Salaries in Oman are usually similar to or greater than those paid in western countries.
In addition to their salary, contract workers are awarded an ‘indemnity’ at the end of the contract period. Indemnities are end-of-contract bonuses which are required by law to be paid to expatriate workers as monetary ‘thank-yous’ for being of service to the state. They are also sometimes known as ‘end of service benefits.´ Indemnities usually amount to 15 (in some cases 20) days of pay per year of employment for the first three years, and a month’s salary per year of employment after that.
In some cases, your salary pay may be delayed. This is common in Arab companies, since many of them experience occasional cash flow problems and banking delays.
The working week in Oman tends to vary between 40 and 48 hours, depending on company policy. Office hours are usually from 8.30 or 9.00 am to 5.30 or 6.00 pm. There are no differences in time-keeping between summer and winter. In the month of Ramadan, the working day is sometimes reduced to six hours. In theory, the reduced hours should apply to all employees, but many companies only grant the reduced hours to their Muslim employees, leaving their foreign workers to work standard hours.
Friday is the Muslim rest day (the equivalent of Sunday in most western countries). If your company has a five-day work week, your other day off will probably be either Thursday or Saturday. Saturday is the more popular choice for international companies (taking Thursday off means reducing the number of operational days in common with much of the rest of the world). Still, some companies insist on Thursday, since the school ‘weekend’ is Thursday and Friday.