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Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Electricity’

Doubling the Salaries, or Not!

21 Mar

The generosity of the Saudi government with its workforce left the private sector in a very awkward position. Just after the series of royal decrees that carried in one of them the good news of the two months bonus, the speculation game started amongst the private sector employees. Will there be a salary doubling, or not?!!

The big cats in the Saudi market followed suit almost immediately and started announcing the same bonuses for its staff. Aramco, SABIC, Saudi Airlines, STC, and more. But still, the majority of companies did not, and their employees kept wondering, hoping, and asking for some good news, but their managers kept saying that the big bosses are in a closed meeting, and in some companies, the meeting is yet to finish!!

Now the question is, should they double the salary, or not?

The fact of the matter is that it goes both ways; there are reasons supporting the doubling decision, and there are arguments that just go against it. But before that, it should be highlighted that when talking about private sector, it is inevitable to differentiate between the big and well known cats, I just mentioned some of them above (although some of these companies are not totally private), and the rest of companies which vary in size from medium to small. Someone could argue that the employees working for the big cats do not actually need such a bonus, they already have relatively high salaries and a strong bonuses system. For those arguing this point just be reminded that some of the big, I mean, HUUUUUGGGGE cats, those who profit in millions, do no actually give high salaries or anything, you can call them cheap if you want! And you don’t want me to give you examples, I am sure you know plenty of them!!

Now; these are some of the most important reasons why a company could decide to double:

  • Playing the patriotic card: in times like these, playing on patriotism could send some gratifying signals to customers, staff, and, of course, the government itself. I am not trying to imply that such patriotic waves of feelings should not be true or sincere, I am just saying that playing such a card scores sometimes. Now add to the mix the unrest already taking place in the area, the normal card just turns to be an Ace!
  • Engaging employees: It is a message that you care, you do not want your staff to feel less happy or disadvantaged. Consider it a motivating surprise.
  • Adding to the brand value: getting the word heard that you care about your staff and that you actually have some good cash to distribute around could add some edge to your brand. Customers could trust you more, regulators could love you more. Also, your whole working environment might seem more appealing to top talents everywhere, you know how to take care of your staff, right!

Now what about the arguments supporting the decision of not to double:

  • It’s too late: most of the Saudi companies already prepared their 2011 budgets. It is just not practical to disturb the whole year’s plans and start playing with the cash flow and reserves. That’s a strong argument especially for the medium and small organizations.
  • I am fair: some companies might argue that their salaries and bonuses system is robust, and that its employees do not need any extra incentives, they are happy and satisfied. The tricky part in this argument is that the employees themselves should be believing in such claims, not only the managers! If this I-am-fair-card played very well, it could lead to both employees engagement and brand value addition as just mentioned above.

On which side do you stand?

 
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Posted in Communication, Culture, General Management, Saudi business

 

Safety Comes Last

11 Jan

Just about four months after a man deceased in a fire incident in one of the Saudi Electricity company’s gas turbines in Riyadh, another soul has just been lost in another incident, and where?! in the same location (here)!!!

It must be obvious to any observer that there is something wrong, something missing in the safety department, or in the whole understanding of the concept of safety. Opening this subject around here is like opening an infected wound that neither the Saudi companies nor government regulators would be so excited to look at.

It is not like most of them do not have safety sections or departments, the real problem is that most of them think their job stop at installing a number of fire extinguishers beside practicing a fire drill every 7 years!! I personally know a company that is renting an office in a big business building. One morning, the staff were surprised by a nice drawing hanging on the wall showing some nice arrows and remarks about emergency exists and assembly points. Also on that drawing was the name of one of their colleagues as the office coordinator whom everyone should be looking for in case of any emergency. So the staff were excitedly rushing to that staff to ask him about this new, and excellent, emergency plans. Once they stormed the poor soul office, they were faced with another surprise, the guy just did not know what they were talking about!!!

And hey, you should not be working in a construction company to know what I am talking about, I am sure there are a lot of constructions or roads excavations taking place along your daily commute. Just stop at any of those and have a close look at the poor workers in there!

Long story short, the company that respects its staff should educate them about safety, should train them, should provide them with the required tools to eliminate or, at the worst case, minimize those conditions, and it should enforce very strict safety rules and procedures.

In simpler words, it should look at its staff and treat them as human beings!

 
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Posted in Culture, General Management, Saudi business

 

The Burning Heat II

25 May

Few days ago I published a post about the heat wave that hit Jeddah in the past week. I’ve commented on the poor PR performance of both the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) and how they’ve engaged in a pointless debate about whether the temperature was 49 °C or it only was 46 °C!!

