Becoming an employer of choice
Construction Products Holding Company director for business development and administration affairs Dr Faysal Ibrahim Alaquil offers advice on challenges attracting the right staff and retaining them
Construction companies are facing difficulty in attracting talent due to a lack of employee loyalty and competition from foreign markets, according to Construction Products Holding Company (CPC) director for business development and administration affairs Dr Faysal Ibrahim Alaquil.
Speaking at The Big 5 conference, last month, he said attracting and retaining the “right people” was as much a marketing issue as it was a management issue.
“Corporations are cutting corners to survive; they’re unable to maintain the juggling act of affording good employees and maintaining their welfare and job satisfaction.
“A substantial effort must be made to develop human capital to enable the Middle East construction market to innovate,” he added.
Social responsibility
The idea of becoming an ‘employer of choice’ is one that remains rather unexplored in this region, Alaquil observed, adding that the benefits of doing so were many.
However, he claimed to have witnessed a trend emphasising the importance of social responsibility in the region’s firms, which he believed to be closely linked to becoming an employer of choice.
“In the olden days, corporations were very busy looking to increase profit and expand production. However, today in KSA companies are becoming more focused on social responsibility and the role any firm can play in providing services to the local community.
“Companies cannot become an employer of choice without a code of ethics and without operating the business with strong values, including integrity — which is a choice, not an obligation,” he continued.
“The challenges faced in retaining employees have grown, but the answer is not to resort to offering increased benefits of better packages. It comes down to honesty, discipline, taking responsibility and demonstrating integrity.”
Alaquil also said that training was a key issue in staff retention and needed to be focused on.
Family business
As the industrial arm of the Saudi Binladen Group, Construction Products Holding Company had faced many of the challenges typically encountered by a family-run business, Alaquil explained.
Established in 2005, the firm started with a workforce of around 3400 and today employs more than 28,000, in line with major project contracts it has won over recent years.
The job description should not be tied to nationality; we employ staff from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, as well as Saudi engineers”
He said it will take time for family-run construction firms, particularly those in Saudi Arabia, to adapt to more modern business practices.
“They will need to change their style of management to accommodate rules and regulations being implemented by international organisations.
“As far as CPC is concerned, we realise that to be successful you must be up to date with the open market.”
The company has demonstrated this through initiatives such as working with local universities to “payback time and money” to the local community, and support and training the country’s youth.
“We have a programme that allows youths from educational institutes to come and see our factories and gain some exposure to the manufacturing industry.
“If they one day wish to start their own business, we’re able to give them a small loan or if they wish to continue working with us, then even better.”
Commenting on Saudi Arabia’s investment in educational facilities, Al Alaquil said Saudi Arabia would soon be a very different place, but he believes CPC will continue to “depend on foreign workers for some time.
“The job description should not be tied to nationality; we employ staff from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine, as well as Saudi Arabia.”
However, to gain enough visas for staff, he revealed that the company was obliged to employ a percentage of Saudi nationals in line with the country’s Saudisation initiative.
