New guidance tool supports fair recruitment and employment in Qatar hospitality sector

A new Guidance Tool will help strengthen fair recruitment and employment standards in the Qatar hospitality industry.

Press release | 17 September 2020
Launched in Doha today, ‘Promoting Fair Recruitment and Employment: A Guidance Tool for Hotels in Qatar’ provides a set of resources tailored for hotels as well as practical steps they can take to promote decent work and reinforce fair recruitment practices. This includes sector-specific guidance for engagement with labour recruiters and service providers, easy to use checklists as well as examples of good practice that managers can adapt.

Mohammed Hassan al-Obaidly, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (ADLSA) said, “Hospitality represents a significant and growing industry for Qatar. This Guidance Tool will provide valuable support to hotels while strengthening the competitiveness of the hospitality industry as a whole.”

The Guidance Tool is the result of a unique collaboration between ADLSA, the ILO Project Office for the State of Qatar, the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) and over 40 hotel representatives in Qatar.

“The active engagement of the Qatar hospitality industry in developing this Guidance Tool has been key,” said Houtan Homayounpour, Head of the ILO Project Office for the State of Qatar. “The involvement of the sector itself has helped produce a tool that is practical and helpful. All partners very much hope this tool will contribute to decent work and fair recruitment in this sector.”

The Guidance Tool will help hotels strengthen and implement internal policies and procedures as well as carry out human rights due diligence of their recruitment activities, direct suppliers and placement agencies. It will also help improve labour-management relations by guiding the development of grievance handling procedures and the establishment of joint (labour-management) committees.  

“Companies that commit to advancing decent work and fair recruitment can significantly improve the lives of many people”, said John Morrison, Chief Executive of the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB). “We hope that this tool will prove a valuable resource to assist hotels in Qatar in addressing labour rights and human rights challenges, and that it will inspire similar efforts in other countries and sectors.”

The Guidance Tool has been developed through the Working group for sustainable growth and decent work in Qatar’s hospitality sector. The working group is convened by ADLSA, the ILO and IHRB and with the support of ITP works in partnership with over 40 hotels to exchange knowledge on fair recruitment and employment standards as well as develop good practices for the local hospitality sector.

The Guidance Tool is available at www.adlsa.gov.qa

For more information, please contact:
  • Shaikha Mohammed Al Khater, Director International Relations Department, Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs at SKHATER@ADLSA.gov.qa
  • Alix Nasri, Technical Specialist, ILO Project Office for the State of Qatar at nasri@ilo.org
  • Julia Batho, Labour Rights Advisor, Institute for Human Rights and Business julia.batho@ihrb.org