I am writing with regard to the article "Experts against allowing expats to transfer sponsorship without NOC" (May 11). This is called free transfer of talent. Despite living in the 21st century, the mindset of many Saudis is to treat an expat like a slave! Wake up guys! I don't get it; so many young Saudis these days are educated in the West where changing employers for better working conditions or better opportunities is done in the blink of an eye. Why don't you guys learn from them? Must a Western consultant be paid millions to advise you about this? Abdur-Rehman, Online response II. What about the Saudi employees who can move from job to job freely? Don't you think all of the concerns mentioned in the article apply to Saudi employees as well? There is something called "staff retention". If a company needs staff who are in demand for their skills, then they have to retain them by offering competitive compensation, and not just by the threat of not allowing a change of sponsorship. Expat, Online response III. If the comments of the employers in the article were true then there would be no production companies, no construction companies and no service companies left in other countries,where a free labor market exists. On the contrary, employers would work more efficiently, with less labor and less dangerous situations, which would be a huge tribute to the modernization of the Saudi labor market. Barthol, Online response IV. I think that those employers who take care of their staff and treat them as an asset to the company will not have any problems. But those who treat their employees as slaves will make a big deal out of this issue. Let us wait for the best decision from the Saudi government on this regulation which is already in practice in all other GCC countries. Kesav, Online response
