The institute recognises companies for their outstanding HR strategies and people practices, with 24 organisations from 31 African countries included in this year’s cohort. As part of the ranking, companies are evaluated across a number of key areas including:
Talent strategy;
Workforce planning;
On-boarding;
Learning & development;
Performance management;
Leadership development;
Career & succession management;
Compensation & benefits;
Culture.
The Top Employers Institute then evaluates the implementation of these practices and reviews how they are supported through strategy, ownership, practices, measurement and technology. It must also be noted that the Top Employers certification is by application.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Unilever was ranked as the top employer in South Africa, followed by professional services firm Accenture, and telecommunications company Vodacom. The overall top 20 for South Africa is outlined below.
Rank
Company
Sector
1
Unilever South Africa (Pty) Ltd
FMCG
2
Accenture (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Professional services
3
Vodacom Group Pty (Ltd)
Telecommunications
4
HCL Technologies
IT Services
5
JTI South Africa
Tobacco
6
Tata Consultancy Services South Africa
IT Services
7
Nestlé (South Africa)
FMCG
8
Mondelēz South Africa, Hilti (South Africa)
FMCG
9
Hilti (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Construction
10
DHL Supply Chain (South Africa)
Logistics
11
SAP South Africa
Software
12 =
Mercedes-Benz South Africa
Automotive
12 =
BAT South Africa
Tobacco
14
Dimension Data
IT Services
15
HPE South Africa
IT Services
16
Sasol Limited
Energy
17
AstraZeneca
Pharmaceuticals
18
Santam Ltd
Financial services
19
LAW FOR ALL
Legal services
20
Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages
FMCG
In 2021, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic continued to be a challenging and difficult time for societies across the globe. It demanded that companies worldwide continue to commit to meeting the changing needs of their employees and the wider world around them, said chief executive of Top Employers Institute David Plink.
“Reflecting on the demanding year that has, like the year before it, impacted organisations across the world. We are happy to see those certified organisations in Africa have continued to prioritise maintaining excellent people practices in the workplace.
“Despite the challenges, they continue to meet the challenges of the changing world of work while working tirelessly to make a positive impact on the lives of their workforce.”
Openserve is South Africa’s largest ICT infrastructure provider with the biggest fixed broadband network in the country, and an estimated 5,619 employees by the end of September 2021. The group currently offers fibre coverage to more than 700,000 homes, with more than 331,700 homes connected to its network.
“The ICT sector is continuously evolving and requires an array of advanced skills and knowledge. We invite you to join our team of experienced ICT professionals who are passionate about building a competitive, sustainable and accountable business to better serve our clients, community and South Africa,” it said.
Openserve said it was specifically looking for candidates to fill its Centre of Excellence (CoE) programme positions.
“The CoE programme is our pinnacle programme that supports our extensive youth and skills development strategic initiatives. Its framework ensures that there is continuous research in the fields of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, IT, Network Operations, Computer Science, Finance and Sales and Marketing,” it said.
Some of the open positions include:
Engineering
Network operations
Computer Science
Finance
Sales & Marketing
IT
Openserve said it is looking for innovative, dynamic, creative and solutions-driven individuals between the age of 18 and 35.
Candidates must have a Masters or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, IT, Finance, or Sales & Marketing. You can find out more about applying here.
Experts at commercial law firm Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr have answered some pertinent questions for employers and staff alike ahead of the 2022 work year.
What are some of the flexible working models an employer can introduce in 2022?
Online work is a fast-growing trend. The digital revolution is driving new forms of employment facilitated by the various online platforms available. Remote and hybrid working arrangements allow employees to work from home and attend at the traditional workplace/office intermittently.
Typical employment is full-time employment for an indefinite period while atypical working models include temporary placements, fixed-term contracts, and variable hour contracts (which are a special form of part-time employment).
What are some of the benefits of atypical employment?
These working arrangements afford both employers and employees greater flexibility.
They can attract highly skilled employees who favour the flexibility that they offer.
They also allow employers to contain labour costs and tend to provide a larger pool of candidates with the opportunity to gain work experience and develop their skills.
What are possible negative consequences associated with remote working and other atypical employment relationships?
Possible negative consequences include lack of job security and the potential for excessive or improper use of atypical forms of employment. These negative consequences can impact equality in the workplace as well as productivity and growth.
Is employee consent required to move to a hybrid/remote working model?
Employers looking to implement a hybrid/remote working model should consider whether their employees’ place of work and the working arrangements are determined through workplace practice, or whether they are incorporated as terms and conditions of employment in employees’ contracts of employment.
