Reports that the government is planning to make salary deductions for absence from work have gone viral on Qatari social media and sparked a debate.
The reports, though, remain unconfirmed and it’s hard to say if there is such a plan.
It has been suggested by some on the social media that the state may introduce a system whereby employees who come in late or leave their workplace early may find their salaries deducted in proportion to their absence.
There is an impression in some quarters that some Qataris in state jobs report for work late and leave early and so, for at least one social media commentator, putting a leash on them might be a good idea.
The commentator, Saif bin Salah, said sarcastically: “We should not forget that there is a drain on state coffers as there are employees who collect salaries for the whole year just for sitting at home”.
But Salah’s was, perhaps, the lone comment in support of the unconfirmed report. Nearly all the other commentators opposed the idea, some furiously.
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And the gist of what they said was that a salaried employee was not paid for the amount of time he spent on the job but for the general value of services rendered.
“We will come on time if work timings are the only concern and there is no importance to productivity,” a commentator who gave her name as Nehad said.
This is not the right way. “Assigning a real task to employees and making them accountable for it and assessing their performance and output are what should matter,” said Dr Khalid Al Khanji. “Sad that attendance is going to be more important,” rued Ali Ahmed Al Khulaifi.
Many tweeters suggested that instead of coming up with this rule the government should launch studies and find out the reasons why some employees come in late or leave early and take corrective measures.
Some commentators said the new rule would affect productive and sincere employees.
Khalid Al Meer said that this rule should have been there from the start. “Why we are so reactionary? Why we didn’t have this rule from the beginning?” he said, according to a local Arabic daily.