Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Hi Everyone.
I'm new on this site, but would appreciate some advice.
I'm from the UK.
Married with 3 children 5, 10, 12.
I earn well in the UK, but have to work very hard for it. All feels like a rat race.
I am exploring options.
I've had a job offer from a large, reputable employer in Doha:

Monthly pay = QR 69,700
Housing (luxury family villa)/utilities provided separately.
Business class tickets for all once yearly back to UK (can be converted to an allowance and choose to fly economy more often).
50 days annual leave (plus 10-15 days public holidays).
Educational allowance for 3 children of QR 21,000 (for each child).
Interest free car loan.

The offer appears good, but I suppose that depends on cost of living.
I am very experienced, and considered senior in my profession.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

what profession are you ?

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Your schooling allowance from what I hear from friends is very low.
It costs approx QAR 60,000 per child per year to send to a good school and I would get the children school places asap as they are hard to come by.

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

The offer is non-negotiable, so I have to make a decision based on the above figures quoted.
I am aware that schooling can be expensive. So "topping up" for school would be needed.
Also, I'm not in a rush and would aim for early/mid 2015, initially on my own, family over in the summer with schooling from Sept 2015.
I would rather not mention my profession, as then the company might be guessed, which would not be good etiquette.
Is the salary of QR 70k monthly a "good" salary?

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

For a tea boy it's an awesome salary, for a senior exec in oil and gas it's a good salary.

Surely at this level you can do your own sums? Is 60k per month, net salary after all outgoings (school, flights, medical, housing) a good net income for you?

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

The only reason I asked is so I can bang my CV over there pronto....and your profession is not going to give away your company....my bullshitometer is tingling

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

I would still rather not say. I'm not really sure why you would be so sceptical.

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

....whatever

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

The salary looks great and only a few employers in Qatar can provide such a salary (so I can guess :))
The only thing that looks odd is the schooling allowance. You need between 45k and 70k QAR per child per year. If we assume the school fees is 65k per child per year, then you need approx. 2 months salary to top up schooling. This leaves you with 57k QAR per month, which is still great.
The annual leave looks generous!

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Who told you work here is not very hard?

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

50 days annual leave (plus 10-15 days public holidays)

Take all of this and be fired. :D

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Strange is that a company who would offer 70k a month + housing + 50 days leave + luxury Villa + utilities + business Class flights........thereafter 21k on school fees??

If you are joining a reputable company as you say, they would well know that 21k is not adequate and their policies would reflect the reality on the ground......

you should be comparing your 70k package +++ with what you are getting in the UK....now, you are either willing to say your profession or what you do or give a comparison to your UK salary so hard for anyone to help!!

All the best

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

I never heard of a company over here offering a job where you can choose your own start date -
I'm not in a rush and would aim for early/mid 2015

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

I don't understand the problem with the school fees being 21k?

It's not enough to cover the full school fees but it's hardly the end of the world to top up from the remaining is it?

BUT

Difficult to say whether good package or not without knowing what you do?

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Scamp - agree with what you say however what I meant is on that salary it seems the role is a management position.

Now, with such a position and here in Qatar I expect most policies to state they will pay FULL in your community school or have a cap at much higher than 21k....

This is what I have seen in Doha...ofcourse might be different in UAE.....

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Considering that EOS benefits are based on base salary I would think the company you pay the fees and give a less basic salary...

Anyway. hardly worth discussing the point as the poster is asking is it a good salary without giving anything to compare against....so pointless exercise :)

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

It's different for every company. Some places just don't want to add too much weight to schooling on purpose.

For example:

John is this guy, 3 kids, wife, the works. Gets cash for housing and basic and schooling. But 3 kids, full schooling = (for example) 50k per child. So 150,000 per year or 12,500 per month. Let's say that's on top of 50k for the rest of it, so 'package value' = 62,500

James is another guy, no kids, wife. Gets same cash for housing and basic but no schooling because he has none. His package value is 50,000.

James might argue he should get 62,500 because that's what the other guy technically gets, it's just James doesn't have kids so misses out on 12,500 a month. John might be no better than James, in fact he isn't 25% better so why should his package be 25% more?

It's just one of MANY reasons that some companies have given as to why they've moved to the all-in cash deals. Massively unlikely to be a main reason but it's not just one or two who have used the above example. Oh, and it doesn't even consider 5 visa costs + 5 medical costs vs 2 visa + 2 medical etc.

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

Anyway, let's do some simple maths.

Monthly pay = QR 69,700
Housing (luxury family villa)/utilities provided separately.
Business class tickets for all once yearly back to UK (can be converted to an allowance and choose to fly economy more often).
50 days annual leave (plus 10-15 days public holidays).
Educational allowance for 3 children of QR 21,000 (for each child).
Interest free car loan.

This is:

69,700 +
Housing = 20,000 (conservative) +
Flights = 20,000 x 5 = 100,000 = 8,333 per month +
Education = 21,000 x 3 = 63,000 = 5,250 per month
= 103,283 QAR per month 'package value'
= ~£17,213 tax free, per month 'package value'.

I use 'package value' because that's the real value of what you receive, not just the basic.

Now, in basic terms it's ~£11,616 + House + Flight + Some Schooling.

So, compared to the UK:

£242,950 is the amount you have to earn gross to receive 11,616 nett per month.
Add housing on top, let's say a nice mortgage of 1500 a month. So that figure jumps to ~£277,000

So, this offer is the equivalent of £242,950 + House + Flights for family + Some 'Private' Schooling + Medical + Visas + Gratuity.

My advice to the OP is this:

If you earn less than 11,616 per month nett, then it's worth considering.

Take into account your current nett salary, minus your house costs and any other similar, then look at that figure. If that figure is a chunk lower than 11,616 then it is well worth seriously considering.

Re: Qatar job offer..advice please?
 

nice work Scamp