Striking the right note

Moulding the manpower matters with simple solutions has never been easy. But with the ministry getting into the act to set Omanisation in order, businesses have to buck up. A report by Visvas Paul D Karra

An authorised car service station has told its customers that they will not be able to wash their cars after the servicing because they had terminated the casual workers who did the car-wash, fearing the crackdown on illegal expat workers.

Across the town, another authorised car service station had permanent Omani employees who were trained in Japan for car-wash. But they too had to give coupons to their customers to get their cars cleaned at other car-wash centres because there was no one to wash the cars. The trained employees found another employer who paid a few rials extra and they decided to jump ship and resigned.

These two instances represent the present dilemma being faced by many companies in Oman in the recent past on the issue of manpower. The dilemma has been triggered by the crackdown on illegal expatriate manpower and the simultaneous publication of a Royal Decree amending Oman’s Labour Law to increase the penalties and responsibility for employing illegal manpower. A subsequent ministerial decision asking all companies to strictly fulfil their Omanisation targets set for 2009 has fuelled the anxiety among not only top companies but also among medium and small entrepreneurships as well.
  

Razor thin edge

The manpower issue has always been like a double-edged sword for the government cutting both ways whichever side you swung it.

Firstly, the government cannot allow a situation where the jobs that are meant for Omanis (and there is enough local talent available in the specified segments) are given to expatriate workers. If unchecked, this will create unemployment issues, socio-economic unrest besides resentment against legally employed expatriates and affect the productivity of businesses and companies. A developing state like the Sultanate, which is moving at a steady pace, will not be able to afford a negative impact on the economic engine and stunt the growth of the country as a whole.

Secondly, there is absolutely no doubt that if a country is having illegal people, it poses not only social problems but also raises security concerns and impacts the integrity of the nation. The same holds true for Oman as well.

Thirdly, taking advantage of the generous attitude of the government, many companies have beenpartaking in the employment of people without proper work permits. This also tantamount to illegal employment and further denies jobs to Omanis. In this regard, all the private companies were given a grace period till the end of 2009 to comply with all the Omanisation targets.|

Knowing these situations, the government has vigorously begun to crack the whip across the whole country. Raids were carried out in public places, offices, private organisations as well as specific dwellings where large groups of illegal workers resided. The most notable development, however, was the Royal Decree amending the Oman Labour Law and putting responsibility on both the employer as well as employee for illegal and irregular workers. This has shaken up the private sector.
 

Whither skills?

Kharusi points out that the oil and gas sector needs workers for rigs, drilling sites etc. There is no room for any kind of error as a blowout could cost millions of rials. Therefore, equipping a new employee with the right skills takes training and time to gain the experience.

The situation is similar with many developing sectors like the telecom industry, for example, where the Omanisation target is 65 per cent for technicians. The telecom industry is just around 10 years old and only a few skilled Omanis are available in the job market. And they are all employed in most of the big companies. And if the telecom companies need to meet the ministry targets, they need to poach from other companies by paying a little extra. “This is first of all an unfair practice and secondly it creates an unhealthy competition,” says Aqeel Jawad Sultan, Group Managing Director, Jawad Sultan Enterprises, which also owns Jawad Sultan Technologies, the leading telecom company of Oman.

“Our telecom company, Jawad Sultan Technologies, need more people but the supply is less, therefore we need more time to meet the Omanisation targets, which are very high,” points out Sultan, while saying this particular subject should be escalated to the authorities by the concerned representatives of the industry and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).

Conflicting pressures

Human resource experts admit that there are conflicting pressures on many businesses in addressing the issue of mismatch between demand and supply of skilled Omani manpower. While it is dependent on the type of industry and role, the pressure is on business managers and owners to hire the desired skills. But they do add that this ‘squeeze’ is a necessity if one has to encourage more employers to develop staff and contribute more to a local workforce.

The situation varies from sector to sector. If the oil & gas and telecom companies face the issue of poaching and find it tough to achieve their Omanisation targets very quickly, the small and medium companies, especially the hospitality sector, anticipate a major challenge during crucial periods if they are unable to hire temporary/ casual labourers.

Aqeel A Munam Sulaiman, CEO, salmancorporation, says that in these days of tough business environment, it is important for medium businesses to have people who have the ability of multi-tasking because, their line of business is such that they have peak times and non-peak times.

“Therefore the Omanisation targets should be flexible. If the retail sector is having 60 per cent Omanisation targets, let it be an overall figure instead of giving sub-category level targets. This will help my Omani brothers and sisters as well, as they will learn multi-tasking and they will be able to progress in their careers, and we would be able to deploy our non-Omani staff during the times when my local staff are on leave or during public holidays,” says Sulaiman, who runs several retail outlets like salmanstores, Caribou Coffee, Pizza Inn, Foto Magic, City Watch, etc.

Working woes

Talking about practical problems, Sulaiman cites an example of pizza delivery. The branded cars for pizza deliveries are supposed to be driven only by Omanis. The peak demand is during Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Omanis who are employed as drivers-cum- pizza delivery boys want to take an off on the weekends. So who will drive the cars?

The same will be case for cashiers. We have Omani cashiers in all our shops as per the law. However, during Eid holidays or weekends when our Omani staff want an off we cannot ask non-Omanis to cover for them. Furthermore, for the development of all our staff we would like to rotate them to work in all departments, so it does not help if an Omani is employed to be only a cashier, points out Sulaiman.

Since 2003, the labour law states that it is illegal for an expatriate to work for someone other than their own sponsor. Says Gorvinder Pannu, labour law specialist at Trowers & Hamlins, Muscat office, “Most importantly, it must be remembered that the background to this crackdown and amendments to the labour law is Omanisation. At the moment, expatriate labour is regulated by the labour law so that companies who wish to employ expatriate labour must comply with the prescribed requirements. The obtaining of labour clearance and labour visas will always be subject to Omanisation,” says Pannu.

