The Kingdom is not an immigration destination, Adel Fakieh, Labor Minister, said here Saturday. Replying to a question on what his ministry planned to do about complaints of ill-treatment from some expatriate workers, the minister said: “Saudi Arabia did not indicate that it is an immigration destination. If these people are not getting what is their right in the first place, that does not mean the rules of the country are not ethical.” Fakieh was taking questions from the audience after inaugurating the Business & Work Ethics Forum at Jeddah Hilton. The forum addresses business ethics that should be implemented in every work environment including the private and public sector. In his presentation, the minister detailed work ethics that have to be implemented in different work environments. He explained the new ethics charter that the ministry will be acquainting all its workers with. It should enhance the commitment of employees to serving the public and increase transparency of the various departments within the ministry. The minister said the process of implementing work ethics has already started. Later, answering a question on how an individual could air his grievances against an employee at the ministry, the minister said complaints should be directed to managers, adding, “it is always easy to criticize but we all have to ask ourselves what have we done for our country, what have we done to correct what we see wrong.” Asked what his ministry was doing to encourage Saudi youth to work in the private sector rather than leaving that responsibility to private business, the minister said that this has to be achieved through building belief and self-confidence among the youth. Eihab Abourokba, general secretary of the forum, said that the event was meant to promote work ethics among individuals and organizations. “We highlight the necessity for enhancing ethics that is in our inherited culture; this helps businesses become more productive and competitive,” he said. Implementing proper work ethics turns the business environment into a healthy one, he said adding, “we shed light on the changes that have affected work ethnics due to the recent economic crisis, and we try to revive ethics that are on the decline these days.” Ahmad Al-Hamdan, head of the corporate social responsibility center at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), said they have launched a department for work ethics at their center. He said that the JCCI has also established the first ethics charter to define work ethics at a commercial chamber. This was to prevent monopoly, commercial fraud and the unjustified increase of prices. Amal Sheera, deputy head of the human resources committee at the JCCI, believes that the forum should be a national project to enhance ethics in the work environment either in the private or public sector. Sheera said that the forum has a number of goals which are: to enhance ethics among individuals and in organizations and to create more competition in the public sector regarding the implementation of ethics, as well as to highlight the role of ethics in developing the corporate social responsibility programs of organizations and the role of ethics in achieving success and making profits. __
