Saudi Ministry orders 100 percent Saudization of call centers

RIYADH: Saudi Minister for Human Resources and Social Development Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al-Rajhi on Monday restricted the outsourcing of customer care services through call centers to foreign countries.

It has become a common practice for businesses to outsource customer care services using call centers based in foreign countries such as the US, the UK, India, Pakistan or some other neighboring Arab country.

As per the new directives, all such services offered remotely including phone calls, emails, online chats and social media interaction can no longer be outsourced.

All these customer care services should now be based in Saudi Arabia. The decision aims to create employment opportunities for Saudis.

The decision shall be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and



Information Technology, the Communications and Information Technology Commission, the National Cybersecurity Authority and the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority.

The ministry will also launch programs through its existing initiatives to provide training to the national cadre.

The ministry called on employers and owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to document their employees’ labor contracts through the ministry’s Madad platform.

The ministry underlined the necessity of documenting contracts so that the enterprises can benefit from the services of the initiative to improve the contractual relationship.

The ministry launched the Madad platform to provide technical solutions for SMEs in all matters related to wage-related matters.