Lia

by Lia Marus The chronic skills shortage we're experiencing in this country is making it very difficult to retain one's staff because recruiters and other companies are hungrily preying on those who have those skills which are in such short supply. Company loyalty has become a thing of the past because of the tough economic times we find ourselves in and employees will go to the employer who pays the most. Is it possible to retain one's employees for a protracted period of time? If so, how much money would you have to throw at them to get them to stay? It's not all about throwing money at people, says Malcolm Rabson: owner of Dariel Solutions. He's pondered – at length – the problem of how to retain staff members in his company and has come up with a number of solutions that have worked well. People want to do work that means something to them They've interpreted 'meaningful work', says Rabson, as work through which the employees will be able to grow and acquire more experience or new skills. To make this a reality, it's necessary to have good leadership in your organisation. "By valuing people and building effective teams, we've realised that people need excellent leadership. If this leadership is absent, the chances of the employee seeing that their work is meaningful are very slim." How do you develop leadership in your organisation? Rabson says that they've found themselves in the situation where they've promoted individuals in their company to be team leaders but although they are very good at – coding, for example – they don't have the skills they need to lead a team. To overcome this problem, they performed some market research to see what types of leadership courses there are available. They found a leadership course at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) and have sent some of their staff members on this. The company has given other staff members a coach to help them develop their leadership skills. Don't try to …

by Frew Murdoch Today, South African business faces a variety of human resources-related challenges, from workforce instability and talent management strategy through to regulatory compliance needs. "Perhaps the most significant of these challenges," says Anja van Beek, HR director at Sage VIP, "lies in aligning the company's people, with the vision of its leadership and the culture of the company." In this context, what are the most important qualities that HR directors need to possess and what are the challenges they face? What are the challenges that HR directors face in SA businesses? "Today's competitive business environment means that CEOs, HR directors and other members of the executive suite are focusing - more than ever - on the retention and development of their people," says Van Beek. "This isn't just about finding people with the raw skills and talent to work for the business but also seeking, developing and retaining people with the right cultural fit and interpersonal skills to thrive in the business." Else Pule, HR manager at Eskom, believes the skills shortage is the main challenge "The first challenge faced by HR directors in South African businesses is the issue of skills. There has been a lot said about skills in South Africa yet there is no coherent view about what the issue around skills actually is. "The issue of the shortage of skills is not only a South African phenomenon; the whole world is facing a skills shortage. Getting skills from other countries is not sustainable, which means that in South Africa, we need to get to some consensus on how we interpret 'the shortage'. In this way, we will then be able to spearhead solutions that actually solve the real problem." The next challenge facing HR directors is the need to cut down on recruiting costs "The time spent writing job descriptions, repeatedly posting job advertisements and the accompanying costs, the subsequent industrial relations processes arising from …

In the opinion of Andy Preston - global authority on cold calling and new business sales techniques - one of the biggest mistakes recruiters make is focusing more on recruiting for positions than on attracting clients and candidates. “We’ve got to stop thinking about recruitment and start thinking about selling, persuading and influencing. And this is one of the biggest challenges I’ve seen with recruiters all-over the world. Recruiters look internally - with blinkers on,” he said. The other mistake is not differentiating themselves from other recruitment providers. So are recruiters fighting a losing battle or is there something they can do to make themselves stand out? Recruitment is one of the toughest sales jobs out there because you’ve got to sell on so many fronts at the same time, e.g.: Firstly, you’ve got to sell the client into letting you help them to source candidates, The candidate must then be sold on the client, and Most importantly, you need to sell the client on the candidate. The difference between candidate-led and sales-led recruitment A great many recruiters practise candidate-led recruitment, i.e. they contact corporates with a sales pitch that goes something like this: “I’ve got this great candidate. Do you want to see him/her?” In the short term, this approach is ok because it will probably get your candidate the job. However, it won’t help you in the long term because if your track record with a particular company is based on the quality of candidates you provide, your track record could be superb at one time but if you happen to put forward a not-so-great candidate, your good track-record with that company suddenly means nothing. However, if you follow a sales-led approach with your clients, and focus on the relationship you build with them rather than the quality of your candidates, a little mistake won’t hurt your relationship. The client is more powerful than ever before During the recruitment process, the HR …

The topic of this year’s convention held by the Institute of People Management, was HR inspiring the new revolution. If we think about the ‘new revolution’ as a global organisation, the key challenge for us is about productivity and how we can get more out of the resources we have. In this highly competitive world, the only way we can continue to compete is by increasing productivity. How can you do this? The only thing, says Mike Fraser: president of human resources at BHP Billiton, that can positively impact a company’s productivity is its leadership; how well they “walk what they talk” and how they manage the talent that flows into the business. “Really effective succession management and leadership development processes have to be grounded in, for example, high performance and sustainable transformation. Organisations must be aware that the only way you can deliver on high performance and productivity is through people and the only way you get people engaged in this journey is through effective leaders who listen as much as tell,” he said. How to manage talent in your organisation and groom future leaders 1. Identify talent early In a large organisation, there are a lot of positions that need to be filled. As part of the management structure in such an organisation, you need to recognise this when you think about developing leadership talent in the company. This means you must focus on the bottom end of your talent pipeline to make sure you’re getting the right people into your organisation. Two very successful ways of doing this is through: Graduate recruitment, and Having a formal graduate development programme. 2. Keep a look-out for talent in your organisation Identifying existing talent in an organisation is a leader-led process. HR can support the company management and give them the tools to push them to have these talent conversations, but ultimately this is the leader’s responsibility. 3. Manage your talent pipeline …

