Saudi Arabia looks to ban foreign HR workers
22 April 2016
Saudi Arabia‘s Ministry of Labor is conducting a consultation ending 23 April on a proposed ban on foreign nationals from working in HR and recruitment there.
Fri, 29 April 2016 | By Colin Cottell
However, recruiters knowledgeable about operating in the Kingdom contend the law would result in limited damage.
The chief operating officer of an employment business in Saudi, who requested anonymity, told Recruiter, “It’s all about work-arounds. You are well within your rights to engage somebody on a consultancy basis to work in HR, as long as they have got a degree, or a specialist skill, such as English or Urdu,” he said.
Staffing companies could also operate on a sourcing licence, which is different from HR and recruitment, and then use another company to supply visas. “It is all down to your company registration,” he said. He said it was commonplace for recruitment coordinators in Saudi to liaise with external agents, including UK recruitment partners who could source talent from abroad.
Andy Hogarth, chief executive officer at Staffline Group, which runs welfare to work programmes in Saudi Arabia, through its PeoplePlus division, told Recruiter he was not concerned. “We don’t do recruitment. We do ‘welfare to work’. But even if we were actually affected, the four years we have been there have given us enough time to train up locals.”
Hogarth said the company employs more than 100 people in Saudi of whom only three are UK nationals. He went on to say that he did not think the ban would cause significant problems for employers in Saudi looking for talent in those fields. “The locals are getting better, better educated, better experienced and far more competent to do the job,” he said.
Munir Mamujee, managing director of M2R a recruitment consultancy that supplies teachers to Saudi Arabia using local partners in the Kingdom, said expatriates working in HR there are very rare. “This has been the case for years and years,” he added.
However, the people director of a large Western company operating in Saudi Arabia, who requested anonymity, told Recruiter: “I think it would be very short-sighted for them to go down the route of banning all expats in HR.
“If you were to ask those who use HR and recruitment how they would feel if tomorrow they had to deal with a HR and recruitment team made up of only Saudi nationals, I bet you would get some choice responses,” he said.
He added that while this idea behind the ban “had been doing the rounds for years, it looks like they could actually implement it this time”. He predicted a best-case scenario of implementation in about a year, and a worst case of almost immediately.
COLIN COTTELL
FROM MAY'S RECRUITER MAGAZINE
Saudi Arabia‘s Ministry of Labor is conducting a consultation ending 23 April on a proposed ban on foreign nationals from working in HR and recruitment there.
The Saudi government’s intentions emerged in a statement from a senior Ministry of Labor official and reported in the Saudi media, who said “punitive measures” would be taken against companies that allow foreigners to work in these roles. Punishment would include fines of SR 20,000 (£3,750).However, recruiters knowledgeable about operating in the Kingdom contend the law would result in limited damage.
The chief operating officer of an employment business in Saudi, who requested anonymity, told Recruiter, “It’s all about work-arounds. You are well within your rights to engage somebody on a consultancy basis to work in HR, as long as they have got a degree, or a specialist skill, such as English or Urdu,” he said.
Staffing companies could also operate on a sourcing licence, which is different from HR and recruitment, and then use another company to supply visas. “It is all down to your company registration,” he said. He said it was commonplace for recruitment coordinators in Saudi to liaise with external agents, including UK recruitment partners who could source talent from abroad.
Andy Hogarth, chief executive officer at Staffline Group, which runs welfare to work programmes in Saudi Arabia, through its PeoplePlus division, told Recruiter he was not concerned. “We don’t do recruitment. We do ‘welfare to work’. But even if we were actually affected, the four years we have been there have given us enough time to train up locals.”
Hogarth said the company employs more than 100 people in Saudi of whom only three are UK nationals. He went on to say that he did not think the ban would cause significant problems for employers in Saudi looking for talent in those fields. “The locals are getting better, better educated, better experienced and far more competent to do the job,” he said.
Munir Mamujee, managing director of M2R a recruitment consultancy that supplies teachers to Saudi Arabia using local partners in the Kingdom, said expatriates working in HR there are very rare. “This has been the case for years and years,” he added.
However, the people director of a large Western company operating in Saudi Arabia, who requested anonymity, told Recruiter: “I think it would be very short-sighted for them to go down the route of banning all expats in HR.
“If you were to ask those who use HR and recruitment how they would feel if tomorrow they had to deal with a HR and recruitment team made up of only Saudi nationals, I bet you would get some choice responses,” he said.
He added that while this idea behind the ban “had been doing the rounds for years, it looks like they could actually implement it this time”. He predicted a best-case scenario of implementation in about a year, and a worst case of almost immediately.
COLIN COTTELL
