TigBhinker

Hi all, I’ve just been informed by someone currently in Neom that NC2 is facing major challenges in accommodating new starters, with a possibility being that employees may be put up in hotels in the short term.

Has anyone been in this situation and if so please advise if this had any negative effect on your work experience.

Most importantly, did you have to pay for their services that would have been otherwise free in the communities ie gym, laundry, food etc.

Thanks

banskoboy

Hi, I am in this situation right now. I was supposed to be in NC2 but lastminute I have been placed in Duba, a small town to the south.
The hotel is nice and offering all sorts of facilities and buffet for free.
Commuting might be an issue though as the shuttle buses leave 6.15 am...

TigBhinker

Thanks. I really don’t mind the commute, it’s the possibility of paying for the services and facilities that are free in the NC camps that gave me cause for concern. Someone from the onboarding team had suggested that I might have to pay for the accommodation etc from my relocation allowance.

Newopps

Crikey! That's showing as a 90-180 min commute one way, to NC1. Three to four hours added to your working day, every day??
IF this is true, and I actually find it unlikely given that commute, you certainly won't have to pay anything for it. Onboarding are clearly clueless on the subject. I would check elsewhere. Ask your HR or business contact to get a proper reply. And do post back here what they say, please. I'm aiming to be out there end of Jan, but a Duba commute would be a deal breaker for me.

TigBhinker

It really is a shambles especially for a high profile project as Neom. I understand the logistics of getting tons of people in at the same time can be challenging, but not a lot of planning has gone into accomodating new staff.

I wasn’t aware of the commute time but I’m currently doing the same here in the UK albeit just once a week. I used to do a 4hr commute a day just before covid so hopefully I’ll cope.

I’ll look into this and report back as soon as I have some definitive answers.

Newopps

Thank you! In my mind, I'm just comparing 3-4 hours a day versus the 5 minutes my boss has from his accommodation in the holy grail that is NC1! Add in the relentless adverse movement of the gbp/sar f/x rate over the past month and ...

TigBhinker

I completely understand and share in your apprehension especially as I wasn’t told about the problems with accommodation a week before I’m due to fly out. And the fluctuating fx doesn’t help either. It was great a month ago.

Newopps

Urgh ... my onboarder just confirmed that they are using Masra Diba hotel at the moment. No idea how long this will go on for, but they're building more accommodation, hope it won't be too long, blah blah blah.

They did say "Managers/Directors are being encouraged to offer working from home solutions as they understand this is quite a journey."

I'm going to exhaust Netflix pretty quickly with that journey ...

JDM5AM

I start in early January, and have just asked my onboarder who confirmed NC2 for myself, before a move to NC1 when availability.

Not sure why there’s a difference, maybe from the start dates?

Newopps

Thanks for that. Yes, presumably start dates are key here ... but whether its a case of "the problem is only a couple of weeks and will be solved by early Jan", or "its a big problem and early Jan joiners are getting the last of the NC2 accommodation" is unknown.

Perhaps the former since we know some folk are already in Duba.

No use worrying about something which may or may not happen, I guess. I'll go back to fx rate scanning again!

JDM5AM

Not problem. I’d imagine it won’t be a long term situation as it would trigger people getting very pissed off.

Just keep most in US dollars and transfer bits to Sterling to pay U.K. bills is my plan.

TigBhinker

Thanks for the update. Much appreciated. I haven’t heard from my onboarder but I’ve sent a chaser email this morning.

If I hear anything contrary to what you’ve been told I’ll let you know.

alloush2828

Hello to all,
I am suppoed to fly to NEOM beginning of January. Papers have taken 7 months to be completed. I amsupposed to be in NC2. I am on my own and my husband is following sometime later during the year. I thought that being alone at this moment could raise my chances of getting accomodation in NC2, but then again, when reading all these messages, it seems I am probably going to end up in some other location!
On another note, my HR isnt responding and I have my visa appointment tomorrow, while I dont even have my exact arrival and flight details. I am exhausted from all this unclear situation and would really appreciate any consolating feedback...a million thanks!

JDM5AM

Have you been allocated an onboarder yet?

They won’t send you flight bookings until you have your visa.

I’m going out in early January. I’ve spoken to my onboarder who’s confirmed NC2. I’ve also spoken to people in Neom who said there is rumours of Duba hotel but they’ve not actually met anyone yet who is in the hotel.

alloush2828

I thought my onboarder is my HR manager, and she is the only person I have been communicating with (other than my manager in line). And thanks for the info about the visa and flight bookings. So it makes no sense for them to request flight details and arrival date on the visa application if one cannot get them before the visa is issued! (strange illogical concept!)

So I hope that I will end up in NC2, as they said...
This entire process is really nerve-wrecking, I cannot wait to be in there!
Do keep me posted please :-)