Oman to reduce number of expat workers in banks and finance companies
Nationals will be trained and empowered, says Ministry of Labour
Muscat: Nasr bin Amer Al Hosni, the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour, held a meeting with HR officials of major banks, finance companies and money exchange companies yesterday where it was made clear that sub-contracting of expatriate employees was to be discontinued. This is to provide more employment opportunities to Omanis.
Al Hosni also stressed the need to train and empower nationals to impart the necessary skills required for the job, as they start the replacement process. Such training would help citizens take advantage of all available job opportunities. He also urged the private sector companies to speed up the replacement process.
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It was revealed during the meeting that the Labour Ministry will be issuing directions on amending the policies and procedures in this regard. Al Hosni said that the Ministry will work during the next phase in coordination and cooperation with all government agencies, supervising various sectors including the economic sector to start the procedures for replacing the expatriate workforce with Omani citizens.
Necessary training
The attending HR officials expressed their readiness to implement the advised procedures to ensure job opportunities for Omani citizens and assured to impart the necessary job training.
As per the August monthly bulleting released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information, the number of expatriate workers in the Sultanate have fallen by 11.7 per cent on a year on year record for the period ending July 2020. Expatriate workforce fell by 11.4 per cent in the Financial and Insurance activities alone for the aforementioned period, per the NCSI bulletin.
Nataraj K R, an HR consultant, working with a leading SME outfit in Oman, said that there are a number of staff working in various organisations on outsourced or sub-contracted terms. “These arrangements are initiated mainly to supply staff in finance and accounting departments of bigger companies or banks. This step by the Ministry of Labour is actually a right step at the right time for Omanisation, and I am sure many would welcome this.”