By Abdurahman Al-Misbahi

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Minister of Labor and Social Development Ahmed Al-Rajhi said that the Ministry would make mandatory the electronic documentation of labor contracts of employees in the private sector in a gradual manner.

“The process of documenting all labor contracts electronically will be completed by the end of 2020,” he said while pointing out that this program aims to protect the rights of workers through archiving and documenting their contracts so that the workers are aware of the contract data and whether they are approved its content or not.

According to the minister’s new decision, all new contracts will be documented electronically. As for previous contracts, they will be documented electronically in a phased manner, in accordance with the size of the firm and the number of employees so as to bring down disputes and other labor related issues.

The documentation will be carried out through the portal of the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), and the ministry will monitor compliance of documentation by the firms within the stipulated period of time.

Al-Rajhi said the ministry has launched a program titled “Imtithal” (compliance) with the objective of improving the work environment.

This includes the self-assessment program, which aims at providing mechanisms that help firms to know themselves how far they comply with the labor rules, and determine the percentage of their compliance, and give them a period to rectify their situation, which contributes to raising their compliance.

It also helps firms to know the latest decisions and regulations issued by the Ministry.

Meanwhile, Al-Rajhi announced the ministry’s participation in the initiative “Development Housing” of the Ministry of Housing.

The ministry is currently carrying out a field research plan for all beneficiaries in the Kingdom for “Development Housing,” which is an initiative that aims to increase contribution of the non-profit sector to the non-oil industry gross domestic product (GDP) from less than one percent to five percent.