Welshman 2805

I am starting in Riyadh in first week of september as a plant manager for a manufacturing company.
I would like some feed back on the package I have agreed to?

Basic SAR 35000 / month
Accomadation Paid
Travel allowance SAR 2500 / Month
Return flights 1 / year
Health care included
Family visa
Family health Care included
Flights Family 1 return / annum
30 days holiday
End of contract bonus 1 month basic / year completed

I am already stuck with this but appreciate any feedback.

norsk

I have no idea what a plant manager should be earning, but you really need to compare with what you were earning in the UK. You're basically going to be earning about £6,000 a month with no outgoings other than food so I reckon you shouldn't be complaining too much..

kittycat1

Check if the 30 days holiday a year is actual days or calender days- bit of a sneakyone they pull this part of the world. They include weekends as holiday so a two week holiday in the UK would be 10 holiday days where as here(with my firm) it is counted as 12. Actual work days holiday allowance is only 22.

Hippacrocapig

School fees? If you have children from 3 years up? Plus alot of company's will only pay for two kids, you may have more? Accommodation? Villa or western compound, makes alot of difference to us girls and something to negotiate!

Welshman 2805

Thanks for the answers, the contract states calender days. The accomamdation is currently a two bedroom apartment in the DQ, but a compound later if required. What is the DQ like?

Welshman 2805

just to add, our children are both adults and left home so not an issue.

Bahtatboy

As Norsk says, you've got pretty much everthing paid for by your company, your only outgoings are going to be sustenance and entertainment. Both of those are, arguably, more expensive than in the UK, but actually needn't be. So you're going to have a disposable income of GBP5k or so each month--you'd need to be on well over 100k in UK for that, and considerably more to have it as truly disposable. Doesn't sound too bad...

Welshman 2805

Hi Bahtatboy,
Many thanks for the response, its much as I thought and it is nice to get reassurance as the time comes closer to the move I keep getting some last minute nerves.

norsk

you can use this system to your advantage since you're unlikely to take the whole month at a time (which is what a lot of non-westerners do).

if you plan your time off properly you can get a lot more time off than your colleagues who take it all at once. if you don't mind having breaks of no more than 9 days you can take 6 of those over the course of the holiday year without going over your allowance, but you're better off limiting yourself to 5 and use the remaining days to plug the gap during the Eids for another bonus...

kittycat1

Norsk, Big Brother keeps strict tabs on us so we can only take 22 working days.

norsk

my manager in Saudi moaned at me when he first realised I was getting nearly twice as many calendar days off as him by manipulating the system, but there was nothing he could do about it as there was nothing in the policy to stop me doing it

Welshman 2805

excellent feed back on the holiday situation, very unlikely to take a full month in one go so probably a five day break sounds good, which I assume would be 9 calender days.

The car allowance worries me slightly as it means I will have to hire / lease purchase a car - is this difficult?

norsk

Yep. 2 days weekend, 5 days holiday, 2 days weekend.

Renting a car is very simple, but quite expensive. You can get a crappy Corolla or similar for about SR2,500 a month. Leasing a car is stupidly expensive and only works out well if you plan on keeping the car for a long time. It's more like hire purchase in the UK.

Ask your employer about loans. Most of the companies do it, and they'll be interest free. My previous employer would happily lend me 60 months of car allowance which I then had to pay back over 48 months through a monthly deduction on my salary. Very simple. Also in this scenario your employer is the actual owner of the car so they have to sort out insurance and ensure it is registered etc..

getting a car loan from the bank/dealer is simple but expensive..

Welshman 2805

Thanks i'll discuss this with my employer. they are hireing me a car for the first Month or so.

Blue Cat

so five working days results in a 9 day break inc weekends.