Do Middle East Companies Reimburse Placement Fees for Blue-Collar Workers? Seeking Insights

Hello,

We are a consulting firm currently executing a corporate transformation project in the Middle East. My team is focused on designing detailed HR processes and policies for our client. Our client belongs to the traditional manufacturing sector, due to which close to 75% of employees belong to the worker/non-management cadre. These workers are primarily sourced from developing countries like India, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc. Recruiting agencies extract hefty fees from these employees to place them in a Middle East company.

Therefore, we were thinking about creating a policy for reimbursement of the charges paid by the employee to the recruiting company. However, before doing so, we would like to understand the practice in this regard in other companies in the Middle East that employ a large number of blue-collar workers. Can anyone tell me whether companies in the Middle East reimburse the money paid by these workers to headhunters either completely or give it as a joining loan which is later deducted from the employee's salary in installments?

Eagerly awaiting your reply.

Greetings for the day ahead!!!

Your intention seems to be good, but practice is unfair. No recruitment agency legally can take a hefty sum for placing any person at any level. By reimbursing such a sum to the employee, you are actually becoming a party to the nexus, which is looked down upon very badly in recruitment circles.

My advice would be to delist such consultants that charge hefty money to workers and rather engage some reputed agencies known for their trustworthiness.

Regards,
Team GroupHR
consult@grouphronline.com

Thank you for your prompt reply!

Allow me to detail the scenario we are facing here. Our client has contracts with recruitment agencies that search in developing countries for skilled and semi-skilled labor. Apart from agencies in Egypt and the Philippines, no one else charges a fee to our client (i.e., the employer). All others seem to generate revenue by charging a placement fee to the candidates themselves. I can confirm this to be true for India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Therefore, the company has a policy to reimburse this amount upfront or provide it as a joining loan, considering that these employees are primarily laborers who may find it difficult to pay this fee.

I understand from your feedback the concerns involved in continuing this practice. Can someone confirm if such a practice is also common in other companies based in the Middle East?