Managers working in the GCC are paid, on average, seven times the salary of junior employees, according to research by Hay Group.
The HR giant said the salary gap was an increase from three years ago when the average was five times.
A sustained demand for quality mid-level talent and a shortage of employees at this level are the reasons behind the wider gap, according to the consultancy.
Vijay Gandhi, a director at Hay Group in the Middle East, said the overall gap has increased but that the trend was not uniform.
“In the GCC region the gap has widened by an average of 25 percent over the last three years because organisations have focused their pay spend on middle management and above rather than junior roles.
“Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain are the countries where the gap has widened the most. In Qatar the gap has grown the least.”
He added that in the last three years, middle management roles received pay increases of 5.2 percent more than junior roles.
He said the pay ratios of all GCC countries sit between those of western and emerging markets.
In the UK and the US, a manager can expect a salary close to four times that of their employees while in India and Egypt the multiple is nearer ten.
He added: “Another reason behind pay differentials between the western economies and emerging markets is cost of living. Middle managers tend to get paid according to international rates while junior staff are paid in line with the local cost of living. In higher cost of living countries we would see the pay differential being narrower.”
Hay Group said that the latest data, which was based onm more than 500,000 employees in the GCC, was evidence that there are visible increases in reward for promotion.
“The data shows that organisations are willing to pay relatively more for scarce talent at the professional and middle management levels in the GCC, and are prepared to promote and reward those who seize the opportunities to progress,” Gandhi said.
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