The Trouble with Ethics

"All that is required for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke

You know, sometimes we discuss or learn about a topic for what seems to be forever. You tend to just go through the motions to get the "credits for the course", or you do it because it is the new "buzz-word" in the profession to be talking and focussing on.

This particular topic to me, is Ethics.

I think to give those of you reading this entry today, a visual of just how underwhelmingly indifferent I use to be to this topic, I suppose I need to take you back a few years...

In 2000, the year of the end of the world as we now it, where my childhood mostly involved trying to "bunk" history and maths class by slipping away during second break to listen to the latest pop music playing on the radio, I was mixing with some of the more shall I say "liberal" kids in school. One break-time we all sneaked out to the tennis courts to have cheeky little cigarette. It was amazing, that rush of adrenaline - I think I've always kind of enjoyed the dangerous side to life since then. But in anyway, I am getting distracted. The next minute we see about 5 or 6 matric guys coming our way at one helluva pace. It turned out to be 6 prefects, and naturally all 6 would be in the first team rugby squad at Grey as well... #myluck

The next minute all I remember was being pushed & punched to the floor. Let's just clear one thing up now, I was a total nerd at school - I smoked because of peer pressure, I think I hung out with the "bad-boys" so they won't beat me up. Back to the story, needless to say we nearly got suspended but instead we were not allowed to wear our ties with our school uniform for the next month. I don't know what was worse, I use to be able to simply hide below the radar - but not wearing a tie in an-all boys school of roughly 800 pupils, you kind of stand out like a sore thumb. I felt terribly "embarrassed" - almost as embarrassed as what I felt this week for not taking ethics in the workplace more seriously.

As I am typing this I am thinking how exactly I was planning on tying this childhood story with the topic of ethics today? Oh yes, that's right. It was to convey two significant feelings I recently experienced in the week about Ethics. They are "embarrassment" and "flabbergasted" (yeah, I checked - it is an actual word #lol).

I think the intensity of the embarrassment I felt that day at the tennis court, walking around school with no tie, seeing the teachers' disappointment in their faces - that's what I want you to feel if you're not taking ethics in your business more seriously. But it's the second feeling, the feeling of being "flabbergasted" about it, that shook my world hard enough in order for me to write about it today. The importance of ethics approached me like a "gorilla tactic soldier", it literally came out of nowhere and it smacked me in my face. And the hard part is, once your mind's open to it - it can't close to it again. It can not be undone.

You know the saying, the "penny has dropped"? Well that's how my experience with ethics this week has been. I've learnt about a company called WorldCom, who, up to the mid 2000's was the worlds 2nd biggest telecoms company and whose top management literally caused the demise of this multimillion dollar corporation due to their lack of business ethics. The "goss" is, (let's face it, we all love a bit of goss), that the financial guys committed fraud by over-valuing their assets, stocks & shares by about $12 billion. WorldCom's bankruptcy filing in 2002 was the largest such filing in U.S. history. The WorldCom scandal is regarded as one of the worst corporate crimes in history, and several former executives involved in the fraud faced criminal charges for their involvement. Most notably, company founder and former CEO Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and former CFO Scott Sullivan received a five-year jail sentence, which would have been longer had he not pleaded guilty and testified against Ebbers.

Alas, I eventually realised that it's the Ethics, the things we do at work when no ones watching, that is so important. How we treat our staff, our stakeholders and business partners. Are we honest in our daily interactions with our customers & suppliers?

Look, I get it - "we all live in glass houses", and in no way am I saying I can always distinguish between what's right and whats wrong. What is legal and what's not legal. The beauty is of course sometimes even when something is illegal, it can be ethical... Consider the case where you run a traffic light or speed, even though this action is illegal, it can be an ethical issue if it's someone's life that was depended on you getting them to the hospital as quick as possible.

Ethics is like Carma - you reap what you sow. I also feel there may be a lot of businesses in PE that feel they can't be doing business in an ethical manner all the time due to the increasingly tight and volatile market we find ourselves in. Whether it may be short-paying staff below the thresholds of collective agreements set at the bargaining councils or selling a product that may not be working as well as it should. I get it, we all need to make a living. But the aim of this entry is to get people to slowly change their perceptions - to realise that creating an ethical business climate will positively, unconditionally and rewardingly lead to better prospects and ultimately a better financial position for your business.

