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Advise on the Salary package in Bahrain

Last activity 14 May 2013 by Olivier-France

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DevM

Hello

I've been offered a job by a leading healthcare equipment distributor and service render as a Service Engineer post in manama. Package what they have offered is as follows.

Basic - 650 BHD

HRA - 200 BHD

21 working days leave in a year with paid tickets to and fro. Also as per the government policy 1 month salary once i complete 12 months on job.

They will provide a car upon licence procurement. Till then 50 BHD as travel allowance upto 6 months.

I've 6 years experience in the medical field and back home i'm earning 6131 BHD per annum with an extra of 1000 BHD as some or the other incentive. Also the system i'm going to work on, only a handful people are trained and experienced all over the country.

Please advise on whether this is a good package to come over.

Thanks in Advance

silver356

Many people live here on less than that but if your skills are highly specialised and in demand perhaps you could ask for more.

DevM

Will you be able to suggest a package?

Josnuggles
DevM wrote:

Will you be able to suggest a package?


There are numerous posts on the forum covering this topic - about 5 a week - I'm sure you can find all the information you need on there. We can't really suggest a package as every company and every individual are different.

Read the expat guide to Bahrain Guide this should answer a lot of your questions.

A company will always (90%) raise their initial offer. They try the lowest figure first obviously. It is up to you to negotiate

brightonguy

I would double check the annual leave because as far as I know, the minimum annual leave must be 30 days for full time employment.

akhil004
brightonguy wrote:

I would double check the annual leave because as far as I know, the minimum annual leave must be 30 days for full time employment.


Hmm... i think it used to be 21 days but recently its changed to 30.

DevM

thnk you

brightonguy

You're most welcome. Let us know if you need any further information.

sgdtobhd
akhil004 wrote:
brightonguy wrote:

I would double check the annual leave because as far as I know, the minimum annual leave must be 30 days for full time employment.


Hmm... i think it used to be 21 days but recently its changed to 30.


30 calendar days = 21 working days

Josnuggles

Now it should be 30 working days leave not 30 calendar days leave

sgdtobhd

@ DevM

Hi Dev, I think i can relate to your dilemma as I am well aware of the salary levels in India.

Will just give you some food for thought:

- You will have similar savings in both salaries, if not more.
- You have much better chances of finding a high paying job in GCC in a few months/years, but in India you can be sure of growing at snail's speed! (add to that 15-20% Taxes to the Italian lady's pocket :X)

On a side note, I personally find Bahrain standard of life "decent" and way less polluted that Indian cities. Do consider that!

@Jo

Thats news to me! Need to check on that with my HR!

Josnuggles

Might be different for Indians than Brits, but it shouldn't be!!! Everyone should be treated equally.

sgdtobhd

My company is not racist, so I am lucky lol

However Jo, lets leave the "should be treated equally" aside..

if life was so equal and fair, there would be no colonization and Britain wouldn't be what it is now! Enjoy the fruits of your forefather's efforts wink.png

Cheers!

brightonguy

I totally disagree with your comment sgdtobhd.

sgdtobhd

Ignorance is bliss.

I'm going jogging, if you really care, read this:

http://theorwellprize.co.uk/george-orwe … -in-burma/

Cheers!

DevM

Well am still waiting for their final confirmation. I've informed em with 850 and with an accommodation i'm ok. Let see... Fingers crossed... wink.png

Josnuggles
DevM wrote:

Well am still waiting for their final confirmation. I've informed em with 850 and with an accommodation i'm ok. Let see... Fingers crossed... wink.png


Good Luck and let us know how you get on

Olivier-France

Hi all,

Little input about the leaves:

The new labour law implemented in Sept 2012 instated the 30 days of leaves for all workers instead of 21 before (28 after 5 years).
Then there were a lot of misunderstanding as the law wasn't really clear.
In a public statement on the 14th of April, government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab indicated that the leaves day are calendar days for everyone (there a long article on that in the GDN of the 15th of April, page 6).
Since then most of the companies are working on it but except when the company policy contains better disposition, everyone should be aligned on the same rule.

Hope that will clarify...

Cheers

Olivier

sgdtobhd

@Olivier

So according to the current law, no. of leaves are:

30 calendar days i.e. 21 working days (assuming you work 5 days)?

