25 January 2011
THE approved final decision on the pension benefits and entitlements for employees comes as a landmark decision in the labour welfare history of the Sultanate of Oman. The new rules come in the wake of serious deliberations for over a year to improve employee participation in the labour force of the country. The first stipulation is to add 75 per cent of the housing, electricity and water allowance to the basic salary of the employee on which the pension salary or the end of service gratuity is calculated.
This will come as a boon to workers of all classes, by acting as a compulsory increased saving measure, by which they can look forward to their older years with satisfaction. Increasing the contribution of the employees to the pension system from 6 per cent of the basic salary to 8 per cent of the basic salary, added to it 75 per cent of the housing electricity and water allowance, is again a compulsory savings measure designed to improve the workers' long-term quality of life.
Raising the minimum service years for eligibility of pension from 15 years to 20 years if the employee resigned before attaining the age of 50 and increasing the minimum limit from 10 years to 15 years if the employee reached the age of 50, will go a long way to motivating employees to stay on in their jobs for longer periods and contribute wholeheartedly to the welfare of the nation as a whole.
It is clear that the extraordinary session of the Civil Service Council has chalked out these rules with long-term vision and foresight, with a view to making Oman's pension schemes at par with the rest of the world, and motivating all Omanis to wholeheartedly seek to be in the service of the nation.
THE approved final decision on the pension benefits and entitlements for employees comes as a landmark decision in the labour welfare history of the Sultanate of Oman. The new rules come in the wake of serious deliberations for over a year to improve employee participation in the labour force of the country. The first stipulation is to add 75 per cent of the housing, electricity and water allowance to the basic salary of the employee on which the pension salary or the end of service gratuity is calculated.
This will come as a boon to workers of all classes, by acting as a compulsory increased saving measure, by which they can look forward to their older years with satisfaction. Increasing the contribution of the employees to the pension system from 6 per cent of the basic salary to 8 per cent of the basic salary, added to it 75 per cent of the housing electricity and water allowance, is again a compulsory savings measure designed to improve the workers' long-term quality of life.
Raising the minimum service years for eligibility of pension from 15 years to 20 years if the employee resigned before attaining the age of 50 and increasing the minimum limit from 10 years to 15 years if the employee reached the age of 50, will go a long way to motivating employees to stay on in their jobs for longer periods and contribute wholeheartedly to the welfare of the nation as a whole.
It is clear that the extraordinary session of the Civil Service Council has chalked out these rules with long-term vision and foresight, with a view to making Oman's pension schemes at par with the rest of the world, and motivating all Omanis to wholeheartedly seek to be in the service of the nation.
© Oman Daily Observer 2011
