Marianina

Thank you guys for all the info, much appreciated.
My husband has been working in NZ, but Dubai was our plan unfortunately it hasn't worked out yet. So now off to qatar.
Anyways, we will definitely look around once we are there and then decide.

You guys are betting very well lol, seems a lot of people working with ashghal, is anyone here who can tell a bit about the work environment?
We are also a bit confused as the offer says 45 calendar days annual leave which seems to be including all weekends but no idea how this is going to work.
Anyways I hope the visa will be issued soon and hope to be able to make some friends but think that won't be a problem!
Thanks again everyone

Eeyore

Put simply, weekends that occur during your leave periods count as leave days.

In the UK, for example, people typically get (say) 25 days' leave a year, but only normal working days are counted as leave days. If you want to take two weeks off, you use up 10 of your leave days, because the weekend in the middle isn't counted. Out here, though, the weekend *is* counted, so you've used up 12 leave days.

Or, if you want to take a long weekend, then taking leave on (say) Thursday and Sunday means you've used up 4 leave days, not 2.

One of the quirks of this system is that it means people frequently plan their holidays so that they'll be back in the office on a Thursday. It's of very limited value from a work perspective since of course it's the weekend the next day, but being back in the office on Thursday saves them three days of leave.

Quite why people can't just be given a smaller number of days but be allowed to take them whenever they like without all this "weekends get counted" bollocks is one of the enduring mysteries of this part of the world.

Marianina

Thanks for the explanation, does make sense how to count it (though the system doesn't make sense actually). So basically only the weekends *in the middle* of the leave count, or also the weekends at the beginning and at the end? For example I take 2 weeks off, that would be 3 weekends (1 in the beginning, 1 in the middle and the last one), that would be 16 calendar days for 2 weeks off work. But if you say it is 12 days I suppose only the weekend in the middle counts. At least I hope so

OriginalSunshine

Eeyore - even that isn't standard. So Schlumberger for example, used to work calendar days and if you took a day off that was adjacent to the weekend, you got 3 days deducted.

Johnnyboy11

I'd add that Ashghal limit the number of annual leave periods to three a year, which is a big constraint. Generous Casual Days, Eids and Ramadan help offset this.

Crewegirl

Is he working for ashghal direct or working for a company working for ashghal?

Marianina

Yes, the total annual leave seems very generous, in both Eid festivals there is each 10 days (I think it was 10) off and casual leave 7 days, though I am not sure if other employees take their full annual leave - heard different stories.


He will be working for Ashghal direct.

Eeyore

Where I work, the first weekend wouldn't be counted. You'd book your leave starting on the Sunday (but of course your holiday would effectively start on the previous Thursday evening).

I've just realised that I miscounted with my example above about taking two weeks off - I forgot to add the weekend at the end of the leave period. You'd use up 14 leave days (not 12) getting 10 working days off.