Start off by drafting your Code of Ethics Policy today. This will underpin your core values of your business and serve as a road map for the future of its success.

By Ruaan Kriel de Andrade - Contact us today to help you with your code of ethics policy. info@enigmahr.co.za WorldCom Source: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/worldcom.asp

Numsa vows to fight against any limitations on right to strike

EWN reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has vowed to launch mass demonstrations against the state if limitations are put on the rights of workers to strike.  The union concluded its international symposium of left parties and movements in Benoni this weekend.  Numsa's general secretary Irvin Jim raised serious concerns about labour reforms proposed by the state and supported by the ANC and said any forced arbitration would be rejected.  "We must fight and reject the limitation of the right to strike that Gwede Mantashe wants to introduce," he stated.  Jim blamed economic instability in SA on what he said has been two decades of anti-working class policies from government.  He claimed the reason why investors have become hesitant to come to SA was not because of labour problems but rather the policies implemented by the post-apartheid administration.

Top 10 Mistakes Managers Make Managing People

Avoid the Top 10 Mistakes Managers Make

By Susan M. Heathfield

Many managers lack fundamental training in managing people. But, even more importantly, managers lack thevalues, sensitivity, and awareness needed to interact effectively all day long with people.

Skills and techniques are easier to teach, butvalues, beliefs, and attitudes are much harder to teach - and harder for managers to learn. Yet, these are the underlying issues that will most make managers successful - or not.

How important is it to help managers succeed? Beyond description. Managers and how they manage their reporting staff set the tone for your entire business operation. Managers are the front line representation of your business.

The majority of communication about the business is funneled through your managers. When employees resign, the top reason for their resignation is their relationship with their manager. People leave managers, not jobs or employers.

Select Managers for Managing People

In a job description for a manager, core job functions, traits, and abilities are listed. With this as a guide, manager selection should focus on both the management skills and the candidates'cultural fit.

Within the cultural fit component of your interview and selection process, a candidate for a manager position must demonstrate that he or she has beliefs, values, and a work style that are congruent with those of your organization.

In a people-oriented, forward looking organization, you'll want to select managers who exhibit these characteristics.

• Value people


• Believe in two-way, frequent effective communication and listening


• Want to create an environment in which employees are empowered to take charge of their jobs


• Able to hold people accountable and responsible without punitive measures


• Demonstrate leadership and clear direction


• Believe in teamwork


• Place the customer at the center of their reason for existence and regard reporting staff as customers

Mistakes Managers Make Managing

With all of this in mind about managers, preventing management mistakes and dumb decisions is paramount for a successful organization. Do you want to become a better manager? Here are the managing mistakes you most want to notice, prevent, and avoid.

• Fail to get to know employees as people:Developing a relationship with reporting employees is a key factor in managing. You don't want to be your employees' divorce counselor or therapist, but you do want to know what's happening in their lives. When you know where the employee is going on vacation or that his kids play soccer, you are taking a healthy interest in your employees' lives.
  
  Knowing that the dog died, expressing sympathy, or that her daughter won a coveted award at school make you an interested, involved boss. Knowing employees will make you a better manager, a manager who is more responsive to employee needs, moods, and life cycle events.


• Fail to provide clear direction: Managers fail to create standards and give people clear expectations so they know what they are supposed to do, and wonder why they fail. If you make every task a priority, people will soon believe that there are no priorities. More importantly, they will never feel as if they have accomplished a complete task or goal.
  
  Within your clear expectations, if you are either too rigid or too flexible, your reporting employees will feel rudderless. You need to achieve an appropriate balance that allows you to lead employees and provide direction without dictating and destroying employee empowerment and employee engagement.


• Fail to trust: When managers don't trust people to do their jobs, this lack of trust plays out in a number of injurious ways. Micromanaging is one example. Constant checking up is another. Treat people as if they are untrustworthy - watch them, track them, admonish them for every slight failing - because a few people are untrustworthy. Are you familiar with the old tenet that people live up to your expectations?


• Fail to listen to and help employees feel that their opinions are valued. Active listening is a critical management skill. You can train managers in listening skills but if the manager believes that listening is a way to demonstrate that he or she values people, training is usually unnecessary.
  
  Listening is providing recognition and demonstrating your values in action. When employees feel heard out and listened to, they feel important and respected. You will have much more information when you daily open the flood gates.


