Al-Jazirah During a presentation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman program for human resources development, the minister of civil service urged young Saudis to work for the private sector. He, however, noted that more than 190,000 Saudis, currently working in the private sector, have applied for government jobs. The minister believes that the young men and women prefer government jobs, regardless of the little pay, for a number of reasons, including the job security, less working hours and more vacations. The search for job security means that the attitude of the young men and women was no different from that of their fathers a few decades ago. It also means that the situation has remained unchanged and that the private sector still does not provide the job security aspired by the employees. The private sector does not ensure its employees have stability. It is a big problem when the citizen does not feel safe or stable in his job, which he or she may lose any time for any reason no matter how trivial it may be. There are no strict rules in the private sector that protect the Saudi employee against retrenchment or summary dismissal without previous warning or legitimate justifications. The Saudi working for the private sector may lose his job though the private company or establishment may not need to reduce the number of employees. We understand from the minister's words that the Saudis prefer government jobs because of less working hours. The statement implies that the Saudi people are lazy, which is not at all correct. The young Saudi men and women are hard working, ambitious, active and love their work. They are, however, not ready to work extra hours without compensation. This is actually what happens in a number of private companies and establishments. They make their employees work for additional hours for free. The Ministry of Labor should harness the companies that make their staff work extra hours without paying overtime benefits. Regrettably, the minister was not right in his reasons why the Saudis were disinterested in the private sector, especially in companies with little Saudization rate and which are controlled by certain Arab nationalities. The companies dominated by certain nationalities often tend to make Saudi employees flee by burdening them with workload. They force Saudis to do the bulk of the work. They also monitor their performance very closely looking for small mistakes to hold them accountable so that they can do away with them. The companies usually look for any pretext to deduct from their salaries, believing that they are highly paid. They also deprive them of the annual bonus by underrating their performance, giving them low or little marks in job evaluation. I know a number of young Saudis who took to social media complaining of the injustice done to them by the private sector. They said they were deprived of their job rights. This may be the main reason behind many young men and women looking for government jobs though the pay is much less. They would never think of quitting their jobs in the private sector, which pays them fat salaries, if they had a conductive working environment. I think the parties responsible for employment, including the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Civil Service and the judiciary, should come together to study the reasons behind Saudis dropping out of the private sector, particularly from companies that do not heed Saudization regulations. These concerned bodies should correct the reasons behind Saudis leaving private sector jobs, which of course include job security, long working hours, vacation and others. They should work together to ensure the Saudi employees with stability and comfort in the private sector.