If the employees’ working arrangements including place of work are set out in the contract of employment, this may require that any change to the working arrangements be effected with the employees’ consent. Failure to secure consent could result in a unilateral change to the employees’ terms and conditions of employment.
In addition, if the employer subsequently dismisses an employee for failing to adhere to the new hybrid/remote working model, this may expose the employer to a claim for an automatically unfair dismissal.
What does an employer do when employees refuse to return to the office in 2022 and on what basis can an employee lawfully refuse to return?
Employers that have conducted a risk assessment of the workplace and implemented appropriate measures to ensure the health and safety of employees such as social distancing, sanitizing, vaccination policies and ensuring that employees wear personal protective equipment will be entitled to call on employees to return to the office.
The contract of employment may stipulate an employee’s place of work. If an employee unreasonably refuses to return to the stipulated place of work, then the employee may be in breach of the contract of employment and the employer may institute disciplinary action against
the employee. An employee who fails to adhere to a reasonable and lawful instruction from an employer to return to the contractually agreed workplace may be guilty of insubordination which is a form of misconduct and may result in dismissal. However, employees have the right to refuse to return to the workplace if they have a legitimate and objective reason to believe that the workplace poses a threat to their health and safety.
Employers should assess the reasonableness of an employee’s concern and eliminate the risk, if any. Once the health and safety threat has been remedied a continued refusal may constitute insubordination.
Can an employer implement a mandatory vaccination policy in 2022 notwithstanding the missed 21-day deadline?
The 21 day period within which an employer was required to conduct a risk assessment expired on 2 July 2021. However, there is no prohibition in the 11 June 2021 Directions to an employer implementing a mandatory vaccination policy beyond this date.
What are the steps employers need to put in place now in order to implement a mandatory vaccination policy come January 2022?
Employers may:
Identify the employees who fall within the identified category/categories of employees that must be vaccinated, and inform them of the measures that will be implemented with regards to the mandatory vaccination policy;
Provide electronic support to assist employees to register on the EVDS Registration Portal for Covid-19;
Inform employees that they will be entitled to paid time off to be vaccinated, provided an employee shows proof of vaccination;
Allow employees to submit objections/application for exemption to being vaccinated based on Constitutional, religious or medical grounds;
Provide employees with information on the nature and benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines; and
Provide employees with information on the risks of any serious side effects such as allergic reactions.
What measures can an employer implement to mitigate the risk of an outbreak of Covid-19 in the workplace once employees return from the holiday period?
An employer may implement the following measures:
Send a communication to all employees ahead of the festive season encouraging them to adhere to all health and safety protocols outside the working environment for the duration of the holiday season;
Remind employees throughout the holiday season of the mandatory health and safety measures as required by the government;
Encourage employees who display any symptoms of Covid-19 to remain at home and, in serious cases, to submit themselves for testing;
Maintain strict screening protocols upon entrance to the workplace in 2022; and
Ensure that all health and safety measures are strictly adhered to, as many employees may be asymptomatic.
As an employer obliged to pay employees who are self-quarantining?
Where an employee is able to work from home while quarantining, the employee may do so and will therefore be entitled to their full salary. In cases where an employee is unable to work from home, the employee may make use of their annual leave for the quarantine period.
Where an employee has exhausted their appropriate leave, the principle of “no work, no pay” will apply, and the employee will be placed on unpaid leave.
How does an employer manage productivity and performance of employees working from home?
There are important considerations pertaining to productivity and performance management that employers and HR need to take into account as remote working and hybrid working arrangements continue into 2022.
Employers may implement, inter alia, the following measures to monitor and ensure productivity:
daily check-ins;
daily collaboration sessions during which employees share ideas in order to maintain motivation;
clearly defined daily/weekly deliverables;
introduction of efficient technology and productivity tools; timesheets; and
assisting employees with developing strategies to work effectively from home.
An employer may also introduce various practical measures to engender a work culture, albeit whilst at home, such as an online meeting dress code policy, customised backgrounds for meetings, requesting that employees attend meetings, insofar as possible, in a quiet area of their home so as to ensure that a level of professionalism is maintained.
Employers should review the conduct and performance of employees who are currently working from home and identify any gaps in productivity, performance and monitoring and evaluation.
Based on this assessment, employers should review their work from home policies and remote work protocols to assess the ways in which they can make the remote work environment more effective and efficient.
Amazon has been growing its presence in South Africa over the last few years and plans to build a large new office in River Club, Cape Town, to accommodate this growth.
