Residents using the Ministry of Labour's smartphone app are able to complete their transactions, including renewal of work permits, in less than 3 minutes and the high rate of customer satisfaction has resulted in 112,000 people downloading the smartphone app.

The Ministry of Labour received the best m-Government services via smartphones award from the Economy and Commerce sector at the national level during the award's second edition, which includes several categories at national, Arab and international levels.

Nabil Al Zarooni, Deputy Director of the IT Department at the Ministry of Labour, said, "The ministry's app can be downloaded for Apple smartphones and Android phones, tablets or PCs and is available in both English and Arabic."

He explained that the Ministry's app, which provides many services to customers smoothly and efficiently, contributes effectively towards monitoring and regulating the labour market.

"The services of the Ministry through its smartphone application includes a variety of procedural services, basic information and inquiry services. The app was developed to serve employers, employees and members of the community in general," said Al Zarooni.

The main page of the application includes six icons, the first of which highlights the latest key developments such as ministerial decisions, actions developed and public holidays, basically a guideline that the MOL uses to inform customers with any new developments or updates.

Employers enjoy many services including those related to the inspections sector and work permit fee payments or cancelation, registering a complaint against absent employees, as well as viewing on-hold transactions.

The ‘My Page' icon, which is also dedicated to employers, provides the ability to view a list of establishments listed under their name, display the expiration date of their license, view status of each establishment and read more about de-activated ones.

The ‘Notifications' icon serves as a reminder to renew work permits, labour cards and trade licenses or various transactions with the Ministry to avoid any violations or fines. The "Inquiry" icon allows employers to track transactions by entering the transaction number in the space provided.

The smartphone application also allows workers through their designated icon on the home page to check their employment contracts, or file a complaint for not receiving their salary, two services that are provided through ‘eNetwasal'.

Al Zarooni explained, "Renewing work permits is the most commonly used service within the Ministry's app, followed by payments of the initial approval for obtaining the work permit and retrieval of bank guarantees then updating data with regards to work permits, trade licenses and other services."

He confirmed that the Ministry has developed the smartphone application in very user-friendly ways to achieve ease in completing any transaction, especially after associating some services with other government-entities such as work permit extractions.

"During 2014, and throughout the development process of the application, the team held numerous brainstorming sessions and learnt from other entities the best practices in order to come up with the third version of the application, which has gained excellent reviews and 86 percent customer satisfaction level," Al Zarooni concluded.