By Archana Mehta
Ali Salaam, SPHR, GPHR, is a pioneer among the growing community of
certified HR professionals improving labor conditions in the Middle East.
The HR universe has been rapidly expanding around the globe, and Ali Salaam has been on the forefront of this trend in his little corner of the world. He is nothing short of a pioneer in Lebanon, becoming one of his country’s first human resources professionals when the field was still fledgling more than a decade ago. Salaam, 42, says he “stumbled” into HR back in the 1990s, and now he’s a staunch advocate of bolstering the rapidly growing field there.
“At the time, there was limited understanding of the field of HR,” Salaam says. “For most people, HR was simply an institution for managing payroll and talent. Over the past 5 to 10 years, people have started to become more aware of the value and importance of HR.” Now Lebanon ranks an impressive sixth in the world in number of certified HR professionals.
Salaam is the human resources director at Gulf Resources Corporation, a global group of companies specializing in the development of energy and other natural resources. He is also a part-time instructor at several local and regional providers of educational and training services, where he prepares candidates for the Professional in Human Resources (PHR®) and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR®) certifications.
Salaam first became involved in human resources in the mid-1990s, immediately after graduating from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Foreign Service, with a focus in International Relations, Law and Organization. Salaam was one of the first HR professionals in Lebanon to receive the Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR®) and the SPHR certifications.
In a break from the typical certification pathway, Salaam obtained his GPHR certification before his SPHR certification.
“Since I was working for an international company at the time, I wanted to find a certification that would really complement my experience,” he says. “The GPHR did that for me; it opened up opportunities for me in the region and made me more marketable in Lebanon.”
By obtaining his certifications, Salaam believes he’s been able to distinguish himself and gain a sense of confidence in his own knowledge and understanding of the legal side of HR. Since he had not done his studies in HR at a university, it seemed that obtaining the certifications could provide him with the tools he needed to succeed in an industry that continues to evolve. Salaam believes it was beneficial for him to later pursue the SPHR because it allowed him to learn about specific U.S. HR practices.
As awareness of HR increases in Lebanon, competition is growing in the jobs market, making certification even more important for HR professionals to stand out.
Lebanon is fast becoming more sophisticated in the HR world, a byproduct of more multinational companies investing in the country, such as retail and pharmaceutical firms. As industry grows, the changes in the HR landscape are highlighting a need for labor laws that better address the concerns of workers, such as overtime compensation, in order to keep up with other countries, Salaam says.
While those laws are evolving, Salaam recognizes that his country has a way to go before catching up with the United States and other western countries. “Companies do not understand the legal and ethical obligations they have to their employees,” Salaam says.
As more multinational companies invest in Lebanon, Salaam says that knowledge of U.S. policies have also become increasingly important, such as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Executive Order 11246, which required federal contractors to take “affirmative action” to hire without regard to race, religion and national origin.
“Knowing why certain legislation was enacted is extremely important,” he says. “In our region we see organizations stating they use non-discriminatory policies in hiring, but they don’t actually know the background behind it, that there was an actual reason for its creation in the U.S. – and that the policies are only mandated by law for companies seeking federal contracts.
“One example of the differences in labor laws is how exempt and nonexempt employees are compensated,” he says. “There is no distinction between the two in our part of the world. So employees who would be considered nonexempt in the U.S., and who stay at work late will not be paid overtime for their efforts.”
Salaam believes his country as a whole needs to be more outspoken and more of an advocate for aligning its labor laws to U.S. standards.
More and more companies in the retail and pharmaceutical industries are investing in Lebanon, and as the demand for certified HR professionals continues to rise, there will be a greater need for more education in HR. Moreover, HR will need to be more responsive, efficient and streamlined, he said.
“We can learn a lot from the U.S.’s human resources practices, not just about policies, but about where the missing parts are and where Lebanon can grow.”