Cape Town has close links with the technology giant since South African Chris Pinkham built a team to develop Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in the city in 2004.
The success of the Cape Town office gave the company the confidence to open a customer service operation in Cape Town in 2010.
Amazon then expanded its presence in South Africa by opening an AWS office in Johannesburg in 2015.
This was followed by the launch of Amazon CloudFront locations in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 2018. In 2020, Amazon launched an AWS region in Cape Town.
Many South African organisations are now using AWS for their cloud needs, including the Tshwane University of Technology, Sentech, and the Department of Social Development and Social Services Agency.
However, the tech and retail giant is not only looking for customer support agents.
The company is currently advertising over 200 jobs in South Africa, which include:
55 in operations, IT, and support engineering.
52 in software engineering.
24 in customer support.
14 in solution architecture.
12 in human resources.
10 in project and programme management.
10 in sales, advertising, and account management.
6 in business development.
Most of these jobs are in Cape Town and Johannesburg, but there are also many positions where employees can work from home.
Applicants interested in work-from-home positions must have an existing and dedicated uncapped fibre line that supports 10Mbps upload speeds and 5Mbps download speeds.
People with ADSL, LTE, and Wi-Fi connections are not eligible for these roles.
Detailed proof of connectivity will be required. The Internet account must be in the applicant’s name at their home address, and it should confirm it is a fibre connection with a minimum 10Mbps speed.
Applicants must also be South African citizens, permanent residents, or hold the legal right to work in South Africa.
The table below provides an overview of some of the latest positions available from Amazon in South Africa. For the complete list of vacancies, visit this page.
Hiring managers are firing up every recruiting tool they have in today’s tight labor market — including asking ex-employees to come back. Some management researchers say the Great Resignation of 2021 could lead to the rise of the “boomerang employee” in the next five years as pandemic-era labor disruptions continue to shake out.
Businesses have a lot of incentives to rehire former employees, namely saving time and money on recruiting, onboarding and getting a person up to speed to fill a vacancy. Boomerang employees are easier to socialize into a company’s culture and can bring with them skills and experience they gained from the outside.
But what do workers get out of it? After all, if people leave jobs for a reason, is it ever a good idea to go back?
When boomeranging could be a good idea
Returning to a former employer could be a good thing in some cases, says Abbie Shipp, a management professor at Texas Christian University who specializes in employee engagement over time.
As long as your resume doesn’t show a pattern of leaving and rejoining a company over and over again, “being a boomerang employee doesn’t carry a negative stigma that it once did,” Shipp tells CNBC Make It.
Rehires tend to be high performers who left their old job for an unexpected reason, like having to move away for a partner’s job, to start a family, or to accept a surprise job offer they couldn’t refuse at the time. Returning shows you left on good terms, and that perhaps you’re such a valuable member of the team that your old company wants you back.
Rehires also tend to be paid more than workers who stayed with the company, says Brian Swider, a management professor at the University of Florida and an expert on boomerang employees: “You often leave for a better offer, and then you’re brought back with a better offer.”
A job change gives you another chance to negotiate your pay and benefits, especially as employers want to fill vacancies quickly, and the spread of remote work has put more flex-work options on the table.
With that said, Swider says boomerang employees tend to be paid less than truly external hires, whether that comes down to differences in the employer’s offer or differences in how a boomerang versus external candidate negotiates for their pay. It’s possible boomerang workers are willing to sacrifice a little bit of salary for larger certainty of the organization they’re walking into and the job they’ll be expected to do, Swider says.
How to consider a boomerang offer
Deciding to rejoin an old company is a very different experience from deciding to join a new one, and it requires a few extra considerations. You have history with a former organization, and you don’t want that history to give you an overly rosy view of good experiences from the past, Shipp says.
“It’s incredibly important to take in all the information of your prior experience with the firm,” she says, noting to be extra aware of what made you leave in the first place. Are those problems still there?
If you left because you didn’t like your boss’s management style, but that person has now left the company, you might find the work experience more enjoyable. But if you left because you didn’t see a path to promotion at the company, and the organization still has a poor track record of training and promoting leaders, you alone might not be able to do much to improve the situation once you’re back.
Even if you had a great experience working there before, don’t assume you’re returning to the same workplace you once knew. The pandemic impacted every organization differently, and the business could have entirely different employee resources, workflows, business operations or objectives.
Further, the workforce could look entirely different if the company has had to deal with a lot of turnover. You might not be returning to familiar coworkers, and you might have to pick up some extra tasks if the company is working to fill vacancies.
