Think hiring in the UAE is just salary + visa?

Think again.

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Most first-time business owners get blindsided —
because what looks like a 10K/month hire…
ends up costing way more than expected.

Here’s why:

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🎯 1. End of Service Gratuity (And No, It’s Not Optional)

If your employee stays over a year?
You legally owe them 21 days of salary per year.

Stays over 5 years?
That jumps to 30 days per year.

Multiply that by multiple employees and years of service —
That’s a massive chunk due all at once when someone resigns.

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💳 2. Mandatory Health Insurance

Yes, even for a Free Zone visa.
And it’s not one-size-fits-all — coverage varies by emirate, job type, and age.

Some job types require mandatory insurance like construction, while other job types and the mandatory insurance related to them would depend on which Emirates you are hiring from. Policies can start at a few hundred dirhams for the most basic ones while comprehensive polices will go into the thousands.

Guess who pays?
You do.

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🛠️ 3. Operational Costs

Every employee needs:

• A laptop
• A phone line
• Paid software licenses (if the job requires)
• Maybe even transport allowances if they’re client-facing

One client I worked with thought he could onboard someone with just a salary…
We sat down, mapped everything out — and suddenly the “10K hire” was closer to 18K all-in.

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📊 4. The Unseen Burn Rate

Hiring isn’t just about affording Month 1.
It’s about sustaining that cost every month, with all the extras included.

This is where a lot of startups burn out —
They hire too fast, underbudget, and run into cash flow issues later.

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🧠 Moral of the Story?

Hiring in the UAE is not just a salary line item.
It’s a full financial strategy.

If you’re scaling up or hiring for the first time —
you need to account for the hidden costs, or they’ll catch up fast.

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📞 Want to Break Down the Numbers?

Before you hire,
book a free consultation so we can break down the real cost together and help you plan it right from the start.