1.What are the types of support provided through the program?
• Training Support
• Wage Subsidy Support
• Wage Increment Support
2.Is it mandatory to take Training and Wage Support together?
No, the Enterprise has the choice of selecting the required support type for its Employees. It is possible for any Enterprise to select the needed support type i.e. Training Only, Wage Only or Training and Wage Support.
3.Is it possible to obtain Wage Subsidy and Wage Increment support for the same Employee at the same time?
No, the Enterprise must select one type of Wage Support per Employee at a time.
4.What is the eligibility criteria for the program?
Enterprises’ eligibility criteria:
- Valid commercial registration or License(CR)
- Operating in Bahrain
Employees’ eligibility criteria:
- Bahraini national
- Registered with GOSI
*Minimum Salary of
- High School Graduates (or lower): BD 270
- Diploma Holders: BD 350
- Bachelor Holders: BD 400
*[If the employee’s current salary is below the minimum wage criteria, applying under the “Wage Increment Support” with an increase that elevates his/her salary to the set minimum wage is considered acceptable (hence: eligible to apply).]
5.What are the types of Wage Support provided? What are the requirements for each type?
Full Wage Subsidy Support
Full Wage Subsidy Support means that the Enterprise will receive subsidy support for three years (36 months).
Requirement: The Employee must be a Fresh Graduate/Experienced and their joining date must be within 6 months from the Employee Application/Wage Support Request Date.
Partial Wage Subsidy Support Partial Wage Subsidy Support means that the Enterprise will receive subsidy support for less than three years.
Requirement: If the Employee’s joining date is 6 months after the Application/Wage Support Request Date then the Enterprise will receive the Wage Subsidy Support for the remaining period of the 36 months (e.g. if the Employee joined 7 months after the application date, the support period will be for 29 months and so on up to one month of wage support).
Wage Increment
The Employee must have completed three months probation period before the application date.
The enterprise must select the required increment amount.
6.What is the Wage Subsidy Support model?
The level of support depends on whether the Employee is a Fresh Graduate or Experienced.
Wage Support for Fresh Graduate Employees: Tamkeen will subsidize their salaries as follows (all capped at BD 500):
- Year 1: 70% of salary
- Year 2: 50% of salary
- Year 3: 30% of salary
Wage Support for Experienced Employees: Tamkeen will subsidize 25% or BD 250 (whichever is lower) of the Employee’s wage for 3 years.
7.How long is the wage support period for New Employees?
The wage support period will be for a maximum of 36 months.
8.What is meant by Fresh Graduates and Experienced Employees?
- Fresh Graduates: An employee is considered a Fresh Graduate if it has been less than two years since they have graduated (Bachelor’s degree or lower) OR if they have 0-2 years of working experience whichever is lower.
- Experienced: An Employee is considered Experienced if it has been more than two years but less than five years since they have graduated (Bachelor’s degree or lower) OR if they have 2-5 years of experience whichever is lower.
9.What is the Wage Support provided for Existing Employees?
The Enterprise will be able to select the exact wage increase (up to three decimal places) starting from a minimum of BD 20 (e.g BD 34.566).
10.How long is the wage support period for Existing Employees?
The wage support period will be as follows:
- Increments of BD 20 - 40.999 - 1 Year Wage Support
- Increments of BD 50 - 500 - 1or 2 Years Wage Support (as chosen by the enterprise).
11.What is the Wage Increment Support percentage for different salary levels?
Tamkeen’s Wage increment support is a percentage of the required increment. This is based on the salary of the Employee. Below are the support percentages for each level limits (all capped at BD 500):
- Below BD 1,000 =100% increment support
- BD 1,000 to 2,000 = 50% increment support
- Above BD 2,000 = 25% increment support
12.How is the Training Support determined?
Training Support is determined based on the required Training Courses. Each training course has a fixed support amount determined by Tamkeen.
If the Enterprise knows the required training courses for its Employee(s) they can select the required courses at the Employee Application Stage.
13.Can an Enterprise that has a CR without licenses apply?
Enterprises that have a CR without license(s) can obtain approval for Training and Wage Support. However, the payment will be withheld until they have the required licenses.
14.What are the required documents?
15.How many employees can an Enterprise enroll in the service?
There is no restriction on the number of employees an enterprise can enroll, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria.
16.How frequently can an Enterprise apply for Wage Subsidy Support?
Enterprises that have received Wage Subsidy Support for an Employee cannot obtain the same type of support for the same Employee. However, the Enterprise may obtain Wage Increment Support after completing three years of Wage Subsidy Support.
17.How frequently can an Enterprise apply for Wage Increment Support?
18.Is there a limit on the number of Employees that an Enterprise can obtain support for?
19.Are Enterprise owners eligible to benefit from this service?
Yes. However, for training support only, the Enterprise owners are not eligible for wage support. Furthermore, they may benefit again from the program after 12 months from completing the training course(s).
20.When can the Enterprise request payments?
In the case of Wage Increment Support, the Enterprise must select the starting month of the increment after Tamkeen approves the support request. Once this is done a payment schedule (on a monthly or quarterly basis, as chosen by the enterprise) will be generated.
In the case of Wage Subsidy Support, the Enterprise will be able to request the payment in the consecutive month following the Enterprise confirmation of Tamkeen’s approval for the Wage Support. The support will be backdated to the Employee’s joining date.
21.Where should the Wage Increment be reflected in the Employee’s Salary?
The wage increment must be reflected in the Basic Salary of the employee as per the Wage Increment schedule issued at the time of confirmation.
22.Can an Enterprise enroll Employees who are being supported through the Ministry of Labour Employee Support Scheme?
Employees enrolled in the Ministry of Labour’s Wage Support Scheme can obtain the following types of support:
- Training Only
- Training and Wage Increment (Existing Employees Only)
23.Can the Enterprise obtain support for overseas courses?
Yes, the Enterprise can obtain support for overseas courses. The Enterprise can request to add the course through the “Trainings” tab once they login to the TWS portal. Reimbursements for these courses will be made 100% upon completion.
24.What expenses are covered for overseas training?
25.Can the Enterprise obtain support for online courses?
Yes, the Enterprise can obtain support for online courses. The Enterprise can request to add the course through the “Course Management” tab once they login to the TWS portal. Reimbursements for these courses will be made 100% upon completion.