WORKING IN QATAR

I heard recently that Westerners being hired to come to work in Qatar by the Asian Games 2006 are not being offered free housing, free electricity, or free water.

The people doing the hiring must work for a Western company that totally doesn’t understand how things work best in Qatar. I know the Qataris would take care of their workers; they always have, and I assume that they always will.

A British girl contacted us through the internet a few days ago, asking for advice about her job offer with the Asian Games 2006. They offered maybe a 5 % higher salary in an attempt to compensate for the housing benefits they were not going to provide for her.

These benefits have been the golden standard that have lured Westerners here for a very long time. These free benefits are a major part of what makes living in Qatar so wonderful for most Westerners.

I advise anyone offered a higher salary in an attempt to lure them to come to Doha, instead of these free housing benefits, not to come, unless it’s double the original salary offered (pretty rare).

The housing here is getting very expensive, even for Qatari nationals. A lot of my Qatari friends are waiting until after the Asian Games to start construction on their new houses, hoping that prices for construction labor will go back to normal. Inshallah.

Prices for everything are going up because of high rent.

It used to be, even a year ago, that getting furniture made by hand from the carpenters was more economical and of a higher quality than buying ready-made furniture. Not so now.Even the lowest of the low in Doha must pay rent, and they have to compensate for the rent increases somehow….so, it comes in the form of higher prices for their labor and products.

I heard also from this same girl offered the job with the Asian Games that they were telling her she could find nice housing for between QR 1,500-3,000. Now this girl is British….I doubt anything she can find at that price will suit her standard of living! She would have to live in the very poor squatter-town or else have 1 or more roommates to get this price.

Very misleading….Shame, shame, shame, on the Asian Games!