In discussions around Employment Equity, Affirmative Action is usually the first thing that springs to mind. However, the truth is that Affirmative Action is only a small piece of theEmploymentEquity puzzle.
Merusha Singh, recently appointed Skills Development Facilitator at Progression, unpacks the purpose of South Africa’s Employment Equity legislationas well as the various elements involved in its implementation. In this article she highlights the role of the Employment Equity Committee, the value that it adds to the implementation of the EE Act within the organisation as well as some of the challenges that it faces.
To set the tone, I think it is important to take a brief look at the key drivers behind the introduction of Employment Equity into our country’s legislation. Prior to South Africa becoming a democratic state, laws dating back to the colonial and apartheid times excluded black people from fully participating in the South African education system and labour market. To bring this to an end, the Constitution was put in place, giving everyone the right to equality. However, government was aware that a shift to equality would not take place immediately and therefore made provision for legislation that would assist in achieving complete equality. The Employment Equity Act is a direct result of this realisation.
What is Employment Equity?
The purpose of the Employment Equity Act, as laid out in the Act itself, is to “achieve equity in the workplace, by a) promoting equal opportunity and fair treatment in employment through the elimination of unfair discrimination; and b) implementing affirmative action measures to redress the disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups, to ensure their equitable representation in all occupational categories and levels in the workforce.”
Read more: The Importance of Employment Equity and its Implementation
South African labour law is all about fairness, and internal company processes have to measure up. However, when fairness and operational demands clash, good intentions tend to go out the door.
It has been a familiar drum beat in the South African business environment that the cost and effort imposed by the country’s labour laws in respect of employee-issues, have become prohibitive to conducting business. Many a clever scheme have emerged in an attempt by companies to divest themselves of these responsibilities - usually involving a third party such as a labour broker or a service provider.
Although there has been a big clamp down on labour brokers (temporary employment services) in terms of the recent amendments to labour legislation, the practice of ‘contracting in’ labour is still rife and open to abuse. Particularly so under the guise of service level agreements between client companies and service providers – and impacting as much on skilled and professional employees as on the more vulnerable lower earners.
The dilemma is this: the client company
BY lvan lsraelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan @labourlawadvice.co.za.
2015 saw a number of painful strikes including the Post Office strike.
In the interests of averting the disaster that strikes can cause the parties need to understand their effects and remedies.
The employer is likely to lose money due to delayed service to clients or to lost production time. The employees will lose their pay due to the no work, no pay principle. If the strikers are dismissed they will lose their livelihoods altogether.
Once the strike is over, even if the business has not been closed down by it,
In today’s business world, having a motivated workforce that can carry the business forward, while maintaining the integrity of the business, is vital. Yet organisations are facing the challenge of an aging workforce that leads to the question “How can we sustain a business and cultivate the next generation of CEO’s, HOD’s, line managers etc. that will lead the business successfully into the future?”
Ali Tambellini, Training Manager at Progression, unpacks the importance of mentorship in the workplace and why growing employees at a human level is good for business.
I recently attended a mentorship workshop that Progression offers to clients who are embarking on a Skills Development programme where learners are typically new to the workplace and have little or no workexperience. We often come across scenarios in which the employer and learner are unable to establish that critical relationship that is so often the decider in the success of a programme, so I felt that it was important to highlight some of the critical elements involved in mentorship relationships and what we should be doing to develop them.
What is workplace mentorship?
To begin, we need to look at the definition of mentoring: the informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the mentee).
In the workplace, the mentee (the student or the learner) gains knowledge from the mentor with the hope of developing skills and capabilities within the work environment. The mentor (the teacher) is someone whose expertise within the business environment places them in a position where they are able to impart
While I have heard complaints about incompetent CCMA commissioners I have had the pleasure of presenting cases before some highly competent arbitrators
Uncertainty as to whether or not you will have a competent arbitrator presiding over your case is bad enough. However, if you also arrived at the CCMA without labour law expertise you are doubly weak. That is, if the arbitrator is weak and you are strong in labour law you may well be able to help the arbitrator see that light. But if your own knowledge is also bad you are a sitting duck for your opposition’s legal representative.
Due to the fact that ignorance of the law is no excuse employers
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