• Make decisions and then ask people for their input as if their feedback mattered. You can fool some of the people. but your best employees soon get the nature of your game and drop out.
  
  Along the same lines, create hierarchical permission steps and other roadblocks that teach people quickly that their ideas are subject to veto and wonder why no one has any suggestions for improvement. Enabling people to make decisions about their work is the heart of employee empowerment and the soul of employee engagement. Don't throttle them.


• Fail to react to problems and issues that will soon fester if ignored. Managers have a habit of hoping that an uncomfortable issue, employee conflict or disagreement will just go away on its own if they don't provoke it or try to resolve it. Trust me. It won't.
  
  Issues, especially among people, just get worse unless something in the mix changes. Proactive intervention from the manager tocoach and mentor, or to make sure employees have the skills necessary to resolve the issue, is imperative. Drama and hysteria do interrupt productivity, motivation, and employee engagement.


• Trying to be friends with employees who report to you. You can develop warm and supportive relationships with employees who report to you. But, you will have difficulty separating the reporting relationship in a friendship. Friends gossip, go out together, and complain about work and the boss. There is no room for their manager in these kinds of relationships.


• Fail to communicate effectively and withhold important information. The best communication is transparent communication. Sure, some information is company confidential. You may have been asked to keep certain information under wraps for awhile, but aside from these rare occasions, share what you know.
  
  Being a member of the in-crowd is a goal for most employees and the in-crowd has information - all of the information needed to make good decisions. Ask for feedback, too. Ask people for their opinions, ideas, and continuous improvement suggestions, and if you fail to implement their suggestions, let them know why, or empower them to implement their ideas themselves.


• Not treating all employees equally. You don't necessarily have to treat every employee the same, but they must feel as if they receive equal treatment. The perception that you havepet employees or that you play favorites will undermine your efforts to manage people.
  
  This goes hand-in-hand with why befriending reporting employees is a bad idea. Employees who are not in your inner circle will always believe that you favor the employees who are - whether you do or not. This perception destroys teamwork and undermines productivity and success.


• Throw employees under the bus. Rather than taking responsibility for what goes wrong in the areas that you manage, blame particular employees when asked or confronted by executive leadership. When you know the responsibility is ultimately yours if you are the boss, why not act with dignity and protect your employees? When you blame employees, you look like an idiot and your employees will disrespect and hate you.
  
  Trust me. They will find out and they will never trust you again. They'll always be waiting for the other shoe to fall. Worst? They'll tell all of their employee friends about what you did. Your other staff members will then distrust you, too.
  
  Your senior managers will not respect you either. They will question whether you are capable of doing the job and leading the team. When you throw your employees under the bus, you jeopardize your career - not theirs. And, it won't remove one iota of the blame from your shoulders.

Best One Word Ice Breaker

My Best One Word Ice Breaker

My Favorite Simple Opener for Meetings and Training Classes

By Susan M. Heathfield

Need a quick, no preparation ice breaker that works like a charm to break the ice in a meeting or training session? Highly adaptable, this ice breaker leads the participants right into the content of your meeting or training class. Here is my one word ice breaker and my suggestions about how to endlessly adapt this ice breaker to your participants' needs.

One Word Ice Breaker Steps

1. Divide the meeting participants into groups of four or five people by having them number off. (You do this so that your participants get to know fellow attendees. People generally begin a meeting by sitting with the people they already know best, when your goal is normally team building across a group.)


2. Tell the newly formed groups that their assignment is to think for a minute and then to share with their group the one word that describes X. In my first venture with this ice breaker, I was leading a session about organizational culture. So, my request of the group was that they think about their current culture and come up with one word to describe it.
   
   This ice breaker helps the group explore their thoughts on a common issue. This ice breaker is a perfect segue into the topic of the meeting or training class. The group was fascinated with the variety of the words chosen. Consequently, the ice breaker did provide a snapshot into the current thinking of the group about their culture. (The group's one-word culture descriptions ranged broadly: funky, family, fun, bipolar, fractured, cohesive, inspiring, and motivational are samples of their chosen words.)


3. This ice breaker sparked spontaneous conversation in every group as the participants questioned each other about the meaning of their one word. They asked for examples and found that the combination of the participants' chosen words did describe their current organizational culture.


