A study of the GCC's retail sector is to be undertaken that will reveal standards of pay and rewards within the industry for the first time.
"We have people like Majid Al Futtaim and Alshaya asking us if there is credible data out there targeting the retail sector and so far there isn't," said Robert Richter, the compensation survey manager at Aon Hewitt Middle East, which is carrying out the survey.
Retailers taking part will receive two documents to fill out.
The first will be a questionnaire asking about policy and practices within the company, such as when the last salary increase was. The second will include job descriptions for companies to match against their pay rates.
A final report will be issued to participating retailers later this year with data for about 200 positions. It will cost US$4,000 per company to take part in the survey.
"Human capital [is] one of the biggest cost elements," Mr Richter said. "They don't want to overpay and they don't want to underpay because they would lose people, so it's all about being in line with what the market is suggesting in terms of pay rates, and obviously in line with what the competition is doing."
Aon is also conducting salary surveys in higher education, health care, media, construction and property sectors.