Still, going back to a workplace where you had a positive experience in the past might be a better alternative to a current job that’s not meeting your personal and professional needs. With a boomerang offer, do you see opportunities to learn valuable skills, grow into a new role, be supported by colleagues and make use of employee benefits that work for your family?
Ultimately, Shipp says, “try not to do what most people do: selectively craft information that leads them to the decision they want to make.”
Tips for a successful return
If a boomerang offer feels like a good fit for your life and career goals, there are a number of ways to make the reunion a good one.
You’ll want to balance three things, Shipp says: the prior knowledge you have with the company in order to get up to speed; the skills and experience you gained while working for another organization; and, most importantly, the open-mindedness of being a “new” teammate who’s ready to raise questions and solutions from an outsider’s perspective.
Tap your prior knowledge to do well on the task at hand, but don’t assume you know everything about the best way to do things, Shipp says, especially if you’ve been gone for a while and things have changed since you left.
Approach your network with a similar mindset and make sure to reach out to both old and new colleagues.
Be aware of and sensitive to colleagues who stayed with the company and who may not feel their loyalty has been rewarded through additional pay, perks or recognition.
Being approachable and open-minded with colleagues can help smooth some of the tension and show you’re open to “being coachable” by the people who’ve stayed, and that you’re hoping you can learn from each other.
Boomerang workers, those who leave their jobs and return later on, are on the rise — and in today's labor market, they have the upper hand. Returning to a previous employer, particularly those trying to quickly fill open roles, provides an opportunity to negotiate pay and benefits. One expert says workers often leave for a more attractive offer and are able to return to an even better one. CNBC offers some advice for considering an offer and ensuring a successful return:
Consider your previous experience with the company, including why you left.
Ask yourself if you see opportunities to grow into a new role.
Use your prior knowledge and skills to do well in your new position.
Reach out to both old and new colleagues to ease the transition.
If you’re still reeling from a crazy 2020 (and let’s be honest, a rocky start to this year), you might feel a little apprehensive about diving into 2021. Here are 21 painless ways you can get your year off to a great start:
1. Share your wisdom
Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. But it transforms into something truly powerful when it is shared.
Why? Because all the wisdom in the world is meaningless without application.
Yet many leaders eschew this and choose instead to hoard their insights, fearful of giving them away. They don’t understand a simple truth: sharing your wisdom doesn’t diminish your impact; it amplifies it. And today, the best way to magnify your message is to harness the power and reach of social media.
PROMOTED
2. Get your (career) story straight
Everyone has a unique story, but not everyone leverages its power. Properly crafted, your career story helps to differentiate you from your competitors, highlight your value, and to draw others to you. It provides a common thread that weaves together your personal and professional experiences, as well as your transferable skills, making it easy for others to connect the dots. Knowing and being able to articulate your career story clearly is transformative; use it wisely.
3. Clean up your (work) environment
Your environment, which includes your friends, colleagues, location, habits, and lifestyle, impacts you far more—for better or for worse—than you realize. You can’t make a significant, lasting change without altering some elements of it. Real growth happens when we understand whom and what best supports what we want and then align ourselves with those people and places that do. Your environment always wins; make sure it supports your goals.
4. Learn to say no...
If you want to grow your career, you need to learn to say no to almost everything (and everyone) that doesn’t excite you, speak to your values, further your mission in life, or help you achieve your goals. Remember, when you say no to the things and people who no longer serve you, you can say yes to those that do.
5. ...But say yes to growth opportunities
Saying yes can be a boon to your career—it opens you up to new challenges and opportunities, invites collaboration, empowers and affirms others, and creates an environment where it’s safe to try, fail, learn and innovate.6. Work hard to brush up on your soft skills
Emotional intelligence is rooted in them, business leaders swear by them, and they remain in high demand. I’m speaking of soft skills, those frequently misunderstood and undervalued skills that power career success.
In LinkedIn’s annual Global Talent Trends report, which explores the big trends fueling the future of the workplace, soft skills topped the list.
This finding underscores a fundamental truth: At its core, business is about relationships. No matter your job function or title, to succeed, you must interact with other people. And those who find a way to combine their hard skills with soft skills create environments that empower and ignite their teams, delight their customers, and fuel sustainable growth.
