Training for Bahrain

By Eric J. Adams
Photographs by Charles Crowell/Black Star Photos

Bahrain is not your typical expansive Middle Eastern country. A dollop of an island roughly the size of Houston, Bahrain is home to just 667,000 inhabitants. Every economic rise and fall reverberates broadly through the land.

To help solidify the country’s economic base and stem the outflow of capital, the Bahraini Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), and Bechtel are engaged in an innovative program dubbed “Training for Bahrain.” The training initiative is the first of its kind in Bahrain, and quite possibly the most successful in the Middle East to date, according to Alba officials. The goal is simple: to increase the number of Bahrainis working in the construction industry by using Alba’s Line 5 expansion project as a training opportunity.

“As one of the kingdom’s largest employers, we recognize our responsibilities toward the community in developing the skills of the local workforce, providing jobs for Bahrainis, and setting an example for others,” says Niall O’Byrne, Alba’s project manager for the facility, which employs some 2,600 people.



One of the initial challenges of the program was to find a way to encourage 40 major subcontractors to employ locally trained workers. “It is far easier and cheaper for subcontractors to bring in expatriates from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and other countries than to hire locally,” says O’Byrne.

To persuade subcontractors to make the transition, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Alba each contributes 50 percent of the salaries for trainees. Bechtel, for its part, designed a custom training program that started not with job skills but with life skills.

“Before even teaching any craft, we knew we had to address the personal development of the candidates, many of whom were young and had never worked in construction before, let alone on a major construction project such as this,” says Sel Van Niekerk, Bechtel’s Bahrainization manager and the lead trainer.

The training curriculum starts with such basics as “the importance of showing up on time, personal responsibility, work ethics, taking directions, and all the things that make a person employable,” says Van Niekerk.

The initial two-week classroom program also includes comprehensive training dedicated to on-the-job safety. Candidates who take jobs with the project also benefit from the safety program designed for all employees.

Only those Bahraini candidates who graduate from the first training phase are allowed to continue with training that includes three to six months of theoretical and on-the-job craft schooling in carpentry, welding, brick and block laying, or one of the many other skilled jobs necessary to complete a project of this scope.

The candidates then are brought back to the classroom for a final week of personal development designed to give them the skills to leverage their learning beyond the Alba expansion project. “During the final week, we cover topics such as resume writing and goal setting, as well as reiterating all the life skills we imparted at the very beginning,” says Van Niekerk.

The program has been a success on a number of fronts. In its first year, 334 Bahrainis were graduated, and nearly all were placed with subcontractors. In April 2004, the program graduated its biggest single class to date—110. All told, the program is more than halfway toward its goal of 800 Bahrainis employed on the project. And Van Niekerk’s job is getting easier as the number of potential candidates grows due to word of mouth in the community about the program’s success.

Subcontractors have come to value the graduates and are actually clamoring for them. “We have subcontractors coming up to us and asking what we’ve done because the graduates are so motivated and doing such a good job,” says Stacey Barlow, Bechtel’s site manager. A few graduates, ironically, have been so inspired by the training program that they’ve declined to take jobs with subcontractors and instead have taken the entrepreneurial route—starting businesses of their own, based on the skills they learned from Bechtel.

“I’m most impressed with the level of enthusiasm Bechtel has brought to the training program and the enthusiasm it imprints on the graduates,” says Alba’s O’Byrne. “The most important contribution is in convincing candidates that they have a chance to do better, and can make a life for themselves with hard work.”

Bahrainization also has contributed to the project’s stellar safety record. By April, it had achieved 5 million man-hours over 15 months of construction without a lost-time incident.

“When you work in this part of the world, you are working with two different standards,” says Gareth Williams, Alba’s safety manager. “Local workers aren’t used to the procedures and safety requirements found in the West, so it’s a constant battle to keep safety on everyone’s mind. I’ve been in safety for more than 25 years and Bechtel is as good as or better than any company I’ve worked with.”

The training initiative has been so successful that Sherif Zaki, Bechtel’s deputy project manager and business manager, sees it as a model for similar programs around the globe. “We’re gaining a tremendous amount of experience here that will benefit other projects in the Gulf which face similar employment dilemmas,” he says.

Meanwhile, the training continues. And long after Bechtel pulls up the last stake on the project in 2005, the company’s legacy will remain: 800 Bahrainis equipped with the skills needed to gain valuable employment anywhere in the country, the Gulf, or the world. “Better yet,” adds Van Niekerk, “we’re hoping many will start businesses of their own and pass the knowledge on.”

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