Saudi Aramco's human resource policies continue to set high standards, with unique training programmes augmenting the work force at every step.

People make things happen, and Saudi Aramco has always been able to count on the skills and talents of its employees to get the right things done in the right way. From the earliest days of the company’s history, Saudi employees outnumbered all others and can truly take pride in having built this company from the ground up. With a strong dedication to expanding career opportunities for Saudi nationals to the maximum extent possible, the company is, at the same time, proud of its multi-national workforce and their achievements.
As of year’s end 2003, the company had a total of 53,954 regular full-time employees, of which 46,365 were Saudi nationals, or 86 percent of the total. Closely allied with the company’s emphasis on expanding career opportunities for Saudi citizens is the equal determination to make sure their skills and job performance are second to none. Company initiatives and programs are designed to eliminate any barrier that prevents either an employee or the company itself from achieving its maximum performance potential.
In addition to Saudi Aramco’s own job-skills and industrial training programs, the company also works to upgrade the quality of technical training available throughout the Kingdom. A new program in maintenance-planner training has been developed and outsourced to Jubail Industrial College, and additional outsourcing of training programs is under consideration and review.
Saudi Aramco has developed a special six- to 12month training program for top non-technical college graduates to qualify them for careers with the company, and similarly, top high school graduates are prepared for careers with the company by completing two or more years of Saudi Aramco technical training. Cooperative training arrangements with communitybased training establishments will strengthen those institutions, lower training costs and spread training and employment opportunities to more sections of the country.
The company’s college degree program for non-employees continues to be a major source of entrylevel professional employees, and at year’s end, more than 1,100 young Saudi nationals were being sponsored by the company for full four-year college degree programs. In addition to colleges and universities in North America, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations, participants in the program were also enrolled at schools in Japan, China, Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The company’s two-year apprenticeship program, a program oriented toward Saudi high school graduates, had more than 2,000 participants at year’s end, with more than 1,100 new participants entering the program during 2003. Graduates of this program are prepared to fill company industrial and administrative jobs.
To further ensure that the company has the specialized knowledge and advanced technical personnel it needs now and in the future, a number of Saudi employees are enrolled in the regular development program, where business-line needs for specific skills are addressed. At year’s end, 137 employees were enrolled in advanced degree programs, with an additional 78 enrolled in advanced medicaVdental programs. An additional 61 employees were enrolled in two-year technical programs.
Along with attracting, hiring, training and compensating its employees, the company also devotes resources and attention to providing a quality work environment and addresses the needs of its employees and their families for quality medical care, housing and community improvement.
A significant number of new structures, renovations and beautification projects, particularly in the Dhahran area, were added during 2003, all designed to provide a good working environment for company employees.
The three buildings of the new North Park complex offer nearly 36,000 square meters (more than 380,000 square feet) of quality office space for company organizations. New operating suites, day-surgery and cardiac units, medical and pathology labs, blood bank and donors’ clinic were added to the Dhahran Hospital complex, and dental clinic facilities in Dhahran were expanded as well.
For more than five decades Saudi Aramco has done much to ensure the stability of its workforce by providing subsidized home loans to eligible Saudi employees through the company-operated home ownership program. During 2003 more than 1,400 home loans were granted and 372 free lots developed for distribution to employees. Over the last 50 years, employees have acquired more than 50,000 new
homes through the program.
The company’s commitment to building educational facilities for the children of its Saudi employees dates back to 1953. Over the intervening 50 years, the company has constructed 131 government-operated schools (69 schools for boys and 62 schools for girls). During 2003, the company completed three new schools for girls and one new school for boys. At year’s end, eight additional schools were under construction, with four slated for completion during 2004.
As the largest non-government employer in Saudi Arabia, the company’s personnel programs and policies have important implications for both company operations and for the employment outlook of the nation. During the year, the company activated its online job application facility and began receiving applications from Saudi college graduates and jobqualified candidates throughout the Kingdom. Company recruiters visited campus career-day programs at national universities in the Kingdom to attract the top achievers to join the company workforce. During the year, the company hired 686 new employees.