4. Upon completion of the initial spontaneous discussion, ask the participants to share their one word with the larger group. Ask for a volunteer to start and then, ask each participant to share their one word that described their culture. (Even your most quiet participants were comfortable sharing their word.)


5. Next, after the participants have listened to the variety of words from the larger group, ask them to explore several questions in their small group. In this instance, asking each participant to select one word to describe their organizational culture, I then asked these follow-up questions.
   
   --Is this culture consistent across buildings and departments?
   
   --Is this the culture that you want to have in your organization? Does this culture support the accomplishment of the environment you desire for employees and the accomplishment of your company goals?
   
   Your opportunity for follow-up questions is endless. These debriefing questions can support the content of your training class or meeting.


6. Debrief the ice breaker by asking for a volunteer from each group to share a point or two that highlighted their discussion. (I noticed that many session attendees took notes.)


7. Because participants are almost always your best source for laughter and fun, each of these steps generated remarks, insights, ah-has, and examples.


8. Upon completion, move into the rest of the material you have prepared for the session.

This one word icebreaker takes 10 – 15 minutes with the initial enthusiastic, unstructured discussion that the ice breaker generates. Total time will depend on the number of additional questions that you ask the group to discuss as part of the debrief of the one word ice breaker.

More Applications of the One Word Ice Breaker

While I developed the one word ice breaker for the above described session about organizational culture, the applications of the one word ice breaker are limited only by your imagination. Here are a few ideas for adapting the one word ice breaker to your needs.

• Session about teams: what is one word that you would use to describe your team?


• Session about communication: what is one word that you would use to describe the effectiveness of your communication?


• Regular weekly meeting: what is one word that you would use io describe how work is going for you this week? Or, in one word, describe your most significant challenge this week.


• Managing up session: in one word, how would you describe your relationship with your boss?


• Session about empowering employees: what comes to your mind first when you think about empowering employees?


• Class about performance management: what is one word that describes your current employee appraisals?

Platinum strike has knocked economy to its knees

Ntsakisi Maswanganyi and Karl Gernetzky write that SA’s costliest and longest strike brought the economy to its knees in the first quarter.  Some economists are warning of a recession as there is still no end in sight to the 18-week wage strike on the platinum belt.  It has now spilt over into the second quarter, with mines in Rustenburg crippled in April and May.  That spans the first two months of the second quarter, strongly suggesting that economic data for the period will disappoint.  These factors, coupled with constraints such as disruptions to the electricity supply and a slow roll-out in infrastructure spending, are weighing on growth.  A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contracting economic growth.  SA’s last recession, caused by the aftershocks of the global financial crisis, was in 2009.  A 24.7% contraction in mining and quarrying — the biggest contraction in almost 50 years — saw economic growth falter in the first quarter.  Manufacturing also fell.  Renaissance Capital economist Thabi Leoka said a recession was possible given that the strike had not yet been resolved.  But, Econometrix chief economist Azar Jammine said a recession was only possible if the strike at platinum mines continued for "the rest of the year".

• Read more at BDLive

Solidarity says withdrawal of racial equity regulations a step in the right direction

Trade union Solidarity on Tuesday welcomed the Department of Labour's reported undertaking to scrap racial regulations in the draft Employment Equity Act (EEA) regulations and said this was a step in the right direction.  The regulations, published in February this year, stipulated that employers employing more than 150 employees may only use the national race demography when appointing persons to the top three management levels.  Solidarity said implementation of those provisions would have meant that coloured persons in particular, but also many white, Indian and black persons inevitably would have had to relocate in order to find jobs.  According to Dirk Groenewald, Head of Solidarity's Centre for Fair Labour Practice, it seemed as if the provisions in the regulations dealing with the mirroring of the national demography would now be withdrawn.  “At the moment, we are trying to obtain official confirmation of the withdrawal as well as of the full new wording the codes are to assume.  We are still keeping options open for legal action after having undertaken earlier this year to fight the provisions in question right up to the highest courts.”  Groenewald commented: ‘It seems as if the huge public pressure brought to bear by Solidarity and others against the codes made the department rethink the matter.”

