completed at least five years of employment.
The benefit of gratuity is agreed upon by the two parties, provided it is not less than three-week wages for each year of employment. In case, if one has 5 years of service, gratuity could then be calculated at 30 days per year. If any amount is due to the employee, the employer is entitled to cut off from service gratuity.
Leave
If we talk about leave rules, the employer basically sets the date of annual leave for the employee according to the work requirements. The leaves may get divided with the consent of the employee, provided the leaves are not divided into more than two periods.
If in case, the employee submits a written application regarding postponement of the annual leave, it is possible till next year. But, it should not be more than half of the annual leave.
If an employee continues to do service for one year, then the employee is eligible for an annual paid leave for at least three weeks (if the service is less than five years). And, if service is more than five years, one is eligible for at least four weeks of leave.
An employee is eligible to apply for leave for fractions of the year, based on the
period of service rendered.
The employee is unallowed to refrain his/her entitlement for the annual leave. Plus, any kind of agreement done would also be considered null and void.
In case, the contract is terminated before employee claims leave, some employers also offer payment instead of annual leave of the employee. This payment is equivalent to the employee’s salary for the leave days for which the employee is entitled.
Check out information about cost of living in Doha.
Sick leave
The workers are eligible for paid sick leave every year during their service. The sick leave can be applied only after completion of three months in service, and also there needs a medical certificate.
The employee will be paid full salary, if sick leave does not exceed two weeks. In case the sick leave extends, the employee will be paid half the salary for the next four weeks.
The sick leave can be extended further without any pay, until the employee resumes for work, or resigns, or his service is terminated due to any health issue.
At the end of the 12th week of sick leave, the service of the employee may be terminated if a report is issued by the physician indicating that the employee is unable to resume work.
Pilgrimage leave
Being a muslim employee, one is eligible to apply for the leave without pay, provided it should not exceed two weeks, to fulfill his obligation to go to his land, once during the employment.
In such a case, the employer will specify the number of workers to grant the leave annually, based on the work requirements. The priority will be given to those who have worked for a long term. But, the leave will only be granted only when the work condition permits.
Others
Apart from annual leave, employees will be offered leave for public holidays including Eid AL Fitr, Eid AL Adha, Independence Day, National Sports Day, and other festive days as mentioned by the employer.
Muslim employees are eligible for pilgrimiage leave without paying for maximum two weeks during the period of employment. With this, female workers can also avail maternity leave for 50 days on completion of one year of job.
Salaries in Qatar (2020)
Wages in Qatar fall in the range QR1200 per month to QR87,000 per month. The median salary is about QR13000 per month, which is a fact that more than half of the population in Qatar earns less than QR13,000. Others earn more than QR13,000.
An employee working in Qatar generally earns about QR16,794 per month including housing, transportation and other benefits. Salary may differ as per different types of jobs.
Below are the average monthly salaries of expats in Qatar. The Western CEOs working in multinational firms, have salaries upto USD41,000 per month in Qatar. Check out the salary for a particular job with specific job titles.
Monthly Average Salaries Based on Occupation (Managerial positions).
| Occupation | Salary Range Per Month |
| Finance and Accounting Manager | QR30,105 – 41,732 |
| Banking, Branch Manager | QR29,468 – QR47,867 |
| HR Manager | QR34,752 – QR45,868 |
| Lawyer Marketer / Manager | QR34,245 – QR44,172 |
| Real Estate, Manager | QR40,589 – QR46,608 |
| Information Technology, Manager | QR43,436 – QR57,287 |
| Construction, Project Manager | QR38,670 – QR56,839 |
| Banking, Treasury Manager | QR44,044 – QR62,130 |
| Banking, Branch Manager | QR29,468 – QR47,867 |
| Media – PR Manager | QR27,164 – QR36,547 |
| CEO/MD, multinational | QR1,21,322 – QR1,56,635 |
| CEO/MD local company | QR76,397 – QR98,357 |
| Healthcare – General practitioner | QR33,972 – QR42,966 |
| Events Manager | QR18,377 – QR29,130 |
Average Monthly Salaries in Qatar Based on Job Category (2019)
| Accounting and Finance | QR 12,325 |
| Administration / Reception / Secretarial | QR 7,427 |
| Advertising / Graphic Design / Event Management | QR 18,550 |
| Airlines / Aviation / Aerospace / Defense | QR 14,988 |
| Architecture | QR 17,112 |
| Automotive | QR 11,116 |
| Banking | QR 21,714 |
| Construction / Building / Installation | QR 17,199 |
| Customer Service and Call Center | QR 11,405 |
| Electrical and Electronics Trades | QR 11,611 |
| Engineering | QR 18,812 |
| Environmental | QR 21,746 |
| Executive and Management | QR31,494 |
| Facilities / Maintenance / Repair | QR 11,518 |
| Factory and Manufacturing | QR 26,473 |
| Food, Hospitality, Tourism and Catering | QR 7,323 |
| Health and Medical | QR 17,602 |
| Human Resources | QR 17,256 |
| Information Technology | QR 17,821 |
| Insurance | QR 16,278 |
| Marketing | QR 17,693 |
| Oil / Gas / Energy / Mining | QR 22,043 |
| Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology | QR 15,775 |
| Purchasing and Inventory | QR 13,087 |
| Quality Control and Compliance | QR 14,764 |
| Sales Retail and Wholesale | QR 12,122 |
| Teaching / Education | QR 13,954 |
| Telecommunication | QR 18,304 |
Salary forecast for 2021
Here’s the list of average salaries in Qatar over the past four years:
Year Average Salaries
2017 QR15,826
2018 QR16,269 (growth of 3%)
2019 QR, 16,594 (growth of 2%)
2020 QR, 16.794 (growth of 1%)
As per the latest salary reports, it can be seen that wages are on the rise this year too.
The wages in 2020 are 1 percent more than those in 2019. This shows that there will be slow, but constant increment in pay scales during 2021 and in coming years. However, the numbers may vary from one year to another.
