Time for expat bosses in Oman to move aside?

Expat bosses, especially those over the age of 60 working at government-owned companies, are on borrowed time, according to a Majlis Al Shura member after a recent directive signed by a top-level minister.

According to the new ruling, signed by Darwish bin Ismail bin Ali Al Balushi, Minister Responsible for Financial Affairs, the government is aiming at improving Omanisation rates of senior roles within a decade

Currently, 72 per cent of senior staff over the age of 60 in Oman are non-Omani in some government sectors. The ruling, contained in a circular issued on July 20, instructed government-owned companies to create a five-year plan to replace expats with nationals.

In the wake of this, Tawfiq Al Lawati, head of the economic committee at Majlis Al Shura, has called on all government firms to plan and replace expat employees over the age of 60 with well-trained and younger local expertise.

However, Al Lawati said depending on Omanis to fill the gap should not be an unplanned reaction to the current figures.

“Qualified Omanis should take training courses in management before substituting expatriates,” he said, while explaining that the Sultanate has a large number of Omani workforce that can meet the government companies’ needs.

“We need to put Omanisation in these companies as a priority in our upcoming strategies,” he explained.

Ali Shaban, general manger of human resources at WJ Towell echoed Al Lawati saying that exchanging expatriates in senior positions with qualified locals is a vital part of the Omanisation plan in the country.

“We have started training Omani bachelor students who got high GPA (above 3) in a number of professions like account so we can later on hire them in managerial positions in our company,” Shaban said. He added that many other private companies are following the same trend or are planning to do so in a bid to contribute to the Omanisation strategy.

“The private sector here is planning seriously to hire skilled Omanis for senior positions. I think this can also happen in the government sector,” he added.

In the recent ruling, the Ministry of Finance explained that under the efforts made to raise the production quality in the companies owned by the government and under the Oman Labour Law issued under a royal decree, a report has been compiled by the State Audit Institution evaluating Omanisation and the measures adopted by the companies to it.

The ministry pointed out that there is no timeline to replace expats with Omanis at such firms, also citing the level of employees over the age of 60, of which 72 per cent were expats.

The ruling directed companies owned by the government to work on increasing the percentage of Omanisation in all positions, especially at senior levels, through a timeline.

These companies need to draw up a five-year plan to replace expats with nationals, which will have to be approved by their executive boards and another timeline for the five years after that where nationals will be prepared to become advisors.

A senior expatriate surgeon who was working with a government hospital in Muscat was handed a termination letter as part of the Omanisation process four months ago.

“Even though the reason was not clear in the termination letter, it was well known I was told to leave only as part of the nationalisation process. I was nearing 60. I had worked for more than 25 years in the ministry as a surgeon.

“I agree that strict nationalisation process is a country’s policy matter but telling experienced hands to leave one fine morning is unfair,” the senior medic told Times of Oman, on condition of anonymity. Responding to fresh steps adopted to enforce Omanisation process strictly, the surgeon, who is currently working in a private medical centre, said that the move may put expatriates’ futures at risk.

“Senior and experienced expatriates should have a Plan B, always,” the medic added.