7. Protect your time
Your ability to prioritize and focus your attention on tackling work projects is crucial. How and with whom you spend your time and your productivity while doing so, demonstrate your focus and commitment to what—and who—matters most. When you master time management, you’ll learn to say no, do, decide, delegate or delete tasks, batch routine tasks, eliminate distractions, embrace mono-tasking, get to know—and work—your own rhythms, and build in breaks to recharge.
8. Become more self-aware
Most think of self-awareness as knowing yourself. Self-aware leaders have a clear understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. They are honest about what they want, their skills, and what matters most to them. They also have an accurate perception of what sets them apart and can then use their unique talents to magnify their impact in an environment that best suits them. Conversely, they also understand and acknowledge their blind spots and areas needing improvement.
But self-awareness is not just about knowing how you move through the world; it’s about knowing how your energy affects others. This perspective allows you to understand that everything is connected—your interactions with other people, how they perceive you, your attitude, and your responses to them in the moment—and all can be enhanced through better self-awareness.
9. Allow your curiosity to lead the way
Curiosity can be defined as a strong desire to know or learn something. But it’s so much more than that.
When you’re curious, you’re open. Open to exploring new ideas, experiences, and possibilities. Open to meeting new people and learning new things. Open to leaving behind outdated mindsets and limiting beliefs to make room for your highest and best self. And it’s that openness—that curiosity—that fuels growth.
When you embrace curiosity, you transform into a lifelong learner, which is what personal and professional growth is all about.
10. Smile more
You already possess a simple yet profoundly powerful way to instantly improve your career: smiling.
Yep, smiling.
Research shows that smiling puts others at ease, makes you magnetic, inspires confidence and trust, is good for you, makes you more creative, and is contagious.
11. Get creative
Creativity is the ability to perceive the world in new ways, find hidden patterns, make connections between seemingly disparate things, and generate innovative solutions. When you’re creative, you’re able to turn new and imaginative ideas into reality. Business leaders agree that to cultivate your creativity, you should ask big questions, pay attention, be open-minded, set aside time to let your mind wander, and not be afraid to take risks.
12. Practice empathy
Simon Sinek, Oprah Winfrey, and Gary Vaynerchuk all cite empathy as an essential leadership skill. To become more empathetic, shift your mindset to put people first, seeing them as human beings rather than a means to the end of a transaction or task, ask thoughtful and probing questions that draw out implications and feelings, which in turn, fosters a deeper connection, and listen more and talk less.
When you practice empathy, you’ll better understand your customers, colleagues, and partners, and then be able to use those insights in ways to better serve and communicate with them.
13. Be brave enough to use this four-letter word
View vulnerability as a strength, not as a weakness. When we find the courage to ask for help, modeling vulnerability, it creates a positive ripple effect. We give others permission to do the same, creating a culture and environment of openness and collaboration. We lead with empathy, which enhances connection and communication, and builds trust.
14. Change your perspective
Your perspective is the lens by which you view yourself, your career, and the world. It affects the story you tell yourself and the story you tell others. It impacts your potential, and according to Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of VaynerMedia, it’s also the quickest path to success and happiness.
“Listen, if there is anything I could wish on you, more than my work ethic, or my energy, or my charisma, it would be the mindset and perspective,” Vaynerchuk said in a recent article. “So much of our lives is predicated on how we look at the situations that surround us.”
15. Move past your fear and stop hiding
Fear is a powerful emotion. It often masquerades as a cloak of protection, keeping us from doing things that may cause us harm. But sometimes, the real damage comes from the inaction that fear enables.
We avoid those things that make us uncomfortable at all costs, but there is no growth in the status quo. Sooner or later, that caution and those fears that prevent you from getting hurt or put on the spot stagnate you.
Everything you’ve ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear; it’s time to stop hiding and go for it.
16. Understand the four words that will help you communicate and connect better
Far too often, we assume that everyone thinks, behaves, and communicates the same way we do. Worse, we make the mistake of focusing our sales pitches and communication about us rather than our intended audiences.
No matter your industry or profession, four words have the power to change your results instantly: It’s not about you.
The finest leaders understand that by putting others first and adopting a service mindset, they can improve their communication and connection, establish trust, deepen relationships, and build business.
17. Learn to be more charismatic
Charisma is more than being engaging or witty. We’re attracted to those who truly listen to us, who give us their undivided focus and leave us feeling seen and heard, those who dare to be vulnerable and who genuinely want to connect and share and treat us with respect and kindness. And in return, we offer our unwavering attention and trust.
At its essence, charisma isn’t just about your likability or ability to tell a good story. Instead, its real power has less to do with you and everything to do with how you make others feel.
