from the desk

Last month, Qatars English daily The Peninsula Qatar spoke about bridging the expat-national gap in compensation, and a Western expat was quoted in the article as saying:Many locals dont realise just how challenging it is for expatriates to live here. From the way people drive on the roads, to the sponsorship system, many of us feel certain insecurities living here. While this comment seemed ludicrous to many (including me), an HR consultant would have sympathised with the expat, for it is his/her job to make the employee as comfortable as possible in his/her new environment, and working in the Middle East, is indeed a challenge for many.
But do HR mangers really care and are HR policies really as democratic as they are supposed to be? Is a job as good or as bad as the compensation you receive, or is there more to a job than just the moolah? Looking at this from a nationals perspective, what stage has Qatarisation reached, and is it really helping them? Qatar Today finds out whether Qatars HR sector is still in its nascent administrative stage or has blossomed into a scientific tool that helps the employee, the employer and the bottom line of the organisation. Our report throws light on the most crucial need in HR, for leadership development that will drive business transformation. And that will be the biggest challenge for the country too, as it comes under further flak for its modern day slavery," which is how the International Labour Organisation describes the deaths of dozens of Nepalese migrant workers due to labour abuses". To pave the way to becoming a country that is as humanitarian within its borders as its philanthropic efforts outside the country, Qatar will have to make sure that it cares for the people who work assiduously under the scorching desert sun to upgrade the countrys developing infrastructure needs. Qatar Today also brings you other interesting stories from within its shores an update on the infrastructure preparations for hosting the 2022 World Cup, the cultural mapping of the country, the need for an infrastructure bank with the billions' worth of infrastructure projects, the lack of women in technical fields and the growing scare of credit card fraud; and some interesting stories from around the world, the catastrophe that MERS presents with the arrival of millions of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia this month, the emerging market and its future, and the Syrian debacle discussed by a former US diplomat who feels that Qatars role is not to be underestimated. As cynics look at Qatar with mistrust and shrug off the countrys rising influence on the global arena and its escalating buying power, I ask them to look back and reflect on history, how each country battled its own inadequacy, apartheid in the US, discrimination against Aborgines in Australia, the Holocaust in Europe, caste system in India and so on. While we live in much more progressive times and the atrocities that we have seen belong to a forgotten era, there are tinges of this discrimination, few and far between but still prevalent, lurking below the surface of all modern societies, and as ruthless. While Qatar has to bridge the gap to a fair society without discrimination, lets all throw away the last lurking layer of bigotry and strive for equality across gender, culture and colour.

Sindhu Nair