Qatarisation: A Qatari’s View

25 Oct, 2009  Random

Qatarisation: what it should be about.

www.qatarization.com.qa states that “Qatarization is the identification and development of quality, competent Qatari males and females to assume permanent positions in our industry. Our objective is Quality Qatarization.

The preparation of quality Qataris is based on performance, and competence rather than time, and should be balanced with operational requirements to ensure a smooth operation.

Qatarization requires the support and commitment of experienced Qatari and expatriate staff, at all levels, to develop and train inexperienced Qataris and help them gain valuable on-the-job experience.”

Qatarisation should be done the right way, it’s a system that was put in place in order to provide Qataris with the opportunity to occupy various roles in order to be functioning members of society.

The fear is that there are so many expats in the country that Qataris aren’t running their own country to an extent.

Many believe that Qatarisation is there to help them ‘find’ jobs and secure them into a permanent position. The truth is, Qatarisation is all about educating Qataris and supporting ‘future leaders’.

There are three fundamental rules to Qatarisation in my opinion:

1)      Every Qatari deserves the opportunity to be trained and educated in order to be able to fulfil his duties in a particular role

2)      No Qatari has the right to keep a job based on nationality. A Qatari can be given an opportunity, but they should earn that role.

3)      Qataris should be hired based on their skills to fill suitable rolls.

At the moment, The official Qatarization plan includes only government jobs and the energy and industry sectors, but there are other laws that give Qataris preferential treatment in other sectors. Qatarization also applies to companies that have investment from the government.

What would I personally like to achieve through Qatarisation? To give forward thinking, hard-working, and passionate Qataris a chance; and if you can’t find that Qatari, then try to spark interest and change the mentalities of those that exist in order to create a new ethos.

On the other side, I feel that Qatarisation needs to be done the correct way as well. You can’t force expats out of jobs. These are people who have chosen to come to my country for a living and now we’re taking everything away from them.

Keep Qatarization in mind for new positions, and for current positions, why not have a Qatari train during the time that an expat is there (an average expat’s contract is for 2-4 years and most know that they don’t plan on staying in Qatar forever)?

Why do I say this? Because I want the Qatari people to be selected due to their intellect, to be valued for their hard-work, and if we just create a system with no purpose except for filling a few seats, then we’re not thinking about the true future of this country.

So common Qataris! Let’s work hard!

  • Bleu

    I tend to agree with you on this, but current practice is either:

    Fire all expats, then employ any Qatari.

    Or

    This job is for expats, a Qatari would never be able to fill it, we keep the lower positions for Qataris…

    What I am looking for is something close to the ideal solution we all want, nothing more, nothing less.

  • Andrew

    I was someone who was ‘Qatarized’, which was an interesting experience. Thankfully I was able to find another job, get an NOC (don’t ask how hard that was) and remain working in Qatar.

    I share your views about how and why Qatarisation should work, but…

    Senior governmental positions don’t appear to be awarded through merit, but rather surname. My Qatari friends know this; if they are from a ‘good’ family they too know that sooner or later they will be promoted not because of their industrious work ethic, but because of who they are. Likewise my Qatari friends who aren’t from a ‘good’ family know that no matter how hard they work, they will always be overlooked for opportunities and promotions.

    My prediction is that Qatarisation will evolve from being a means to provide unemployed Qataris seeking work into a means to force Qataris to do work that they have hitherto considered menial or beneath them. It’s only a matter of time before this country’s youth unemployment problems force Qatarisation into the hospitality and service sectors as a way of squeezing out expatriate labour and forcing Qataris to drop their (over inflated) expectations of walking in to a management position at the age of 21, and instead starting from ‘the bottom’, along with everyone slse.

    As far as I’m concerned, no matter how talented the individual, unless s/he has workerd their way up from the bottom, they simply don’t deserve to be thrust into supervisory/management positions, but at the moment Qataris mostly have a sense that this sort of work is ‘beneath’ them.

  • Kei

    Hi Andrew, I would hope that as I demonstrated by ILQ that you would not feel that it’s Qataris but rather note that there is a clear divide between that those that do not work and those that have effort.

    Otherwise it would be a generalization.

  • Andrew

    The simple point to be made is that I have all sorts of Qatari friends from a variety of backgrounds.

    Some are motivated, but they are in the minority.

    Sadly I would say that most Qataris have have met do not work hard, and who can blame them? If I was in their shoes (sandals) I wouldn’t work hard either.

    Some don’t work hard and still get promoted each year because of who they are.

    And the remainder don’t work hard because they know that they will never be rewarded for their efforts.

    This could be chalked up to the law of unintended consequences – Qatarisation rewards people not on merit but nationality, and the way it is applied in this country is typically based on family and prestige. If Qataris were smart, motivated and educated (and many of them actually are) there would be no need for Qatarisation as nationals could hold their own in the workforce.

    Qatarisation, for the most part, is holding back the workforce by providing a disincentive for most Nationals to strive for excellence.

Freedom of Expression

    Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the Qatari Government is a signatory of states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any medias and regardless of any frontiers.

    The Emiri Decision Number 86 of the year 2007 on the establishment of the Doha Free Information Centre marked yet another step towards establishing a State of rights and freedom of speech. The decision stipulated that the Centre be a non-profit organization, headquartered in Doha City, and have the authority to establish other affiliated centres inside and outside Qatar. It is worth mentioning that His Highness the Emir issued a decision in 1998 annulling the ministry of information, giving birth to a new era of freedom of speech where censorship was removed from local media.