RIYADH: The Ministry of Labor has confirmed that all its labor offices will continue to provide services to private-sector enterprises throughout the Zones (Nitaqat) System's grace period, which ends on Sept. 10 (12th Shawwal, 1432H), but companies have to provide accurate employee data. Hattab Al-Enizi, Ministry of Labor spokesman, said Sunday that companies and establishments are expected to make the best use of this period to update their employees' data before the program's implementation, especially when calculating their Saudization percentage. The Zones System relies on two main sources, the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) database to determine the number of Saudi workers, and the Ministry of Interior, to get the number of expatriate workers. Under the new plan, employers are classified in Excellent, Green, Yellow and Red zones, depending on their rates of Saudization, and receive benefits or penalties according to their ranking. Al-Enizi stressed that all enterprises must take basic steps to amend their data to ensure that their classification is accurate. Employers must confirm that the enterprise number at the “Istiqdam” Office is the same as that of the enterprise at the Ministry of Labor, GOSI and Ministry of Interior. If an enterprise has no file registered with GOSI, it should promptly open one and register all its employees. It should ensure registration of all its Saudi employees at GOSI so that they are counted in its total number of employees and reflect the real size of the enterprise. The enterprise should settle all fees due to GOSI in regard to Saudi employees to ensure that the percentage of Saudization will be counted. It should make sure that it has linked its Saudi employees at its branches to the GOSI website; Saudi employees not linked to the enterprise's branches and GOSI will not be counted, even if the fees of these employees have been paid in full at GOSI. Individual Saudi company owners will be counted in the nationalization percentage “without the need for payment of GOSI fees” provided the individual has not subscribed to GOSI through another enterprise. Partners in companies have the right to register their names with GOSI as subscribers and they will be counted in the Saudization percentage, provided they pay the GOSI insurance fees. Also, the partner should not have subscribed through another enterprise. The Ministry of Labor's spokesman said enterprises with less than nine employees will not be subject to the new plan; they will be required to follow a guidebook for workers' recruitment criteria, which will be published on the Zones System website at a later stage.Employers can visit the Ministry of Labor's website www.mol.gov.sa to learn more about the Zones System's applications, mechanisms and terminology, the spokesman added.