18. Focus on attention and trust
Seth Godin suggests that “the currencies of anybody who wants to make change happen right now are attention and trust. And they’re in a virtuous cycle. You don’t get attention unless you’re trusted. You don’t get trusted unless you get attention.”
Kindness and respect ultimately earn attention and trust. You can demonstrate both by differentiating between good and bad attention (something that aligns with your beliefs and will be positively received), not trying to game the system (don’t use a power play to try to influence people), and by being generous (not selfish, expecting something in return).
19. Become an excellent listener
Sir Richard Branson sums up his leadership credo in five words: “Listen more than you talk.”
The benefits of listening are numerous. Active listening demonstrates respect, builds trust, and makes people feel valued. It creates a virtuous cycle: we naturally gravitate toward those who listen to us, and when we feel heard, we open up and share. Active listening also allows leaders to learn about things both good and bad, so they can discover new ideas and opportunities as well to as detect—and get creative about solving—potential problems when they’re still in their infancy.
20. Embrace the power trifecta
By focusing on clarity, consistency, and discipline, you’ll improve your communication, enhance your thought leadership, and bolster your personal brand.
When you’re clear, everything becomes easier. People understand you, what you offer, your value, what differentiates you, how you can help them, and how they can assist you. Clarity helps others know, like, and trust you. Having clarity also enables you to align your goals with a plan to achieve them—and stay away from the things that can derail you.
Consistency is about aligning and maintaining your “voice” and look and feel in all your communications. It’s the way you present yourself, the way you sound, the way you write, all of the visual and verbal touch points. So much so that people come to expect—and anticipate—your specific point of view and unique perspective. Whether you realize it or not, you send a message to the world about who you are and what you’re about. Rather than make your consumers, customers, and clients guess who you are and what you stand for, make sure to communicate your intended message by maintaining consistency.
Without discipline, you run the risk of trying to be all things to all people. And doing so lowers your competitive advantage and waters down your offering. Worse, people won’t know what to think of you (if they think of you at all). Instead, focus on what you do best, and let the other things fade into the background. Promote those one or two areas in your wheelhouse and your expertise in helping others so that your name becomes synonymous with those skills. In this way, restraint can be your biggest ally.
21. Take action—now
Taking action is the one surefire antidote to combat career anxiety, doubt, and fear. Action begets more action. When you use awareness to make action an intentional habit, you train yourself to continue to take action. Over time, those small behavior changes creatively shake things up and breathe new life into old methods and routines. And combined with focused action, that newfound clarity will bring you something even better: success. ..................
The Department of Employment of Labour has called for comment on a new minimum wage target for South Africa in 2022.
Under the National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act, the National Minimum Wage Commission annually assesses and reviews the minimum wage. The minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, then determines an adjustment based on these recommendations.
While the government has argued that the national minimum wage can be used as a tool to lift more South Africans out of poverty, businesses have warned that further hikes would be untenable and lead to additional job losses.
Nxesi introduced the most recent minimum wage adjustment for South Africa in March 2021, taking the current total to R21.69 for each ordinary hour worked.
As in previous years, the adjustment provides exceptions for several worker groups, including:
Farmworkers are entitled to a minimum wage of R21.69 per hour;
Domestic workers are entitled to a minimum wage of R19.09 per hour;
Workers employed on an expanded public works programme are entitled to a minimum wage of R11.93 per hour.
The new recommendations
The majority of commissioners recommended that the national minimum wage be increased by 1% above inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI).
A minority recommended that the national minimum wage be increased by 1.5% above inflation as measured by the CPI.
All commissioners also recommended that the minimum wage for domestic workers be equalised to the national minimum wage in 2022, in line with a decision taken in 2021.
While the final totals would still need to be confirmed by labour minister Thulas Nxesi, this would take the minimum wage closer to R23/hour and see domestic workers earn a minimum wage of more than R20/hour for the first time.
Impact on businesses?
The National Minimum Wage Commission has acknowledged legitimate concerns about the impact of the annual national minimum wage adjustments on employment in the country.
The national minimum wage adjustment also coincides with the current Covid pandemic, making it difficult to evaluate and isolate the impact of an increase in the national minimum wage.
Given the current economic climate in South Africa, the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown, and the recent losses due to violent looting in mid-2021, an increase to the NMW would be catastrophic to businesses and the economy in general, the National Employers Association of South Africa said in an October report.
