Rising unemployment among Saudi men and women continues to be debated at all levels. Reasons cited for this problem include the slow growth of the economy, the high number of expatriates, an outdated educational system and the private sector’s lack of cooperation.
“Saudization is failing because there is no long-term employment strategy. The problem is in implementing the plan; it’s easy to manipulate and fabricate the number of Saudi employees on a company payroll as nobody checks for accuracy. There is also the problem of hiring the right person for the right job,” said Sharaf Dabbagh, training director at Gulf Link, a skills development institute which is implementing a new training program based on the Malaysian 2020 Vision program.
“In Malaysia, the government established training centers for every sector and for employees at all levels,” said Dabbagh. “The project is directed at intermediate and high school students. It consists of class lectures, a booklet and audio tapes to help students decide as early as possible what they want to do depending on personality and interests. Tests are given that evaluate skills and abilities and suggest suitable careers. Our research showed that we don’t have a national plan for guiding the youth. Another problem is that our labor force consists of people from villages moving to cities into jobs such as sales, marketing or office managers which are not compatible with their upbringing and experience. We first have to train them to stop at a red light, say good morning and hold the elevator door open for someone — basic civilized human behavior,” said Dabbagh.
Ameen Al-Rayes, president of Gulf Link, said that there was a big gap between the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Industry in developing a coordinated plan for needed knowledge and skills. “There is no vertical communication between the manufacturing companies and the government representing their interests, to tell them the job market requirements, and no horizontal communication between the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Education on developing a curriculum to enable students to acquire the needed skills. We want to help, using a different approach from other training centers, by focusing on ethics.”
This is where the second part of the Malaysian project called “Taaheel” comes into focus. “‘Taaheel’ is not a skills training program. It prepares employees ethically for work because skills can be acquired with time and it’s the employers’ responsibility to train employees. For us, an employee cannot be efficient without ethics so he first has to acquire them as well as attitude before learning work skills,” said Al-Rayes.
One of the most successful training programs in the public sector was one initiated by Saudi Arabian Airlines in the 1970s resulting in over 90 percent of its mechanics work force, and almost the same percentage in other departments, being Saudis today. “The focus then was to staff Saudi Arabian Airlines Technical Services Division with personnel trained and knowledgeable in the mechanical aspects of aviation. It was a success because all of us, today’s managers, are graduates of that program,” said Adnan Dabbagh, executive vice president of operations at Saudi Arabian Airlines. “In 1975, most mechanics employed by Saudi Arabian Airlines were expatriates, Saudis were fewer than 25 percent and many of them were barely qualified. In 1977, Director-General Kamel Sindi approved a pilot project for a long-term strategy aimed at training Saudis. The main problem then was locating personnel to train, as human resources were limited. The idea was that Saudis wouldn’t work as mechanics. Therefore, we came up with an attractive package to lure Saudi high school graduates and send them abroad for training in order to become licensed in aircraft maintenance.
“At one point, we had more than 2,000 trainees in the US. When they returned, Saudia’s board of directors approved a ‘minimum wage’ for them that was in line with what similar skilled technicians received in other countries. The other thing we implemented was a ‘career progression system,’ not based on years of service but on skills and efficiency development. This is a system for attracting and retaining employees. There is a sizable assessment department whose main function is to evaluate, test and approve new recruits as well as promote existing qualified employees,” said Adnan Dabbagh.
He said he did not believe there were problems specific to Saudis. “What is happening now in the private sector is not fair. How can anyone expect a Saudi to live on SR1,000 or SR1,500 a month? How can he pay rent, buy food or pay for transportation and provide for his family?” Adnan Dabbagh believes that the government should institute a solid foundation for the recruitment of young Saudis. This foundation requires three very important aspects: Government legislation to enforce an adequate minimum wage, establishing a multi-discipline training program, and creating a career ladder system within any job to train and encourage employees so they will be interested in their jobs and feel valuable and responsible.
“If a businessman is made to pay minimum wage he will not employ expatriates because that will cost him more in expenses such as visa, air tickets and residency charges. A businessman must look at employing a Saudi as a long-term investment,” he said.
Saudis complain that in the private sector the salaries are low, working hours are long and there is no job security. “The problem is that they are comparing today’s salary to the boom years instead of to current realities. Long hours are also compared to government hours instead of international standards. As for job security, there is none anywhere except in the government but now even those jobs require a certain level of productivity,” said Sharaf Dabbagh. “We have to stop complaining and depending on the government,” he added.
“There are many jobs in the private sector but there are two problems,” said Al-Shareef Monther Al-Harthy, general manager of Al-Rabea Dairy Company. “First, most businessmen are looking at not employing Saudis from an economic point of view, and secondly, Saudis are not qualified academically and do not have the necessary skills,” said Al-Harthy. “Business and society face problems and bear the expenses of expatriates and in the end, they have a mediocre employee who cannot be replaced because there is no skilled Saudi labor pool,” said Al-Harthy.
Companies complain of the high turnover in Saudi employees because they are not committed to the job and they expect a high salary. “There is no standard minimum wage to rely on. We created a salary scale for Saudis that is higher than expatriates’ and comparable to industry salaries. At Al-Rabea we accept Saudi applicants at all levels and departments and we train them, but we haven’t reached the percentage required in all departments,” admitted Al-Harthy.