• Read Solidarity press statement at Politicsweb

Edgars gears up for job losses

Sowetan reports that the axe is about to fall on workers at Edgars.  Retail group Edcon last Thursday sent a circular to employees of Edgars telling them that the group's bottom line was under pressure and that the company had instituted steps to retrench staff.  Staff in Edcon's other subsidiaries, including Jet and Boardmans, will, for now, not be affected.  Edcon's Urin Ferdale said in the circular that over the last year the company had engaged in various initiatives valued at R61m to prevent job losses.  These included reduction in total travel and transport, communication expenses, rental and leasing charges.  He wrote that the job cut process will "result in a reduction of head count in the identified stores as per the approved staffing blueprints."  It is expected to last until 13 May.  Store managers and administration managers in all stores will survive the axe, as will "brand specialists, cellular sales and administration, cosmetics specialists, visual staff, and drivers, among others - will not be affected."  All other store-based staff will be affected, but numbers have not been confirmed..  The company has undertaken to consult with the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) through a facilitated process at the CCMA.  

Strike-hit platinum producer Amplats warns of restructuring

Platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) warned on Monday that a nearly month-long strike at its SA mines could lead to further restructuring, raising the spectre of more job losses.  The firm said its strike-hit Rustenburg and Union mines were "in the most marginal financial position" and that "if the industrial action continues for much longer, we cannot rule out the need for further restructuring to ensure the long term sustainability of those mines."  The company did not specify what measures could be taken, but before the current strike the company had already announced job cuts running into the thousands.  The firm claimed the strike over wages, which started on 23 January, was costing about R100m, or 4 000 ounces of platinum each day.  Workers are demanding the doubling of their monthly basic wages to R12,500.  Last year the company, which is 80% owned by Anglo American Corporation, embarked on a massive restructuring scheme that affected around 7,000 jobs, after initially eyeing double such cutbacks.  The firm later said it had reduced the retrenchments to 3,300, then announcing that the workers had instead been given voluntary separation packages.

• This report is at Fin24

Amendments to the Employment Equity Act Explained

RESIDENT ASSENTS TO THE AMENDMENTS TO THE EMPLOYMENT EQUITY ACT, 1998

By Lauren Salt, Associate, Employment, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

On 14 January 2014, the President assented to the Employment Equity Amendment Act, No 47 of 2013, which was subsequently published in Notice R16 in Government Gazette No. 37238 on 16 January 2014.  While the Act has been assented to and published, it has not yet come into operation as the President is still required to determine a date on which this will occur.

The Employment Equity Amendment Act marks the first amendments to the Employment Equity Act, 55 of 1998 since it became effective in 1998.  The Amendment Act amends various sections of the principal act.  However, the following amendments are most noteworthy –

1  Amendment of the definition of "designated groups"

A revision of the definition of ‘‘designated groups’’ is proposed in order to ensure that beneficiaries of affirmative action in terms of Chapter III of the EEA are limited to persons who were citizens of South Africa before the democratic era, or would have been entitled to citizenship, but for the policies of apartheid, and their descendants.

This amendment will have the result that the employment of persons who are foreign nationals or who have become citizens after April 1994 will not assist employers to meet their affirmative action targets. This change is consistent with changes that are to be made to the Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No. 53 of 2003).

2  Amendment of section 6 – Expansion of Discriminatory Grounds

The amendment to section 6(1) seeks to clarify that discrimination is not only permitted on a ground listed in that section, but also on any other arbitrary ground. This change, however, creates consistency with the terminology used in section 187(1)(f) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995), that prohibits discriminatory dismissals.

3  Insertion of new sections 6(4) and 6(5) – Work of Equal Value

A new section 6(4) has been introduced in order to deal explicitly with unfair discrimination by an employer in respect of the terms and conditions of employment of employees doing the same or similar work or work of equal value.  A differentiation based on a proscribed ground listed in section 6(1) or any other arbitrary ground will amount to unfair discrimination unless the employer can show that differences in wages or other conditions of employment are in fact based on fair criteria such as experience, skill, responsibility and the like.

In terms of section 6(5), the Minister of Labour will be empowered to publish a code of good practice dealing with criteria and methodologies for assessing work of equal value.

