Business & Money | Monday 15 June, 2015 1:38 am |

The ministry of Labor is preparing to launch a new Nitaqat program for recruitment companies and offices soon, a senior official said. The program will include both incentives and penalties for companies based on the zone they belong to.

Tayseer Al-Mofrej, director of the ministry’s media center, said the new program will be based on specific standards that measure the performance of recruitment companies in the Red, Yellow, and Green zones.

He said companies in the red zone which violate the terms of the programs would have their licenses withdrawn, while yellow zone companies would have their licenses suspended. Green zone companies which do not have any violations will have access to certain benefits.

According to Al-Mofrej, standards include performance and quality of services provided to citizens, low number of complaints of reported violations against offices and companies and compliance with the Ministry’s rules and regulations related to recruitment of domestic workers. Based on the level and duration of compliance with these specifications, the ministry will offer companies certain benefits including increases in visa quotas and ability to enter into new private and fast track services.
Companies that do no adhere to the standards established by the program would not be able to access these services provided by the ministry.

Al-Mofrej confirmed that the ministry is currently working and developing the basic criteria for the program. Details of the program and effective date will be announced soon.
The move comes as part of the broader plans announced by the Ministry recently to develop and improve the domestic labor market. A team of specialists has been studying and reviewing the market, including costs of recruitment and establishment of a cost ceiling for recruitment of domestic labor from other companies, as well as setting a maximum 60-day period for the recruitment process and issuing licenses to companies who comply with these and other standards.

The ministry aims to provide services in accordance with these specific pricing and service standards, and increase competitiveness in the domestic labor recruitment market to ensure efficiency and ability to meet the growing demand for female household workers.