Nurturing young talent through frank and open discussion has long been at the heart of PDP experience.
Waleed Zabeery, left, a PDP who supervises the computer work in Community Maintenance, confers with Bader al-Zawad, an ex-PDP who is acting administrator. Al-Zaward was the chairman of the Study Day organizing committee.
From the front page of the Jan. 3, 1990 edition of The Arabian Sun
The scene was unusual. For a change, managers were in the hot seat as their young but feisty subordinates fired away.
The managers, from within Community Services, field questions and even gripes from a roomful of young Professional Development Program employees or PDPs.
The frank and open exchange occurred at the organization's third "PDP Study Day."
Study Day is unique at Saudi Aramco. It is just one part of Community Services' program to encourage maximum communication between budding professionals and management.
Both benefit from the innovative approach. The PDP gets a real chance to be heard, and Saudi Aramco gets a productive professional employee and future company leader.
The goal: to help designated Saudi college graduates, with little or no work experience, to become fully qualified professionals. That goal holds for all organizations at Aramco, which together are host to 790 PDP employees. Since 1976, 1,565 Saudi employees graduated from the program or its forerunner, the Associate Professional Program.
— The Arabian Sun: January 03, 2023