Work Environment

Qatar is a small country in the Middle East and a member of Gulf Cooperation Council, it is a rich country and main source of income are Oil & Gas. Development in Qatar in 2008 started working on a new national vision, known as Qatar 2030, this vision is based on four pillars. Those pillars are human, social, economic and environmental development. However, to be able to succeed in its vision and due to lack of Qatari work force, they rely on expatriates to build and develop this country along with its future vision. Driven by this vision, Qatar started to consider revising its labor law, as it will not help them in achieving this vision. In this article I will elaborate about Qatar current working environment, its advantage and disadvantages and the changes toward effective positive working environment the country is witnessing.

Driven by its vision, Qatar started to appear as a great working environment for international companies like Shell, Dolphin and Vodafone. However, the current labor law is still considered as a major barrier towards achieving this vision and the country’s development. The labor law gives ultimate power for the sponsor to control workers, the sponsor can prevent the worker to work in any other company in the country incase of termination or end of service, as well applying for a loan, and requesting a landline phone service requires approval from the sponsor. For any workers to leave the country for vacation or business trip, they require exit permit, which is a sort of approval to leave the country. In addition to all that no minimum wage is set for labors, as well lack of salary guidelines exist which result in discrimination incase two or more candidates apply for the same job, as the package for Europeans differ by multiples from other nationalities, with the same experience and qualifications.

On the positive side, Qatar companies offer high average salaries when compared to its peers within the region, and many companies offer accommodation, and transportation to its workers. The preference in hiring is for Qataris, and that Europeans, other Arab nationalities and then Indians, Philippines, and Nepalese. Foreigners are not permitted to own business in this country, and only allow maximum percentage of 49% while the 51% is for a Qatari regardless of his actual share in this business. Safety of workers is regulated by law, however not enforced by the government. Each company enforces its own safety standards, and rules.

With regards to working environment within companies it is not regulated by the government, each company has its own standards. My organization is a local bank with branches in France and UAE, we adopted an open office environment, this has its own advantages and disadvantages, however I believe its not very helpful for IT skilled personnel who require concentration and focus. The positive working environment in my opinion is reflected on workers motivation and productivity; appreciation and respect, as well satisfying personal needs for workers could really increase workers productivity.

In conclusion, Qatar driver by its vision started to consider changing the labor law and make it more flexible, however no formal announcement for any yet. Companies in this country offer competitive salary packages, however each company has its own rules and regulations to control workers based on the labor law. International companies started to lead the change in working environment by enforcing their standards, which increased the minimum acceptable level of working environment such as trust, appreciation and rewards and other motivating forces.

Reference:

Berrebi, C, Martorell, F, & Tanner, J 2009, 'Qatar's Labor Markets at a Crucial Crossroad', Middle East Journal, 63, 3, pp. 421-442, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 12 May 2012.

Buchanan, David A., & Huczynski, Andrzeg A. (2010). Organizational Behaviour. Prentice Hall.

Hall, Patrick & Fernandez-Ramil, Juan. (2007) Managing the Software Enterprise, Software Engineering and Information Systems in Context. London:Thomson Learning.

Stichler, J.F. 2009, "Creating a Healthy, Positive Work Environment", Nursing for Women's Health, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 341 [online]. (Accessed 12 May 2012)