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[nomad soul]

If you're paid according to the Gregorian/western calendar...

Calls for return to Hijri calendar in Saudi over lost pay
By Robert Anderson, Gulf Business | 2 August 2016
Source: http://gulfbusiness.com/calls-return-hijri-calendar-saudi-amid-over-lost-pay/#.V6FEq6LW5OM

Saudi experts are calling for a return to the Islamic Hijri calendar to pay salaries amid claims employees lose 15 days of wages each year under the current Gregorian system adopted by most companies.

Financial analyst Hussein Al-Raqeeb told Arab News that employees should be compensated for losses related to the Gregorian calendar, estimated to total 15 months of pay over a 40-year career. “Companies should count the retirement age based on the number of years of service as per the Hijri calendar,” he was quoted as saying. A company with 2,000 employees and an average salary of SAR5,000 ($1,333) can save SAR3.67m ($978,549) each year under the Gregorian system, he said. He said companies save 11 days of salary per employee because the Gregorian calendar is 365 days compared to the 354 of the Hijri.

Saudi government salaries are paid according to the Hijri calendar despite the government deciding its budget based on the Gregorian calendar, according to Al-Raqeeb. In contrast, economist Dr Salem Bajaja said the Gregorian system was necessary as it more inline with international financial systems and the country’s foreign workforce.

(End of article)

[hsm]

Whenever you are going to get paid like salary, the Gregorian calendar will be used.

Whenever you are going to pay like home rent, the Hijri calendar will be used.

[currentaffairs]

My employer pays my salary according to the Hijri calendar. Even though the date changes because of the lunar cycle, we are happy to collect the extra 11 days of pay.

[nomad soul]

KSA switches to Gregorian calendar
By Arab News | Oct. 3, 2016
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/993061/saudi-arabia

RIYADH: Salaries, allowances and other payments to public servants will now be paid according to the Gregorian calendar in order to be aligned with the country’s fiscal year, according to a recent decision by the Council of Ministers.

On Wednesday the Cabinet agreed to switch from the Hijri calendar for payment of salaries, wages, bonuses and allowances to all civil sector employees. The decision to switch from the lunar-based Hijri calendar to the solar-based Gregorian calendar was effective Oct. 1 and brought the government sector in line with the payment of wages in the private sector.

The government move evoked a mixed reaction. Concerns were expressed about the banking network’s ability to cover all cash withdrawals on the first day that salaries are paid. Not only will this be an unprecedented situation in the history of the country, but it will also coincide with the date of deposit of the salaries of private sector employees.

According to the Sabq.org online portal, while concerns have also been raised about the effects on shopping operations on the first day of salary deposits, a financial analyst at Bank Albilad, Turki Fadaak, reassured the public of the reliability and absorptive capacity of the banking system and its ability to deal with the change. “I do not think that the shift to the Gregorian calendar will have any impact on banking systems and operations,” he said. He noted that the population of Saudi Arabia is a little over 30 million, a figure that cannot be compared to some developed countries which have populations far beyond that and yet experience no problems. He said there was a sufficient number of ATMs in the Saudi market and that they would be able to cope with the rush of withdrawals if that happens. As to whether he believes restricting loan operations to a single day by banks will affect banks’ performance in the 29 days that follow the payment of public and private sector employees, he said: “On the contrary, it will lead to greater efficiency in the use of revenues and standardization.”

Faisal Al-Zahrani, a former public servant who was employed in a ministry, said that this was a new adjustment made by the government in order to rationalize its budgeted expenditures. After the payment of the first month’s salary, payments will automatically be adjusted, he said.

Naif Al-Rasheed, a senior journalist in Riyadh, told Arab News that the new system comes in the context of the government’s rationalization program. “The move is also seen as a positive gesture to serve the interests of the citizens,” he said.

Reacting to the decision, Mohammed Zeyad, a public relations executive, said the shift to the Gregorian calendar was in response to the decision made by the government earlier this week as part of spending cuts. He added that some of his friends working in the government sector were concerned that under the new decision, they would lose 11 days of payment.

The Hijri calendar is made up of 12 months of 29 or 30 days, depending on the sighting of the moon. The Hijri year has 354 days, 11 days shorter than the Gregorian year which is made up of 12 months of 30 and 31 days, totaling 365 days in a year.

(End of article)

[scot47]

In my job at the airline I was paid by the Hegira Calendar. At the university in Dhahran I was paid by the Gregorian Calendar.

[I-forgot]

Look on the bright side - it implies people are still being paid 🙃

[scot47]

I was working for the airline in the late 1990s when all the pay cheques bounced. Someone in Finance had decided not to listen to the bank's requests that they have money in the account to cover salaries.

Shortly after this, all the airline accounts were transferred to the Arab National Bank ! Too much face had been lost when the Riyadh Bank decided to bounce the cheques.

[Leno]

Expats who follow Gregorian Calendarwill not mind at all if they do get paid at the end of every month.

That explains the reason why locals always got paid on 25th of every Gregorian Calendar month.

[MixtecaMike]

Does this mean people will no longer get 13 salaries every three years or so? Oh, so sad, remember the good old days when I worked in KSA ...

Still, one of my KSA salaries was equal to about 4 months salary where I am now, LOL.

[plumpy nut]

Things are inevitably going to change in Saudi Arabia, so why not use the Gregorian calendar like everybody else. Could they calculate the two weeks lost each year into the salary paid?

[MixtecaMike]