Compensation Advisory for a Japanese Manufacturer's UAE Subsidiary
Amid a growing gap between Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy and UAE market conditions — and a mounting need to localize practices to fit the realities of its UAE entity — the company engaged Biz Easy for a compensation advisory spanning salary structure, grading, and increment methodology. Grounded in objective market data, the engagement clarified the priorities to address before any disclosure to employees.
Background
The company is the subsidiary of a Japan-headquartered manufacturer, based in the UAE and primarily responsible for the GCC countries, India, Africa, and Central Asia. Amid growing energy-related investment across the region — including under UAE Vision 2031 and Saudi Vision 2030 — competition to attract and retain specialist technical talent, such as technical sales and field service engineers, had intensified.
The company had already established a nine-grade structure, with separate individual-contributor and management tracks, along with a board-level compensation approval process. What remained was to confirm, on an objective, data-driven basis, how well Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy aligned with UAE market conditions.
Client Challenges
- 1There was no objective, benchmark-based evidence confirming whether the existing salary table was aligned with UAE/GCC market levels.
- 2Job- and grade-level competency criteria had been defined, but had not yet been checked against UAE market expectations.
- 3A new salary increment system, using a three-component model covering performance, COLA, and promotion, was under design, but the risks requiring validation before disclosure to employees had not yet been identified.
- 4The company needed a data-backed explanation of the gap between Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy (budget and principles) and the competitive UAE labor market, where Oil & Gas and EPC employers actively compete for the same talent.
Biz Easy’s Approach
Biz Easy supported the engagement end-to-end across all three areas — salary structure, grading, and increment methodology — from data collection through to final review.
The final report was delivered in English as a 42-page PDF.
Results
Biz Easy delivered a prioritized advisory report spanning salary structure, grading, and increment methodology, structured to support clear, confident decision-making at the leadership level.
Value Delivered by Biz Easy
Rather than simply benchmarking pay levels against the market, Biz Easy translated the findings into a decision-ready view of what needed to be prioritized before disclosure to employees — respecting Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy while presenting realistic options suited to the UAE labor market and competitive landscape.
Client Voice
When I became involved in our annual salary review process in 2025, our salary structure still closely mirrored Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy, and it wasn’t even fully covering the rising cost of living — which led to considerable dissatisfaction among employees. We are, first and foremost, a UAE-based company, and it became clear that we could not continue to attract and retain top talent by simply carrying over the Japanese approach. Revising our compensation structure became an urgent priority, and that is when we turned to Biz Easy. As a result, we redesigned our salary structure to clearly separate cost-of-living adjustments from performance- and promotion-based increases. This made it much easier for employees to understand how their pay is determined, and the 2026 salary review — the first under the new structure — was completed without a single complaint.
Ideal For
Our Strengths
In an environment where gaps often arise between Japan Head Office’s compensation philosophy and the UAE market, Biz Easy delivered data-driven advisory spanning salary structure, grading, and increment methodology — clarifying the priorities to address before disclosure to employees.