When healing from a death in the family, a person is dealing with many emotions. We are learning that many expats have experienced difficulties when working with Personnel to approve leave that is outlined in the company HR manual. Primarily Personnel are requesting documentation for relationship to the employee however such documents are not available and there is no support or recommendation from the company on a document that satisfies their requirement. Example, a death certificate and news paper article does not satisfy their requirement possibly because the names don’t match however they do not offer support or suggestions for a document. It is like they keep denying in hope the individual just gives up trying. This is very sad for any person dealing with a death in the family. The company should only ask for specific documentation that they know is possible to be obtained.
10 replies (most recent on top)
Do not and frankly would not care.
I am not sure what this means, if anything. I used to work for a division head that would blast out a division wide e-mail conveying condolences and sympathy when a Muslim colleague would lose a loved one but nothing when a non- Muslim colleague would suffer the same. What are your thoughts?
The thing is, it's just another case of double standards. When a Saudi dies there are commiserations sent around, people take time off, sometimes for weeks to pay respects. I personally have visited a colleague in this situation. It is treated as it should be.
This is just another case of the racist application of 'rule' enforced by Aramco and its apartheid management. The fact shills try to justify this behaviour says it all. Yet again they would be awash with lawsuits in the western world for employing such tactics.
So how exactly does that add shareholder value?
This is not a mom and pops store where personal relationships are a lot tighter and can be flexible in such circumstances. Like all big corporations, rules are applied across the board and meant to be adhered to. How many people have duped the company based on fabricated documents/stories? I've heard a lot when I was there. Unfortunately they ruin it for everybody. If you think what they are asking for is not reasonable, then take it up with your manager and hopefully it will lead to changes. Unless things changed, when my father died, they asked for my birth certificate and the death certificate. If you don't have a birth certificate then you have a bigger problem. "It's not personal, it's strictly business".
It is not always about "me", "you" - what this person is trying to say is about general trends of organizational behaviour, which is unacceptable at best.... Learn to see the bigger picture always, before it happens to "you" or "me" ! That's how "you get somewhere" in life.....For every one person "gaming the system", there are 99 decent and honest employees dealing with death of loved ones and being hassled by uncaring and subservient paper-pushes "brown nosing" bosses and producing nothing of value !
Why snivel here, on a layoff website; go take it up with your boss or the personnel department you may actually get somewhere.
Nice one - " problem with most expats feeling of entitlement"... To attend the funeral of your dead parent, be by your dear one's side when they sick, as separated by thousand of miles over many years if not decades giving our best years to ensure your very existence...It is called basic human rights, something that some believe expatriates are not entitled to once they " sell they soul " by signing employment contact.. I pray and hope that I live to see the day when all expatriates leave and you are left to enjoy running your own Kingdom. History teaches us how "successful" you were before 1930s, when this was place of exile during Ottoman times: harsh weather, lack of basic resources and most importantly it's unrefined people, always looking someone else to blame for their own shortcomings... It is no wonder most Prophets were sent to this place, as people needed it more than anywhere else in the world...To preach and teach compassion and care for fellow human beings, regardless of their nationality and skin colour...
I agree with the last post. What will you do if you were in their shoes? Rules, however seem id--tic, were in place due to precedents. They run a business not charity. Foolish to expect them to care. This is the problem with most expats, the feeling of entitlement.
All of those unreasonable rules resulted from people, local and expat, gaming the 'system' over the decades. It is unfortunate but now you have a da-n near unworkable and mountain of policy and rules, plus an HR that is either incompetent or just doesn't care that much. To be cliche', 'it is what it is'...IMO.