“In a country such as South Africa, which is already struggling with unprecedented rates of unemployment, extreme poverty, over-burdened employers and business owners, and a veneer-thin trust in the government and its ability to care for its most vulnerable citizens, and unaffordable NMW will completely maim the already crippled economy, leaving employers, business owners, their employees and their dependents destitute.”
If employers cannot afford an increase, they will have no other choice but to reduce working hours or retrench their employees, it warned.
“What government seems to fail to understand is that when one employee is retrenched, it is not only that employee who suffers. In South Africa, we live in a dispensation where one worker is generally the only income generator in a family of four or five people. This means that they would all suffer the consequences of that one employee’s retrenchment.”
The fact that an employer may not appoint a person at a rate below the minimum wage, even with the consent of such a person, robs a potential employee from earning at least some sort of living and condemns him to a life of abject poverty, Neasa said.
“It would behove the government to reconsider its future stance on increasing minimum wages and take heed of the employers’ objections to increases. Their focus should be the avoidance of catastrophic future economic implications for the country and the rise of unemployment.
“It is time for the government to take a critical view on all the legislative measures, of which the NMW is only one, and determine which deters employment.”
by Sara Prosdocimi Tag: #GTL2021 #futureofwork #labourmarket
The aim of ADAPT’s 2021 international conference was to examine the contradictions of the current labour market, trying to deconstruct them in order to rethink the value of work.
On the second day of the conference, through some legal, economic and sociological reflections that go beyond mere juxtapositions, an attempt was made to bring to the fore the economic and welfare dimension, to understand today’s meaning of work and to define “Work and its value (the institutional perspective)”, thanks to the contribution of Ilaria Armaroli (ADAPT), Bettina Schaller (WEC), Stijn Broecke (OECD) and Christina Behrendt (ILO).
Ilaria Armaroli focused on the role of industrial relations in the value of work: in particular, it was underlined how most problems of current labor law have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the issues of the disputes upon markets and work can be traced back to the creation, redistribution of the value of work, and industrial relations, therefore, sought to solve these dilemmas. Actually, as Doellgast, Bidwell and Colvin argued in 2021 “The field of employment relations involves the study of employment, with a focus on how labor and management combine to create value and negotiate over its division, as well a show people experience the workplace”. Again, recalling J. W. Budd’s famous conceptualisations of work, industrial relations have served for a long time to release work from being just a curse, a necessary burden for human survival and maintenance, and a commodity, an abstract quantity of productive effort which can be bought and sold in the market. Because, as Polany said “labor is only another name for a human activity which goes with life itself, which in its turn is not produced for sale but for entirely different reasons, nor can that activity be detached from the rest of life”. In this sense, Armaroli underlined why it is so important to find new ways to assess the economic value of work and, at the same time, to acknowledge, respect and preserve different types of works such as reproductive and domestic work, and so to use the industrial relation as an instrument to solve the problems about the redistribution and the value of work.
Bettina Schaller (World Employment Confederation) started her speech from some insides of what the labor market looks right now. The question that she poses is: are we witnessing a “great resignation”? Actually, 41% of employees are considering leaving their current employer, quit rates are rising in levels never seen in years before and the trend which is recognized all over the world seems to be scarcity. Some 69% of employers report 2 difficulties in hiring, a factor which is fascinating because shortages are affecting all sectors, all industries all looking for workers right now. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the labor markets not only looking at the shortages happening, but also considering the effects of restrictions in working migration, or savings up made by workers that no longer want to return to working position with the same conditions as previously.
Of course, unemployment rates are not captured in their full extent by the pandemic restrictions on the labor market: at a global level, it is estimated that 70% of the global loss working force during the crisis is attributed to people becoming inactive (people who lost their work and are not actively searching for new jobs).
What keeps people away from work? Is it only a matter of choice, willingness, labor markets? It has been noticed that the value of work, the work-life balance now-a-days play a central role and boundaries between work and “life” are becoming more and more blurred. Money is no longer the only motivation to find a new job: the focus is on security, value, autonomy, flexibility. But also employees are expecting more from their workers, for example wellbeing, professional development, management.
Schaller affirmed that, perhaps, it is better to talk about great revaluation instead of great resignation.
Against this backdrop, another question is how HR services industry can create more value: many are the answers, such as supporting the transition to new economies; driving social purpose and social innovation, creating value by guaranteeing rights for workers; simplifying the increasing labor market complexity; acting as a solution provider in terms of risk management; delivering intermediations and making jobs markets working (creating value by contributing to economic growth).
