Blog

What keeps us busy these days? Well, improving employee participation in… Qatar!

My colleague Diederik Prakke and I carry out a series of online training sessions for Joint Committees, the Qatari version of Works Councils. Normally at SBI Formaat we support Dutch and European Works Councils, but this time we cross new borders.

You might have read in the news about the efforts made in Qatar to improve labour conditions. There is quite a road to go, but government and companies take incremental steps. The International Labour Organization (ILO) supports Qatar in this endeavour, while the Dutch Foreign Ministry has offered support to the newly set-up Joint Committees. Since the Dutch have 70 years of experience with employee participation through Works Councils, a learning exchange may be of benefit.

And here we are! Due to the Covid-19 crisis we have started with an online pilot, rather than a country visit. In six sessions, a group of management and employees’ representatives of four Joint Committees explore employee participation rights. The Qatar law is the reference for the training course and the Dutch experience serves as inspiration. In the four sessions held so far, the exchange of practise amongst the participants of the four Joint Committees also turned out to be fruitful. At the end of the project, the participants will have a better insight in the practicalities of employee participation and will have made specific agreements for the company, laid down in their own operational procedure. At the same time, the trainers will have widened their horizons!

Mariëlle van der Coelen, EWC trainer and advisor