4  Amendment of section 10 - Jurisdiction of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration

Under the Principal Act, all unfair discrimination claims fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Labour Court.  However, the Amendment Act amends section 10(6) to allow parties to the dispute the option of referring the dispute for arbitration in the CCMA under the following circumstances:

(a) an employee may refer the dispute to the CCMA for arbitration if the employee’s cause of action arises from an allegation of unfair discrimination on the grounds of sexual harassment;

(b) lower-paid employees (those earning less than the earnings threshold prescribed under section 6(3) of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997 (Act No. 75 of 1997)), will be entitled to refer any discrimination claim to the CCMA for arbitration;

(c) any party to the dispute may refer the dispute to the CCMA for arbitration if all the parties to the dispute consent thereto.

However, the maximum award that the CCMA can make in respect of damages will be an amount equal to the earnings threshold referred to above. A person affected by an arbitrator’s award in a discrimination case will be entitled to appeal to the Labour Court.

5  Amendment of sections 59 and 61 and Schedule 1 - Penalties

The Amendment Act increases the maximum fines that can be imposed for criminal offences contemplated in sections 59 and 61 from R 10 000 to R 30 000.  In addition, it is proposed that the Minister should be empowered to adjust those fines in order to counter inflation, without the concurrence of the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.

An employer’s turnover may be taken into account in determining the maximum fine that may be imposed for substantive failures to comply with the EEA.

6  Amendment of Schedule 4 – Total Annual Turnover Threshold

The EEAA increases the total annual turnover threshold that an employer must exceed in order to be classified as a designated employer.

This means that some employers that were obliged to comply by virtue of their turnover will no longer have to do so. Employers that employ 50 or more employees will still be regarded as ‘designated employers’ irrespective of their turnover.

Employers are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the changes to the Employment Equity Act. In addition, employers should ensure compliance with the amendments to avoid the hefty penalties in place.  The Department of Labour has indicated that they are going to clamp down on enforcement of the provisions of the Act, which should be incentive enough for employers to start getting their proverbial ducks in a row, while the President determines the date on which the amendments will come into effect.

To download the amendment Gazette – click this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uh7gvxjc7jjd90/EEA%20Amendment%202014.pdf

Cosatu criticises increase in minimum wage for farm workers

The Department of Labour's minimum wage increase of 75 cents per hour for farm workers was still far from meeting workers' demands, labour federation Cosatu said on Tuesday.  "This latest increase needs to be seen as just another small step in the march towards an acceptable income for farm workers," spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement.  "This is still far from meeting the farm workers' demand during the 2012 strikes for a minimum wage of R150 per day (R4562.50 a month), which remains a justifiable target," Craven stated.  The department indicated on Monday that farm workers would earn a minimum hourly rate of R12.41 from 1 March 2014.  Craven said a 2013 Employment Conditions Commission report, commissioned from the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, stated: "Even at a much higher wage of R150 (a day), large numbers of farm workers' households would not have a sufficient income to meet their basic need".

Major taxi routes in Joburg to be shut down on Monday over permits

Kingdom Mabuza reports that major taxi routes in and around Johannesburg are expected to shut down on Monday as the National Taxi Alliance embarks on a protest that will leave thousands of commuters stranded.  Alliance spokesman Theo Malele said the government's failure to issue operating licences to taxi drivers in a timely fashion rendered them prey to e-tolls.  "Sanral and the government claim that we are exempt from paying e-tolls and yet they know that almost 80% of taxis do not have operating licences.  The government's refusal to issue operating licences means it is rendering our operations illegal on the roads," Malele said.  He added:  "From Monday, we are going to take over the highways and drive past the e-tolls without paying."  But the South African National Taxi Organisation has refused to join the protest, stating that, while there were problems with permits, it believed they would soon be resolved.

• This report is at Times Live

Numsa plays host to the disaffected of the tripartite alliance

Natasha Marrian writes that National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) gatherings have become a meeting place of the disgruntled. Formations and individuals at odds with the ruling ANC and its allies are coalescing around the union, as it forges ahead with its decision to form a United Front, a precursor to a possible workers' or socialist political party to contest future elections. Suspended Cosatu boss Zwelinzima Vavi is the most prominent of the disgruntled, landing deeper in hot water over his public addresses at Numsa events. Suspended SA Democratic Teachers Union president Thobile Ntola is also often greeted warmly by Numsa delegates. Former ANC provincial executive committee member and Limpopo finance MEC David Masondo, who was axed in a wide-spread shake up of the provincial government, introduced a discussion on "Marxist Theories on the Role of the State" at Numsa's political school this week, and chaired a number of sessions thereafter. Marrian says this could be a microcosm of what Numsa's United Front would represent, when it gets off the ground.

