Job Discussion Forums

prufrock101 · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 7

Salaries are late again. Same old. Contracts are up for renewal and as far as I know there are at least ten female faculty who will not be renewing their contracts. Not sure about the men's side. Hardly surprising considering it is PMU (enough has been said about it) and the fact that increases have been between 0% and 4% in most cases. Very high staff turnover. Beware new recruits. Make an informed decision before accepting an offer.

Citizenkane · Joined: 14 Jun 2009 Posts: 234 Location: Xanadu

prufrock101 · Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 7

Well, I am not jumping the gun. Salaries are supposed to be paid 23rd/24th. It is now the 26th. Late is late.

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 5:31 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 7:07 pm Post subject:

NCTBA

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

I've heard some recent horror stories. The highest level western female was fired, after being there from the start. Some long term excellent female faculty were not renewed. Renewals came with no raises.

All of this smells like a continuation of money problems. Get rid of the old timers, especially the expensive ones. Watch the commitment to native speakers go out the door.

The place is a cesspool. I know there are people there who have worked hard to make it work, and have committed good energy to improving the place, only to find themselves out of work. The female side was mostly a joy because of the efforts of the middle admin (need I mention shortbread when you are sick, etc?) Now they are being dismissed in favor of what?

Sad.

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:23 am Post subject:

Yep, the stories do keep coming. The money thing is so odd. Clearly there is money for a new cafeteria, which by all reports is quite nice, but for some reason there is no money to pay good, established teachers more than 4% more to stick around.

Just wondering outloud, but could there be a "fixed price" per teacher, and any less that is paid goes into someone's pocket? Maybe the budget is set at, say, 16,000 SAR per teacher, and any less that each teacher gets paid ends up in some kind of slush fund for the HR higher-ups? This is nothing but wild speculation on my part , but it would be one way to account for the perplexing way in which the admin is so completely unwilling to even consider decent raises to proven high-quality faculty.

I don't mean to start rumors with this speculation, but I do spend a lot of time wondering what motivates them to be so adamant in bringing on their own demise by refusing to negotiate with well-qualified people who might actually want to stay on. It just doesn't make sense, so I look to my imagination for possibilities.

The students at PMU are good, and all the teachers who really care about them are sadly leaving after being offered laughable salaries that are sometimes even less than they were making the year before. Why does it have to be this way?

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

Seditious · Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 26

Good question Mia, unfortunately this doesn't seem to be confined to SA universities. My sis works for a University in TX and they are doing her the same crap. She took over one of their clinics that was failing and turned it around on her own. It is now on target to produce $120k profit this year (She was asked to try and make it break even this year!), managed to get herself published and has already secured two research grants... yet when she asked for a raise the most they are willing to give her is $20k less than what they are dishing out for new hires (and the state average for 1st year hires). Not only that, they are now appointing an "overseer" for the clinic and asking her to see only one type of patient completely destroying her business model and taking away any credit she's earned for her hard work. All of this while asking her to now make the clinic produce a $293k profit per year to pay for her own salary or take a percentage pay cut based on any short falls. Where is the sense in this!? It seem to me you would want to apply the "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" approach here....it just doesn't make sense otherwise.

If someone with more business experience could care to chip in here, it would be greatly appreciated.

Seditious · Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 26

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:41 am Post subject:

Sed:

There are some flaws in your suppositions:

1. Somebody who actually cares about something othere than their next cup o' tea.

2. A saudi sponsor is required for all enterprises as is all other parts of the Gulf. (See point # 1). and,

3. Expecting common sense where sense is uncommon.

T'was a nice thought tho...

NCTBA

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

The good people who have left PMU have left the Kingdom. I am fairly sure the ones leaving this year will, also. The combination of PMU and living in the Kingdom is deadly. You really need to get far, far away afterwards. I suggest a tour of duty in Thailand, coupled with some therapy for post traumatic stress syndrome. Then you can ease back into society. Very slowly.

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:46 pm Post subject:

Not all of them have left the Kingdom, isabel. Some of the men, especially the more suspicious types who left in the night without a trace, have reappeared in all sorts of odd places across KSA.