Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) announced today that it has started implementing the 16th phase of the Wage Protection System (WPS) starting from 1 August 2020. Businesses with 5 to 10 workers are now obligated to register with WPS. 

Saudi launched the first phase of WPS in August 2013, covering private sector businesses with 3,000 employees or more. Subsequent phases of the WPS have been gradually implemented to cover smaller businesses. The previous phase launched on 1 May 2020 included Businesses with 11 or more workers.

Last month, the MHRSD announced that it has resumed the WPS for the private sector after it was temporarily postponed as some commercial businesses stopped operating during the Covid-19 crisis. The MHRSD also recently announced the launch of “Madad” platform, which provides “technical solutions” for small- and medium-sized companies in all matters related to salary management systems, enabling them to adhere to WPS, and facilitate procedures for automating salary payment.