The Employment Contract for a Saudi Hire in an Administrative Support Profession: The Clauses as They Should Be Written Before 4 October

Why the indefinite contract is the starting point

Saudization in administrative support professions rests on stability: the business wants to show that the role is held by a citizen on a continuing basis, and the employee wants a clear employment relationship that does not end with a short term. That is why the indefinite employment contract is the form closest to this purpose in most cases of hiring a Saudi employee, because it ties the role to the employee without a preset end date and makes termination subject to the rules on notice and lawful grounds rather than the automatic expiry of a term.

The parties may nonetheless agree on a fixed term for legitimate reasons, such as a temporary project or covering a role for a known period, and here the fixed-term employment contract E-01 is the secondary reference. The practical difference is that a fixed-term contract needs precise drafting of its renewal and non-renewal provisions, and converting it later into an indefinite contract has legal effects that the lawyer should review before signing. Whichever you choose, the essential clauses explained below are the same in both contracts.

The parties, the job title and the profession matching the Qiwa record

The first thing checked in the contract is consistency. The establishment's name and unified number, the employee's name and national ID number, the job title, and the profession as registered on the Qiwa platform must all match between the contract and the record. The common mistake is for the contract to state an internal title such as office coordinator while the profession registered in Qiwa is different, or for the employee to be registered in a profession that does not reflect their actual work. That mismatch weakens the business's position if its compliance with the Saudization decision is reviewed, because what counts is the registered profession and the actual work together.

• Match the profession in the contract word for word with what appears in the establishment's Qiwa record before signing.
• Attach a short job description showing the employee's actual duties.
• Make the place of work and the start date clear, since these are among the first details the employee and the authorities ask about.

Probation: stated expressly and within the statutory limit

Probation is not presumed. It applies only if stated expressly and in writing in the contract or an annex to it, under Articles 53 and 54 of the Labor Law. The maximum is 180 days including any extension, and an extension is valid only by written agreement between the parties, while a unilateral extension by the employer has no effect. Any period beyond 180 days has no effect and the employee is deemed confirmed. The two Eid holidays, Hajj leave and sick leave days are excluded from the probation count.

For an administrative support role it is usually enough to state the probation period precisely and to say whether an extension is possible subject to written agreement. If you want to regulate probation in more detail, such as the evaluation criteria and timing, the Probation Annex E-06 covers that, and our published guide on probation explains the drafting at length.

The wage and its registered components

The wage clause is the most sensitive clause in Saudization roles, because the wage appears in more than one record: the contract authenticated in Qiwa, the social insurance registration, and the payroll transferred through the bank. Any difference between these records raises questions when compliance is checked. The contract should therefore state the basic wage separately, then each fixed regular allowance by name and amount, such as housing and transport allowances, and their total should be the same gross wage registered on the platforms.

The wage split has an effect that reaches the end of the relationship: under Article 84 of the Labor Law the end-of-service award is calculated on the last wage including fixed regular allowances, excluding occasional bonuses. Counting a Saudi employee in Nitaqat is also linked to their wage level, and we have explained the limits of that counting in a separate guide. We do not state here any minimum wage specific to administrative support professions, because we have not verified that one has been announced in an official source.

Working hours and leave

The contract should set the working days, the daily and weekly hours, the weekly rest day, and how overtime and its pay are handled, with a reference to the reduced hours during Ramadan. The Labor Law sets maximum hours and rules on overtime pay, but we do not state their figures or the relevant articles in this guide because they are not among our verified references, and the lawyer confirms them against the text in force before the contract is issued. The practical rule is for the contract to refer to the establishment's approved work regulation and never to set hours beyond the statutory limit.

The same goes for leave: the contract states the employee's entitlement to paid annual leave and its length, occasional leave, and sick leave, with a reference to the establishment's leave policy. The contract may grant more than the law provides but may not grant less. If your business has no written leave policy, the Leave Policy template E-15 and the Internal Work Regulation E-07 complete the contract and prevent conflicts between documents.

Notice and termination

In an indefinite contract, the contract does not end with the passage of time but by the will of one party after written notice to the other, or on one of the grounds the law sets out. The recent Labor Law amendments changed the notice provisions, and we do not state the periods here because we did not verify them in an official text while preparing this guide, so the lawyer inserts them in the contract according to the text in force. What matters is that the contract states that notice is given in writing, explains the effect of failing to observe it, and refers to the law on any matter it does not address.

Termination for an employee's misconduct needs a documented path under Article 71 of the Labor Law, from investigation to graduated penalty, and the cases in which the contract may be ended without award and without notice are set out in Article 80. A good contract therefore refers to the work regulation and the schedule of penalties, and then the Graduated Warning Letters E-10 and the Termination Letters Set E-11 document each step. Note that ending the contract of a Saudi employee in a Saudized profession means the role must be filled by another citizen, so plan the replacement before terminating.

How a licensed Saudi lawyer keeps these clauses current

Saudization decisions and Labor Law amendments change faster than most businesses expect, and a contract that was sound when signed may need an annex a few months later. That is why Sighaty's templates are certified by a licensed Saudi lawyer and updated with each legal amendment, and the review works in practice as follows.

1. The lawyer follows the decisions and procedural guides the ministry publishes and compares them against the template's clauses.
2. They update the affected clauses, such as profession, wage and notice, and then re-certify the template.
3. The smart-fill questions are revised to ask for the new data, such as the profession name as in the Qiwa record.
4. The business issues an updated contract or an annex for existing contracts, then authenticates it in Qiwa.

This does not replace legal advice in a dispute or a special case, but it makes your starting point a sound bilingual contract you get in minutes instead of drafting from scratch.

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