When you first started hiring employees for your parent company, it may have taken months to find the right people for your open jobs and the duties you had in mind. Imagine the same hiring process, but in a foreign company with different employment compliance laws, cultural norms, and more. Instead of spending months trying to figure out how to recruit and hire employees in Qatar, you can choose a better option.
G-P will find the right talent in a day or two. As a global PEO, we’re able to source talent and hire employees through our existing subsidiary. These individuals will work for you without you facing the stress of establishing your own subsidiary.
Recruiting in Qatar
Understanding the local culture is one side of the recruitment process. You should also consider some of the logistics of recruiting in Qatar, including the best channels for sourcing talent and your legal responsibilities as an employer.
Sourcing talent is one of the first steps of the recruitment process. You can advertise your company’s open positions online and in local newspapers. As you do, remember that most business in the country is conducted in Arabic, so you might need to work with a translator throughout your recruitment efforts.
Laws Against Discrimination in Qatar
Your company must follow all relevant laws in Qatar during the recruitment process. While the country does not have the extensive employment laws you might see in some other countries, the constitution does have a framework in place to prevent discriminatory practices. The law protects all persons in Qatar from discrimination based on:
- Race
- Sex
- Language
- Religion
To avoid compliance issues, your recruiting team should avoid asking candidates any direct questions about any of the above traits. Some of these characteristics are likely to come up during the recruitment process, but you’ll need to make sure they don’t factor into any hiring decisions.
How to Hire Employees in Qatar
Since Qatar has a large number of foreign nationals, you’ll often need to sponsor a work permit to hire an employee. G-P can sponsor the work permits for you, but we may need the nationality or work history of an employee to confirm the visa. It’s important to clarify whether you’ll sponsor only the employee’s work and residency permit or the candidate’s family’s residency permits. Many companies will also help a spouse and children get residency permits when hiring Qatar employees.
Qatar Employment Laws
The biggest Qatar employment compliance law is your employment contract. You must hire all employees under an employment contract in the local language. Per law, contracts must include the nature and type of work, place of work, contract start and duration, and compensation information. We also recommend including benefits, termination, entitlement terms, and more to make sure there is no confusion. Any compensation, salary, or bonus amounts in an offer letter or employment contract need to be in Qatari riyal instead of another currency.
Once hired, the standard workweek in Qatar is 40 hours, reduced to 36 weekly hours during Ramadan. Workers should receive at least 24 hours of rest per week, typically taken on Friday. Overtime is permitted up to two hours per day and must be paid at a rate of at least 125% of standard pay.
Onboarding in Qatar
Once you learn how to hire employees in Qatar, you need to onboard all your new employees and stay compliant with the country’s laws. Although there isn’t one way you must onboard employees, you can make them more comfortable by:
- Traveling to Qatar for the employee’s first day or week
- Onboarding several employees at one time to save time and allow bonding
- Providing job training tailored to the employee’s position
- Reviewing all employment contracts, visas, and similar documents
- Creating events for new employees to get to know each other and the company
Benefits of Hiring Outsourcing in Qatar
Instead of trying to hire your Qatar employees on your own, you can work with G-P. Our Qatar hiring outsourcing services will take hiring off your plate so that you can focus on running your company and keeping it successful. We’ll either onboard your preferred candidates or help recruit the right people to fill your positions. As the Employer of Record, we’ll be the team responsible for compliance instead of you. You won’t have to worry about hiring employees or figuring out Qatar’s employment compliance laws to stay compliant.
Work With G-P To Expand Globally
When you’re ready to open a new company location in Qatar, G-P can help. Get in touch with us today to learn more about Qatar hiring outsourcing and get answers to any questions you have.