An Eye on Saudi Blog

Arabian Business.com took it on its shoulders to provide us with yet another benchmarking list of the top 10 GCC employers. If you are already in one of them, lucky you, you have been selected. If not, you may have another
opinion and think that your workplace is among the best already, or you could just watch and weep!!

According to the magazine, its researchers conducted a study to determine the best employers in the GCC area. The following items have been used in its comparison list: salary, benefits, chances of promotion, working conditions, perks — and also the quality of the people you will be working for.

Before giving you the list of companies and a link to the website; I have some comments of my own:

-         I have a problem with the methodology, because it is not there! We do not know or have any details about how Arabian Business conducted its research. Questions such as which companies did they approach?
How did they receive the response? and others are not answered! The claim to name a company as a best employer is a considerable one! And in my guess, it is difficult to measure! In all cases, it is not bad to be exposed to some of the professional companies’ practices.

-         Believe it or not, there is not a single Saudi company in the list! It’s shocking to be honest. Yes I
voiced out my concerns about the research methodology, but still, the absence of Saudi companies is alarming and could be used as a justification to re-think our managerial practices.

-         In almost all of the top 10 companies, there is a reference in a way or another to the importance of
work/life balance and the importance of investing in the human element. Or let’s put it in this way, in the selected companies, apparently there is an understanding of the importance of creating a winning culture! Modern management is very clear; have an empowering environment, you will definitely have satisfying rewards and results.

-         While going through the list I remembered one of the concepts Collins and Porras discussed in their
very well known book ‘Built to Last; Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.’ The concept states that successful companies built their whole existence around a core ideology that is beyond making profits. Of course companies are the in the market to make money, but this is not all. They have a reason behind their existence. In the list, you can see examples of companies having the ideology of developing people, or building communities and so on. This is definitely a challenge.

The introduction to the list can be found here, and the companies profiles could be browsed starting from here.

And this is the summary of the list:

1. Emirates Airline.
2. MH Alshaya Company.
3. Omnicom Media Group.
4. Batelco.
5. Emaar.
6. GE (General Electric).
7. Standard Chartered.
8. Qatar Foundation.
9. Siemens.
10. Aramex.

* Image Source

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4. The Illusion of the Best Syndrome
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