Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- In compliance to King Abdullah”s recent royal decree concerning the 15% increase to salaries of civilian and military state employees, numerous real estate, services and industrial firms of the Saudi private sector have also begun the administrative process of increasing the wages of its workers. The raise will be effective as of the Islamic month of Ramadan, which will coincide with October.

The chairman of the board of directors of the firms White Cement and Riyadh Cement, Prince Faisal Bin Abdel Majeed Bin Abdel Aziz announced the 15% raise of all employees of both firms. Concerning the increase, he said, &#34Workers of the private firms can now share the same happiness as those of the state.&#34

Further private companies that have been inspired by the royal initiative are Al-Sehli and the multinational, Safola.

A member of the board of directors of Safola, Dr Abdel Raouf Mohamed Mana” confirmed that he had approved the raise in salaries, except at the management levels. He stated that such a decision expresses the realization of Safola”s social responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the citizen. He added that the increase also contributes to the incentives and benefits program in which distinguished employees who succeed in training programs are rewarded, as well as adding to the annual bonuses granted to disciplined and productive employees.

Riyadh based Al-Sehli group for investment also announced its increase of salaries by 10% for Saudi employees and 5% for non-Saudi employees. The electronic internet forums witnessed demands made by the employees of both governmental and non-governmental companies to their board of directors to endorse an increase in wages similar to that announced by the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah.

Elsewhere, Saudi expert in psychology Dr Samira al-Ghamdi has asserted that non-compliance of some firms with the royal initiative may cause frustration to their employees. She told Asharq al-Awsat that companies that will not increase the wages of their workers may notice a negative impact on the level of performance by the workers, especially from those with lower incomes. She called upon the Saudi Minister of Labor, Dr Ghazi Al-Quseibi, to push private companies to increase the salaries of their employees.

A recent study has revealed that stress and resignation are caused not by the challenges of work but rather due to the lack of incentive and vocational encouragement. The study, which will be presented to the American Association for Psychology, emphasized that the least efficient employees and most dissatisfied are those who feel threatened by their work, who struggle financially and who feel that their colleagues do not co-operate. These are also the employers who feel that their work is insignificant, as it does not benefit others in any way. Adam Grant, a researcher from Michigan University believes that, &#34One must feel that his work makes a difference,&#34 in order to be satisfied with their job.