The exemplary reaction, came from our neighbors in Dubai. According to this piece of news (Arabic), the UAE Ministry of labor has decided to stop any labor outdoor activities between 12:30 to 15:00 for a period of time extended from the mid of June up to the mid of September. The surprising thing, to me at least, is that this decision is in place since 2005! And in this year, the restricted months have been increased to three instead of only two in the pervious years. And those found noncompliant with the ruling will be fined by the government and their working permits would be suspended.

The point is that they were not debating whether the temperature would be this or that, they just tackled the main point of the whole subject and they acted accordingly. Again, for SEC and PME, please focus on your own missions and make sure you are providing your services in exemplary means.

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It seems that the Saudi ministry of labor followed course and decided to ban working under the sun from 12 PM to 3 PM starting July through the end of August but it is not effective immediately, it is to start on 2011! (the news here). This is good news , but why 2011 and not now; Allah only knows!!

 
2 Comments

Posted in Public Relations, Saudi business

 

The Burning Heat

21 May

From: http://www.al-madina.com

The past couple of days were ‘hot’ in Jeddah, and I mean that literally! And what got things really hotter is the debate between the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) and the rest of us, Jeddaweis (people from Jeddah.)

SEC claimed that it had major power cutoffs in Jeddah because of the unusual temperature that reached 49 °C. The PME, feeling that SEC just stepped on their speciality came out and said “No … No … It was never 49, it was only 46 °C. (read here, in Arabic)

Now let’s talk business:

  • To SEC, please do not try to blame the weather for your poor performance, I am not sure anybody is buying that. Let’s say that it was really 49 °C … so what??? It is not like you are operating the network from Alaska or anything!! So the summary of the message is: the poor PR performance of trying to cover failures by ‘not so smart’ justifications is not acceptable, that’s beside SEC apparently poor contingency and back up plans to deal with the ‘more than expected’ heat this summer, and please note, we are not summer yet!
  • To PME, your response was like saying ‘do not exaggerate people, hey … it’s only 46 °C.’ We would’ve really appreciate showing some feelings for us, the Jeddaweis who felt that burning heat to the bone! Or even better, you could’ve sent messages to some companies to take some kind of measures to protect their field workers. So the summary of the message is: when you do not have a good PR to share with the rest of us, it is much better to keep it in your drawers and not to play smart on us!

 
7 Comments

Posted in Public Relations

 

Saudi Business World and Climate Change

15 Oct

I am writing this blog post in response to the ‘Blog Action Day 09, Climate Change’.

To be honest, writing about this subject, in Saudi Arabia, is a bit weird!! You know why? Because the whole philosophy of preserving the environment and taking serious measures to fight the climate change is still young in the minds of both; the public and the business world.

For that, thinking about the climate change prevention idea in the Saudi business world will definitely lead you to consider the concept that contains such ideas; that is the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This concept is still new in the Saudi business environment. And even more, it is not totally understood, let alone embraced. Following the subject in the media, you would be encountered with a bunch of articles; most of them are written by Saudi academics trying to explain the concept. I am not saying this is wrong; on the contrary, it is advisable and certainly good to bring such concept to the public attention. But still, most of the examples provided to illustrate the concept are based on employees’ benefits and charity. Yes, these are main elements of the CSR, but they are not everything.

I believe it is reasonable to claim that preserving-the-environment awareness is a cultural issue before any nothing else. Unfortunately, showing respect to nature, saving power resources, and respecting the green life in general are some things we are not growing up with around here. So any initiatives to address such matters should always consider this cultural lack of understanding.

Nonetheless, hope is there and it is not all a black picture. There are some companies’ initiatives to promote environmental awareness and practices. ARAMCO and SBIC (Saudi Electricity, to some extent) always come to mind, at least for their fields of interests if not for anything else. However, although the efforts to adhere to modern industrial standards are important, the effort to raise employees’ environmental awareness is something we should concentrate on, at least, to compensate for the lack of it in our normal life. Maybe building this awareness in the corporate culture will be pay its dues and we will start seeing its results in the normal life.

Finally, more regulations, incentives, and programs are required to address this issue. And they better to be real and sincere and not to be used as way of advertisement! Such efforts are needed from both, public and private sectors, to raise the awareness of such critical matters. Critical matters to the essence of our existence on this planet.

 
2 Comments

Posted in Saudi business