The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has unveiled the balanced Nitaqat program to address the ongoing challenges of the labor market. The program will be implemented from Dec. 11. Under the program, five factors will be counted in the implementation of Saudization in each firm. They are percentage of Saudization, average salary of Saudi staff, percentage of women staff, job stability of Saudis, and percentage of Saudis with a higher pay. According to the new rules, the numerical strength of Saudi workers in a firm simply does not count. Their salary, number of women staff, years of service of Saudis, and their grades of jobs will also be counted. According to the balanced Nitaqat program, establishments will be given points based on the five factors. The ministry also prepared an electronic calculator that allows companies to know and improve their status. Dr. Ahmed Qattan, deputy minister for labor policies of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, said the ministry launched the amended version of the program in Ramadan to train the national cadres and empower them to compete in the labor market. The ministry also announced that if the private sector borrows Saudi employees working in the government sector and universities it will be calculated in the Nitaqat Saudization program. The private sector can borrow employees for full time job and on the basis of a labor contract. Borrowing of one Saudi employee from the government sector or university by the private sector will be calculated as one Saudi under the Nitaqat program. The ministry, in cooperation with the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), has launched an integrated electronic system to include such Saudi staff under the Nitaqat program, the ministry said. According to Qattan, the private sector employers can fill up online application in this regard after visiting the GOSI website. The private employer has to furnish all required details so that GOSI can verify the identity of the said employee from the Civil Service System which is linked to the National Information Center and gave temporary approval. The application form should also contain all details such as the name of the employee, his department, his ID number and number at the Ministry of Labor, date of contract, dates of starting and ending of borrowing, and copy of work contract.