Thanks

Olivier-France
sgdtobhd wrote:

@Olivier

So according to the current law, no. of leaves are:

30 calendar days i.e. 21 working days (assuming you work 5 days)?

Thanks


Ouch conversion from one to the other isn't that correct actually ^^
Calendar days means basically that you count every day of vacation, no matter the days off, the public holiday etc...

Now if you take a week, and your day off is Friday...
You could say : "I'm on vacation from Saturday, to Thursday, means 6 days". But the second Friday can't be off, if you didn't work at all... So you will be deducted 7 days anyway.

If I really want to convert, it would be 30 days / 7 x 5 = 21.43 working days... Good luck with the 0.43 big_smile.png

After it depends a lot on the company organization. Some companies are calculating everything in hours, some not. The law says 1 day off a week (24h) some companies give 2... In this perspective, it's much more convenient to calculate in calendar days than to try ton convert as the result could be unfair from one company to another...

Hope this helped clarifying. If not, better to continue in PM as a deeper exchange would probably start to bore everyone, plus we are a little offtopic.gifbig_smile.png


Cheers

Olivier

brightonguy

Olivier I am sorry but I think I will have to disagree with your comment on that. I don't know if it varies company by company, but my company never counts the weekends as holidays when you take an annual leave. They only count the number of working days.

Maybe what you are referring to applies to government branches only and not the private sector?

Josnuggles

My husband's company also has 30 working days leave.  This obviously doesn't include weekends

Olivier-France

Hi all,

I'm also working in the private sector and the information given are the latest ones for this sector.
My company policy says : "We don't count public holidays and days off as leave days". It's better than the law, so it's fine.
The law is the minimum you have to do. What happens in this or that company is not necessary the law.


Here is what the labor law says (copy paste):

PART VIII
LEAVES
Article 58
Without prejudice to application of Article (60) of this Law, a worker who completes at least one year of consecutive service, shall be entitled to an annual leave not less than (30) days on full pay.
If the worker's period of service is less than one year, he shall be entitled to an annual leave in proportion to the period of his service.
A worker is prohibited from waiving his right to annual leave. However, he may be paid a cash amount in lieu thereof, in accordance


Here is what the GDN published on the 15th of April

PRIVATE sector employees could actually lose holiday days, despite changes to the law that increased peoples annual leave to 30 days.
The Cabinet yesterday agreed that the 30-day annual leave set out in the new Labour Law should be counted as calendar days. That means an employee who books 30 days off work could also have weekends and public holidays that fall within that period deducted
from their annual holiday entitlement.
Yesterdays decision by the Cabinet follows complaints about the new Labour Law by businessmen, who claimed their companies would suffer if their staff were given 30 days off every year, in addition to public holidays and weekends. The old labour law entitled employees to 21 daysleave, plus public holidays and weekends increasing to at least 28 days leave after five years.
However, Labour Minister Jameel Humaidan previously told MPs that basing the 30-day annual holiday entitlement on the calendar system was unfair since it would rob workers of their vacation.
He did not attend the Cabinet meeting yesterday because he is on official business abroad. The issue has been hotly debated since the new private sector Labour Law came into effect in September,
with the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) among those who opposed the 30-day annual holiday entitlement.
Businessmen claimed last month that annual leave costs had doubled and the new regulations were costing companies millions of dinars.
The decision recommended by the ministerial committee for legal affairs and approved by the Cabinet has taken into consideration the utmost interest of the economy and businessmen, Minister of State for Information Affairs and official government spokeswoman
Sameera Rajab told a Press conference after yesterdays Cabinet meeting.
The Cabinets decision was taken after consultation with the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission after balanced arguments were presented on whether it should be calendar or work days.
Labour Ministry Under-Secretary Sobah Al Dossary told the GDN that the new system would now come into effect, unless it was contested. We (the Labour Ministry) have several times explained
our stance on the issue, which is that 30 should represent work days and not calendar days, he said.
We will have to implement the calendar days for now until it gets legally contested. He added that one way around the law would be for people to request holidays in five-day blocks.
It will be down to the way an employee words his leave request, he said.
Instead of asking for 30 days,it will be divided into five days
(Sunday to Thursday) five days five days five days.  By MOHAMMED AL AALI (mohammed@gdn.com.bh)


Cheers

Olivier

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