Savvy companies would like their employees to operate with at least a modicum of common sense. For security and productivity, it becomes even more important that the brain be in the “on” mode when the employee is working. But what are we to make of the latest companies' jaw-dropper? Deceitful companies have been found employing the dead and the fake. Many Saudi citizens have accused national companies of trickery to use their names to meet the quota of Saudi employees at their firms. Their names are still in the companies' list despite their official resignations. Recently, the Kingdom required companies to reserve a percentage, sometimes up 50 percent, of their jobs for Saudi nationals In 2006, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said that his ministry would be tough on establishments that would attempt to illegally skirt Saudization quotas. But companies have routinely skirted these quotas through falsified paperwork and temporary Saudi hires. “When I was looking for a job at the Labor Office, I found that my name was still enlisted as an employee in a company I never heard of,” said Muhammad Yousef. Even more puzzling, another company has kept enlisting his father who passed away three years ago as a current company's employee. The father worked for the company before his death, but he is still registered as an employee with full salary and benefits, he said. “We don't know where his benefits go to,” he said. The company didn't report the death of his father to the Labor Office to drop him from its list of employees. Another victim said he worked for a company for over a month but he was fired when a medical report found him infected by Hepatitis B. “My contract was immediately terminated but the company has never dropped me from its records,” said Abdullah Taroush. “They reported to the Labor Office that I had a high school diploma, but in fact, I only have an elementary diploma,” he said. Ali Al-Harbi, Director of Jizan Labor Office, said that his office would study the cases and investigate the violating companies in question. Regulations and penalties would be highly enforced, he said. Labor regulations in the Kingdom require companies operating inside the Kingdom to employ a certain quota of Saudis to combat unemployment among Saudis. The Kingdom, however, recently reduced job quotas for its nationals in certain sectors from 30 to 20 percent. Deputy Minister of Labor Abdulwahed Al-Humaid was reportedly quoted as saying the decision was taken to fulfill labor market demands. The decision, which was taken Feb 11, covers industries like foodstuffs, beverages, textiles, readymade garments, shoes, furniture and paper. The new rule also decrees that the quota of Saudi nationals in these industries does not fall below 15 percent in the first two years of operation or three years from the date of licensing of the firm. A factory manager was reportedly quoted as saying that he has never been able to surpass 24 percent Saudization. He said that dealing with unqualified Saudi labor in a downstream industrial project could be costly. – Okaz __