The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) provides short-term relief for workers when they become unemployed or can’t work because they are ill, need to go on maternity leave or have just adopted a child. It even goes beyond this by paying relief to the dependents of contributors who’ve died. Read on to discover more interesting facts about UIF. Must all employees contribute to the UIF? No, only those who work 24 hours or more per month and domestic workers must contribute to the UIF. These employees don’t have to contribute to the fund: People who work less than 24 hours per month, Public servants, Someone who is employed on a learnership, People who only earn commission only, and Those who enter SA to take up a learnership, apprenticeship or job offer (i.e. if it wasn’t for one of these three, they wouldn’t have come to SA) and have to leave the country when the work period expires Must all employers contribute to the UIF? Yes, if you employ any person and in return pay them in cash or in kind. As an employer, it is your responsibility to register your business and deduct UIF contributions from your employees’ remuneration. If you don’t do this, you will heavily penalised either with a: A fine, A prison term for up to 12 months, or Both. What is remuneration? Remuneration is the money an employee receives from an employer, e.g. in cash or in kind (housing, food, etc.). This includes overtime and bonuses. You must base your employees’ UIF contributions on all the remuneration you give him. All allowances - such as travel, food and accommodation allowances – are also remuneration. How much must you contribute to the UIF? You must contribute the amount equal to 1% of your employees’ monthly remuneration and you must deduct 1% off his monthly remuneration. You must pay both of these amounts to the UIF. For example: Joe employs John. John earns R1 000 per month. Joe must deduct 1% of the R1 000, which is R10, which he will pay to the …

We are a culturally rich country with equally diverse workplaces. I love the spirit of inclusivity we’ve fostered in SA but it doesn’t come without its problems. A big stumbling block that immediately comes to mind is the issue of the lack of effective communication in our companies. Do you recognise these archetypical employees in your organisation who you need to kick back to communication 101? I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your office down! Beware of the arrogant employee who bursts into your office and immediately, with all guns blazing, starts shouting at you, volubly demanding why you’ve taken a particular action when, in previous discussions, you two ‘agreed’ something completely different (more often than not, huffy twists things around to suit himself). Don’t, whatever you do, start shouting at this person with equal velocity or, worse still, break down into tears of frustration. This won’t solve anything as, more than likely, it will encourage huffy to keep on going. Rather, let him say what he needs to say so he runs out of steam and then, when he’s finally winded, state your side of the story. Don’t even attempt to try and play the same underhanded game he’s spent years perfecting – chances are very good that you won’t win. I’m going to stick my feet where they don’t belong There’s another sneaky employee – I like to call her big foot - who will try to manipulate another employee – her non de plume will be Taylor Swift - to do what she wants. However, the tragedy is big foot gets away with her lies and manipulative acts because Taylor believes that big foot is her friend and she is ‘looking out’ for Taylor. The scary part is that when BF has a vendetta against another employee, she will use Taylor against that person. If you’re in the unfortunate position of being on the receiving end of a BF special, don’t react to them emotionally! If needs be, wait until you have calmed down and are able to deal with them unemotionally and …

Performance management, execution and delivery are crucial moments for any organisation, says Helene Vermaak, clinical psychologist and co-founder of The Human Edge. Crucial moments are periods when you experience inappropriate behaviour and if you do the right thing in these moments, it will significantly impact on your results and relationships. Conversations during these moments are sensitive, emotionally charged and risky. Unfortunately, many tend to shy away from having conversations at these times because they are emotionally unpleasant and difficult. But if you don’t have these crucial conversations, you could risk irreparably damaging your organisation… There are two types of crucial moments that we all face – either in our organisations or personal lives: 1. Moments of disagreement: The question we ask ourselves during these is: “Am I going to speak up and speak out because I know that if I don’t speak out I will act out?” 2. Moment of disappointment: During these moments, you need to ask: “How do I deal with those moments of disappointment?” You need to identify these crucial moments because, nine times out of ten, there is a crucial conversation that you need to have when these moments occur. How do you handle crucial conversations in your organisation? There are two ways people handle crucial conversations. They resort to ‘violence’ or ‘silence’: • Violence can be: - Controlling behaviour, - Labelling, i.e. where we put certain labels on people and try to manipulate them through these labels, - Verbal attacks, and - Physical attacks (in extreme cases). • Silence is when you clam up and don’t interact with the person you’re having a problem with. To ensure a successful outcome in a communication situation, all participants in the conversation need to get to a place where they feel safe to let their guard down. In other words, everyone needs to have the same goals in mind for the interaction. It is crucial for everyone to be on the …