Concurring with Pannu’s views, Salim Al Kaabi, AGM – HR, BankMuscat, says that in line with the directive of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, Oman’s manpower policy is centred on further improving the country’s reliance on Omani manpower in all fields. He further says that the policy is linked to the country’s manpower requirements in various sectors and recruitment of expatriate manpower is dependent on non-availability of corresponding trained Omanis. A well-defined strategy linked to education and vocational training of Omanis is helping to achieve the stated objective of nationalisation of human resources, adds Kaabi.

Costs escalate

It has been reported that the real estate and construction sector has been hit hard as companies struggle to cope with the amendments in the labour law because it was in this sector that the maximum illegal (without documents) and irregular (‘free’ visa holders) workers took up jobs like masons, tile layers, painters, electricians etc.

According to one report, construction costs in the Sultanate rose by nearly 10 per cent, with the contractors citing shortage of workforce to refuse to take up jobs for investors who want to begin construction projects. The shortage has been created because companies are now hesitant to employ workers who are irregular and illegal. It has been reported that the cost of building one metre increased from 40 rials to 54 rials while the price of building materials, such as steel and cement, rose from 140 rials to 160 rials.

Intention to abscond

Hans Erlings, CEO, Galfar Engineering & Contracting, is all praise for what the ministry of manpower is doing as they have been suffering a lot because people abscond from their company and try and go work elsewhere. “Some people join our company with the sole intention to abscond. So that causes difficulties for us because they steal your visa, labour clearance etc and go work somewhere else where there is no proper Omanisation and proper implementation of the rules,” Erlings says.

Galfar Engineering & Contracting, established in 1972, is one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East with a turnover of over $1bn and has over 27,000 employees.

“If you want someone to work for you, then you get them with proper documents. Otherwise, it is like smuggling, or like trying to avoid the taxes. Actually, all these illegal things disturb the system and create false competition,” says Erlings.

Freely illegal!

According to rough estimates there are about 120,000 Indian expatriates alone who have overstayed or have the ‘free’ visas. This is besides Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, discloses P M Jabir, secretary, community welfare, of the Indian Social Club in Muscat.

Jabir, who has been in Oman for over 20 years, has vast knowledge about labour issues faced by Indian workers. Some of the reasons why workers abscond from companies is because of low salaries or because they are cheated by recruiting agents who take their passports as soon as they come out of Muscat International Airport and then let them loose in the country. While welcoming the government’s move to clean the country of all the illegals and irregulars with the help of the amended labour law, Jabir stressed that the illegal people have realised that things are going to get tough in 2010, so there is going to be a huge number of Indian labourers who would want to repatriate. Therefore, he feels that the government should give some facility like a general amnesty for all illegal workers to go back as quickly as possible. This will prevent unnecessary burden on the government’s detention centres, says Jabir who works with Salaam Insurance as a general manager.

Presently, if an illegal expatriate has to leave the country he would have to shell out approximately around 1228 rials multiplied by the number of years he/she has overstayed. The latest reports have indicated that around 15,000 immigrant workers left the country following the implementation of the amended labour law by the authorities.

Curbing exploitation

Commenting on the labour law amendments, Jabir is pleased that the sponsor, who sells the ‘free’ visa will no longer be able to exploit the employee. Earlier, the sponsor would sell a visa to a worker, then absolve himself of any legalities by reporting the worker as an absconder in the ministry of manpower but at the same time would continue to collect monthly ‘fees’ from the latter.

It is imperative for an urgent dialogue between the authorities and the private sector representatives to sort out all the issues and arrive at an amicable solution. There is also a need to spread the awareness among the working class expatriate population about their rights in this country to prevent exploitation, which causes them to abscond and become illegal.

Plan and progress

Long term planning is another way to reduce the impact of shortage of casual workers. Industrialised countries have this concept of casual workers but in Oman, the concept has yet to develop and there is no solution to it. Commenting on this issue, Pannu, says, “In my view, the ministry of manpower expects the companies to fill in the temporary demand with Omani workers or staff. However, in case they don’t find enough local workforce, the companies need to make a business case to prove this.

In my personal opinion there is scope for development of the Omani labour law to accommodate casual/ temporary employees in companies.”

Proper planning covering all aspects of a business, including human resources, is essential to run a successful venture and solve the issue of mismatch between demand and supply of Omani manpower, adds Kaabi while saying that in the prevailing situation, companies ought to abide by the law of the land.

Investing in education

Investing in educational infrastructure to provide more facilities for training the Omanis and developing their talent is another thought which has been mooted. As Sultan puts it, all the qualified graduates work hard to get government jobs and companies are left with only high school students. This is a fact, which affects all the private companies. Therefore, universities and educational institutes should provide that little bit more facility for imparting the right training that is suitable for the job market, says Sultan.
“There is also a need for cultural education to bring awareness among young Omanis on the value of work, the need to obtain skills, and not to be selfish but think about developing their own country,” Sultan advises.

On a different note, it must be understood that Oman as a developing country is just one and a half generation old. The social mores, the tradition and the culture of this land are gradually evolving. A couple of decades ago, only one member of a family of ten would be working, whereas the situation today has changed drastically. Now it is not only two or three of the family, but even the women have girdled themselves up as they have been empowered and elevated to their rightful place in the society under the benevolent leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.

As the next generation assimilates the knowledge and experience of the present generation and strives to improve on the shortcomings of their elders, companies will have at their disposal more locals who recognise that “work is worship” and have the requisite skillsets.
 

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