Socio-cultural aspects of organizations and businesses established in the Gulf countries, give the much-needed importance and focus to the impacts it has on both the society and the culture of the people residing there through its operations and services.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) oversees its political and economic operations in the 6 Gulf countries that are – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The State of Qatar, The Sultanate of Oman, the United Arab Emirates, The Kingdom of Bahrain, and The State of Kuwait.
Data insights have shown that almost all the workforce employees who are working in the member countries of The Gulf Cooperation Council are non-citizens such as immigrants and foreigners. The GCC countries that have their local and national citizens working in their nations are unfortunately of a very low percentage and comprise minority groups.
For instance, in the construction industry, data insights shared that almost a staggering 95% of the culturally diverse workforce population working in the GCC countries of the Gulf are foreigners. This is a very low hit to the 6 member countries as all of the local and national citizens are either unemployed or displaced by immigrating workers.
Hence, a policy was written to be established and implemented as a strategy by the Human Resource Departments of every organization, business, firm, enterprise, and company, in the Gulf, to combat this adverse concern in the working population regarding the nation’s only people.
The policy that was established was called Workforce Localization – WL.
Therefore in this article, we shall be exploring the roots and meanings of what Workforce Localization entails in in-depth contexts as well as the impacts it has on the GCC countries.
What is Workforce Localization – WL?
It is a common fact and knowledge that the immigration of a culturally diverse set of workers employed by a company that is established in an outside country would benefit from this type of dynamic employment retention. A culturally diverse workforce would engage better, and contribute more creatively and innovatively, in showcasing and applying their skills and talent.
Although it is one thing to face a good initiative that is adopted in providing good job opportunities in other countries to learn and grow in all desired areas, it would be another thing to have the citizens who are working in one’s own developing nation to be seen as the minority group.
With an over-immigration of foreigners into a place, more so would be the displacements of the locals. The GCC recognized this adverse and rapidly growing concern and issue by establishing a policy called Workforce Localization – WL.
Workforce Localization is the policy that is established and implemented to increase the engagement and involvement of local and national citizens in workforce employment, especially in the private sector. This strategic initiative was taken to reduce the huge reliability and dependencies on the expatriate workforce.
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Workforce Localization Policy Programs:
The workforce localization policy established in the Gulf region by the GCC government has several policy programs that are directed toward increasing the employability rates of local and national citizens. They are as follows.
Providing Training and Education – the much-required training and education are given to the local and national citizens and workforce of the 6 GCC member countries so that they can be employed in private sectors without getting displaced. The Human Resource Departments help the citizens in their talent management and skill development to kick-start their business ventures with completely free working visas.
Diversification of Economy – the GCC countries encourage and provide support and help to their local and national citizens to start and establish knowledge-based industries such as entrepreneurial companies, medical healthcare, and educational infrastructures, availability of a hands-on diverse workforce that is culture-oriented, Information and technology services, etcetera. This economic diversification would prove to be very beneficial in workforce localization efforts.
Labor Synchronizations – this policy brings the minority number of the workforce comprising local and national citizens to be considered first for job opportunities in private sectors before the expatriate workforce. This encourages and paves the way for achieving the goal of increasing the employment rates of the citizens in the GCC countries.
Other Strategies Enforced by the GCC:
There are other nationalization strategies implemented by the GCC with the help of the Human Resources Departments in most of the organizations in the Gulf region. These are – Kuwaitization in Kuwait, Qatarization in Qatar, and Saudization in Saudi Arabia.
Kuwaitization was established in Kuwait in the year 1978 when the state realized that its workforce comprised a majority of immigrant and foreign workers more than its own local and national citizens. This was also when the GCC started to plan to establish and implement the strategies of Workforce Localization.
Qatarization was established in Qatar and its policy programs were driven to make sure that future generations of local and national citizens would have the appropriate resources passed on to them to achieve and accomplish their goals and business ventures, even with the continued immigration of foreign workforce.
Saudization (also known as Nitaqat) was established in Saudi Arabia. It is a policy program that ensures that all its organizations and businesses first employ at least one local and national citizen for every 10 foreign workers. This strategic initiative also helps increase the job opportunities and employment rates for the women citizen workforce as well.
To Conclude:
With the hopes of decreasing the percentage of the expatriate workforce by the increase in the employment rates of the local and national citizens of the Gulf region, the GCC’s 6-membered countries, have adopted and implemented a policy program called the Workforce Localization. Under this program are several strategic initiatives taken in conjunction with the government as well as the Human Resource Departments of almost all the organizations present. Although initiated years ago, Workforce Localization is an implementation that is still a work in progress but can see a bright future where its goals are achieved.