United Arab Emirates: what an employee costs an employer
Gross salary is what the employee sees. This is what leaves the company: the statutory contributions the employer pays on top, the hours a year they are spread over, and what one hour of ten different roles actually costs.
Gross salary × 1.09. Statutory employer contributions add 8.8% on top of gross pay, over 2,025 working hours a year.
What is added to gross salary
Known locally as employer cost.
| Contribution | Covers | Employer rate |
|---|---|---|
| End-of-service gratuity accrual | Severance | 5.83% |
| Mandatory health insurance average rate | Health | 3% |
| GPSSA pension contribution nationals only, not in the total | Pension | 12.5% |
| Total | ×1.09 | 8.8% |
45 h a week × 52 − (22 vacation days + 13 public holidays) = 2,025 h a year.
That is the statutory cost and nothing else. Equipment, software, workspace and voluntary benefits sit on top of it, which is why the calculators default to ×1.3 rather than to this figure — a number you can defend line by line is worth more than a rounder one.
Employer cost per hour, by role
| Role | Gross salary | Employer cost / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineer | AED 111,000 | AED 120,800 | AED 59.65 |
| Senior software engineer | AED 239,000 | AED 260,100 | AED 128 |
| Product manager | AED 270,000 | AED 293,800 | AED 145 |
| Product designer | AED 96,000 | AED 104,500 | AED 51.59 |
| Marketing manager | AED 151,000 | AED 164,300 | AED 81.15 |
| Sales / account executive | AED 58,000 | AED 63,120 | AED 31.17 |
| Customer support | AED 39,500 | AED 42,990 | AED 21.23 |
| Data analyst | AED 71,000 | AED 77,270 | AED 38.16 |
| Engineering manager | AED 347,000 | AED 377,600 | AED 186 |
| Office / admin assistant | AED 37,000 | AED 40,270 | AED 19.88 |
Compared with its neighbours
| Country | Multiplier | Hours / year | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | ×1.09 | 2,025 | AED 59.65 |
| India | ×1.21 | 1,864 | ₹526 |
| United Kingdom | ×1.19 | 1,740 | £38.82 |
| Turkey | ×1.23 | 2,079 | TRY 649 |
Each figure is in that country's own currency, at that country's own multiplier and working year. There is no exchange rate in this table — the multiplier and the hours are what compare directly.
Run it with your own numbers
The meeting, switching and downtime calculators all price an hour of someone's time. This one opens with the multiplier and the working year already filled in: United Arab Emirates.
Sources
Checked 2026-08