Sun International restructuring could see 1700 jobs affected

Business Day reports that almost a quarter of Sun International's workforce in SA could be affected in a restructuring effort to bolster slack profits, the gaming and hotel operator announced yesterday.  It has a local staff contingent of about 7,180 and about "1700 positions could be affected" if the process were to go ahead.  The company acknowledged it was experiencing increasing pressure on revenues along with growing operating costs.  Pallavi Ambekar of Coronation Fund Managers said the restructuring proposals were not entirely unexpected after a management shake-up that saw the appointment of Graeme Stephens as CEO last year.  The SA Commercial Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) said the union would issue a detailed response tomorrow.

• Read this report on page 13 of Business Day of 30 January 2014
• See too, 'Sun International: 1700 jobs could be affected', at Moneyweb

Nafcoc: Unemployed youth a time bomb

Chantelle Benjamin reports that Joe Hlongwane, speaking on behalf of the National African Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) at the M&G's 20 Years of Economic Transformation Conference, said that unemployed youth was a time bomb and the only solution was the development of a SMME champion in the form of a minister to drive the process.  "If we cannot find a way to assist the school-leavers and university graduates and find a way to give them jobs, then you are creating a time bomb," he said.  Hlongwane contended that the major problem with black economic empowerment was that "we did not concentrate on building companies from the bottom up, instead we bought into existing big business.  There is no focus then on building the BEE sector."  He indicated that SA needed "to improve the institutional frame work for SMME development, everything is frustrated by the silo approached by government.  State organs are not talking to each other and I believe that this can be solved by the appointment of a SMME ministry."

• Read more at Mail & Guardian

Sasco aims to prevent university students from registering

The South African Students Congress (Sasco) will be attempting to block students from registering at universities across the country from today.  This forms part of a mass protest the student body is launching over its dissatisfaction with the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).  Sasco president Ntuthuko Makhombothi said on Sunday that the protest was over debts owed by the scheme to the universities and a lack of funds for new students.  The problems have resulted in a number of students who have been accepted to study at universities and who qualify for funding being blocked from registering.  Makhombothi said: "There will not be any registration that will happen in the universities until all students can register."  He said it was a matter of solidarity.  The general student strike is due to happen at all universities and college campuses and it will be coupled with protests at the Department of Higher Education and Training in Pretoria and the NSFAS offices in Cape Town.

• Read this report on page 2 of The Star of 27 January 2014
• Read too, 'Sasco calls for mass strike', atIOL News
• And also, 'Students funding threat', on page 5 of Sowetan of 27 January 2014

Leave/Tracking Tool

The leave or tracking took can be very valuable for any business. 

Read below more on the "why" and "how" on this tool and download a complimentary template of this tool to start using in your business today. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9brnvq8g1b8nbnf/2014%20Leave%20Planner%20Template.xls

Why do we use this tool?

1. This is a simple, yet very effective way of keeping track of every employees' usage of the 4 types of leave we generally deal with. 
2. It makes it easy to visually depict who is on leave, especially in situations where only 1 person per area is allowed at a given time. It also assist with curbing the confusion with how many days a person has used or has left for their annual leave entitlement.
3. Furthermore, it enables your HR business partner to monitor the usage of sick leave trends that may be used in disciplinary matters pertaining to dishonesty or abuse of sick leave and even incapacity cases.
4. Most importantly, this is a working tool and someone must take responsibility for keeping this on track – depending on the size of your unit or business, you may need to ensure you keep this updated weekly or monthly. 

How do I use this tool?

1. Print a sheet for every employee. 
2. Next to the year, there is space for the employee's name.
3. Get yourself 3 highlighters and a black marker – preferably, yellow, red and green. 
4. Use the indicators at the top to highlight the block in the appropriate colour when people are either on: 
1. Annual leave (AL)
2. Sick leave (SL)
3. Family responsibility leave (FL)
4. Unpaid leave (UL)
5. Keep the sheets in a HR file, where you normally would put employee records such as warnings, time sheets and leave applications forms. 
6. You can either separate the file according to employee name, or per area, ie. (leave applications forms, or Leave Tracker, etc)

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@enigmahr.co.za