Female shoppers interact with Saudi saleswomen in a women-only shop in Jeddah. — Okaz Photo Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Saudi women recruited to work as sales staff at lingerie and accessory stores must be paid good salaries to retain them in the retail industry, according to a number of experts. Reem Assad, a member of the Saudi Economics Society, said these workers need greater incentives including transportation and housing allowances, and comprehensive medical insurance. Sara Bin Sahal, Area Sales Manager of a women's accessory company, urged the authorities to also concentrate on training jobseekers for the retail sector. “I want to say that more attention should be given to the issue of incentives to guarantee their continued participation in the sector. It should be taken into consideration that most of their salaries go into the pockets of the limousine drivers who transport them. A recent report showed that they spend more than 50 percent on transportation, which made many abandon this type of work.” Dr. Aisha Nattu, a member of the Board of Directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), urged business owners to employ Saudi women because this could help their companies move from the Red Zone to either the Green or Excellent zones under the Nitaqat program. She suggests that the minimum salary should be SR4,000 a month and they should be allowed to work straight shifts because the split shifts would make them spend more than half of their salaries on transportation. Abdullah Al-Harbi, Director of Private Training at the Technical Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC), said his organization was willing to provide private training centers and institutes with training programs on retail sales. Jawahir Al-Zahrani, Director of the Arts Academy, said the academy in collaboration with “Bab Rizk Jameel” has designed a training course named “Woman Retail Seller”. The 100-hour Program includes theoretical content on sales skills, customer services, display of goods, and computer and technical terms in English. __
