Golden Handshake Program

The Golden Handshake Program is a program introduced for government entities whose employees are subject to the Civil Service salary scales. It aims to facilitate exit from service through resignation, in accordance with a set of regulations and conditions that ensure their financial rights. The Council of Ministers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia approved the program on December 31, 2024

Regulations and conditions of the Golden Handshake Program

The regulations and procedures of the Golden Handshake Program include:

• Providing a financial incentive to the resigning employee.
• Specifying years of service for employees targeted by the program.
• Specifying age groups for employees targeted by the program.
• Giving priority to those with lower qualifications, with the program extending gradually to higher qualifications
• Requiring the approval of both the entity and the targeted employee to benefit from it.
• Preventing any government entity from rehiring an individual who has already benefited from the program.
• Allowing the employee to benefit from the program only after exhausting other options, such as transfer, secondment, or reskilling to benefit from him in the more in-demand job functions.
• Excluding employees who meet the conditions and provisions of early retirement from benefiting from the program.
• Taking measures to abolish the position of the resigning employee, except for positions classified as supervisory.
• Establishing a mechanism for the government entity to announce the program to its targeted employees and ensure clarification of the rights and obligations that apply to them if they agree to benefit from it.

Implementing entities of the Golden Handshake Program

The program is implemented by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and the Ministry of Finance, in coordination with the General Organization for Social Insurance, the Committee for Pension Laws Reform, and the Committee for the Social Support and Subsidy System. These entities prepare the necessary regulations, conditions, procedures, and mechanisms for the program. The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development approve these regulations, conditions, procedures, and mechanisms, which are reviewed annually.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and the Ministry of Finance are also responsible for identifying vacant positions in government entities that have been unfilled for five years or more. Arrangements are made to cancel newly created positions in the state’s general budget in the future if they remain unfilled for two years from the date of their creation.

Job announcements in the Golden Handshake Program

The Golden Handshake Program regulates internal announcements for vacant government positions through the electronic system of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. Government entities whose employees are subject to the Civil Service salary scales must announce their vacant positions through the electronic system of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development for five days, to fill them by transferring employees between entities. If the announcing government entity is unable to fill the position with a suitable qualification after the announcement, it shall then announce it according to the procedures governing the filling of the position.

Golden Handshake Program costs

The cost ceiling allocated for the Golden Handshake Program was set at SAR12,754,000,000 for the fiscal years 2025, 2026, and 2027. The Minister of Finance is authorized to provide and add what is required from the amount during the fiscal year 2025, up to a maximum of SAR5,059,700,000, to be added to the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2025. A budget item shall be created under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development dedicated to the Golden Handshake Program, with expenditures from the amount limited exclusively to the program. The Minister of Finance is granted the authority to transfer from the budget item allocated to the Golden Handshake Program to the budgets of other entities that will benefit from the program, in accordance with applicable procedures.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development includes the necessary amounts for the fiscal years 2026 and 2027 for the Golden Handshake Program when discussing its budget within the state’s general budget project, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance regarding the financial requirements for implementing the quick wins and comprehensive strategic tracks to rationalize and sustain the public sector wage and salary bill, estimated at SAR22,980,600.