“The Ministry of Labor has allocated SR15 million to convince the private sector of the importance of Saudization.” A local newspaper ran this sensational headline a few days ago.
The ministry, the media tells us, has earmarked the amount to implement a new strategy that seeks to educate both the businessmen and job-seekers on the requirements for the next stage in the ministry’s drive to provide jobs for Saudis. As part of that strategy, the ministry launched a major advertisement campaign using different kinds of messages, all calling on private sector companies and establishments to provide jobs for the unemployed. Private businesses were urged in newspaper ads, outdoor billboards and television and radio programs to cooperate with the campaign.
Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, who is directly overseeing the whole process, intervened directly in drawing the outlines of the campaign, identifying 40 court verdicts dealing with employment and sheltering illegal foreign workers as well as making an appeal to businessmen to cooperate.
The ministry will seek to influence and convince employers to hire Saudis while urging young Saudis to take up the jobs offered to them. The question is whether the ministry has thought of the stereotypical picture that businessmen and employers already have in mind for Saudi workers. It is a picture that carries with it many negative aspects and shortcomings such as the absence of any motive to work and excessive demands when it comes to wages and benefits.
Of course, a picture people draw for others is not the same sketch but a series of images. In the end, however, one image may become dominant and attract attention.
In its attempt to convince employers to hire Saudi youth the ministry must have sought to find out why employers are reluctant to employ young Saudis. The ministry must have taken into account the weak and strong points of a Saudi worker in addition to the talents and characteristics the employers would like to see in job applicants. It is only after addressing these matters that we can draw up the programs to help us convey the picture to an employer who ought to Saudize.