Again, in this framework, different workers are involved: Stijn Broecke from OECD focused on group of workers who are highly valuable but are not highly valued, those who are vulnerable in some ways and have not the right recognition and protection. And, once more, the frame of what are the sources of vulnerability is very wide.
Firstly it is important to talk about the classification of the employment status of some of these workers: are they employees or self-employed? Referring to them in one way or in the other means different levels of regulations, protections, social protection, factors such as minim wage, holidays, the right to switch off, unionisations and collective bargaining and so on. To act in this issue of misclassification it necessary to make it easier or less costly for workers to challenge their employment status, or to allow labor authorities or union to take cases to courts or to act in prevention throughout inspectorates.
Secondly, strictly linked to the classification issue, it must be recognized that some workers do “live and act” in this “grey zone”. For this reason, it is important to identify groups of vulnerable self-employed workers to whom deciding which labor rights and protection must be extended and adapted; and, where necessary, to clarify and assign employer duties and responsibilities in order to fully protect those workers
Worker shortages have become an established challenge in labour markets and the Covid-19 pandemic has now exacerbated the situation by prompting a “Great Resignation”. But what is keeping workers from the labour market? And what is the value of these missing workers to our society and economies?
Certainly, the pandemic has led people to reflect on their lives and priorities. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index finds that 41% of workers are considering leaving their jobs and as unemployment rates fall, resignation rates are rising to levels not seen for years1.
Hiring is at a record high but so are difficulties in finding staff according to 69% of employers across 43 countries2. Pandemic-related factors such as fear of catching the virus and restrictions in worker migration have obviously had an impact, but labour markets have been tight for many years and data suggests that they show no signs of slowing. Meanwhile, over the past two years, labour force participation has fallen more than unemployment rates have risen. It is estimated that 70% of the global unemployment loss during the pandemic is due to people not actively seeking new employment having lost their work.
For a growing number of people this has been a conscious decision. They have realised that life is precious and want greater work/life balance. Many believe that their job prospects will improve in the future and are falling back on savings until the right opportunity comes along. When people decide to respond to a job offer, money is no longer the main factor. Security, employer values, purpose, opportunities to progress, autonomy and flexibility are increasingly important. Four in five workers don’t want to lose the flexibility they have enjoyed over the past two years and two in five are considering moving to a more flexible job.
And it doesn’t stop at flexibility. Less than 50% of workers are satisfied with their current career prospects. They want more in areas such as well-being, professional development and perks and expect their work to make them happy. Perhaps it’s not so much a Great Resignation as a Great Re-evaluation of what work means.
In the future, if employers are to attract the talents they need, they are going to have to take this into account and look to meet worker expectations. This is where the HR Services Industry has a role to play. In several ways, we can create more value in the world of work for everyone – individuals, society and businesses. We are committed to achieving this by supporting transitions to new economies, driving social purpose and social innovation, simplifying labour market complexity, providing risk management solutions and delivering responsible intermediation.
Let me give some examples. The OECD estimates that half of all adults are not engaged in adult learning, and the pandemic together with digitisation has amplified this. Millions of workers around the world take advantage of training schemes offered by our industry and, as the need to move to new occupations and sectors increases, so our career management and guidance services will become increasingly critical too. Job-to-job transitions are on average 30-50% faster when a career management firm is involved3.
Our industry is critical in keeping people attached to the labour market. 72% of agency workers remaining employed having started out with a job in the industry and the sector is effective in bringing unemployed and inactive people into the labour market – particularly for young people, a segment that has suffered disproportionately from the pandemic.
Accessing social protection has proved a particular challenge for some categories of workers during Covid-19. When it comes to accessing benefits such as unemployment pay, sick pay and health insurance, some gaps remain between employees on open-ended, full-time contracts and other types of employment relationships. In our sector, we havelong advocated for similar levels of protection for all workers, irrespective of their employment status, and we have developed various schemes that serve as best practice models. For example, agency workers often benefit from sectoral supplementary provisions to top-up their access to benefits, with social partners engaging in collective bargaining and developing sector funds and solutions such as portable rights to improve access to safety nets, training funds or schemes to improve access to health insurance.
Our industry also contributes to economic growth, by creating formal jobs and thus lowering unemployment. It provides an early indicator of where the economy is heading and most recently saw positive growth in Q1 2021 signalling a turning point, even though the year-on-year figures were still negative.
In sum, Covid-19 has accelerated the deep transformations already taking place in our labour markets. With expectations changing, the value of work is changing too and the HR services industry has a vital role to play in helping people and organisations adapt to new realities and redefine the value of work.
@beschabo