Riyadh — It’s a familiar sight to see expatriate workers standing in front of retail sector shops or roaming about in souks of different cities of the Kingdom.
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They are creating doubts about whether these foreign workers still own stakes in these shops. An Okaz/Saudi Gazette report says this is despite the enforcement of 100 percent Saudization of the retail businesses sector.
Apparently, the foreign workers engage in the illegal practice of tasattur (cover-up) differently by hoodwinking the authorities. These workers obviously watch the sales staff’s sales activities in the markets.
It was evident in the monitoring that several expatriate workers were still supervising some of these retail shops. Particularly the shops selling ready-made clothes and abayas in the popular open markets.
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Speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette, some citizens expressed their disappointment at the large numbers of expatriate workers in front of the shops in the Taif markets. However, the sellers are Saudi men and women.
They questioned if there is still a covert relationship between the shops and some expatriates?
Meanwhile, Okaz/Saudi Gazette reported that the Human Resource ministry’s oversight teams are following up on the situation.
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They will enforce the ministerial decisions of Saudization after verification and will take legal actions against the violators.
The presence of illegal expatriate workers in this sector could be due to job dropouts by Saudi female workers.
The sources stated that the retail business sector targets specific categories of female jobseekers. Many such workers switch to other jobs after gaining experience and skills.
Abdulaziz Al-Mahbash, a human resources specialist, said that the high job turnover is one of the retail sector’s biggest challenges.
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The retail sector suffers as these jobs are treated as part-time or summer vacation jobs for students.
Another reason for the employee turnover is that most such businesses are small and micro-enterprises. They do not offer any career growth.
Saudi employees switch jobs quickly as they look for a higher income or even a share of the sales.
This leads to inexperienced sellers. And the store owners need people with experience to train new sales staff.
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Non-Saudi employees are expert trainers or for welcoming customers known to him for many years. The store owners believe that the expatriate employee has proven himself.
He dedicates himself to working with the full knowledge of the products.
