INSIGHT, ENGAGEMENT, CONVERSATIONS & COMEDY AT HR INDABA LIVE

From a thought-provoking keynote and insightful sessions to comedy, the HR Indaba was an impactful conference, bringing together thousands of HR professionals from across the continent.

BY NOMAHLUBI SONJICA

The 2022 HR Indaba, which took place at the Sandton Convention Centre on 18 October 2022, kicked off with a gripping keynote address by then Barloworld group executive: people and transformation Tantaswa Fubu, who unpacked what the role of a post-Covid-19 leader should look like.

In her speech delivered at a packed main stage, Tantaswa shared how Covid-19 had changed organisations, and the type of leadership required to deal with challenges has also changed.

“They require a humble leader. We need to find our humility,” she said. “We need vulnerable leaders, because if you are vulnerable, you are giving permission to the people you lead to be vulnerable too. We need to understand the importance of the role of other stakeholders. We need to take care of the first things first. Let us show the future what is possible. We cannot have leaders who cannot tell stories,” she said.

The HR Indaba was also an opportunity for partners to showcase their products at the colourful stands they had erected. There were also awesome prizes up for grabs, including a trip to Mauritius.

With 40 topical sessions, hosted by some of South Africa’s leading HR professionals, and a wide array of exhibitors, attendees were spoilt for choice – resulting in a few heated debates among colleagues deciding which sessions to attend.

Why people leave

During the Great Resignation session, which was one of the most sought after sessions at the HR Indaba, S’ne Magagula, CHRO at Tiger Brands, Sthembiso Phakathi, Deloitte’s director: human capital practice, and Kutlwano Rawana, chief of people at Rectron, took the audience on a journey of how they retained employees – and some high performers who had left, also returned.

S’ne said, “We’ve become a hunting ground in South Africa for small companies that are looking for talent. Our attrition levels were increasing. We saw it climb more than six percent compared to the previous two and that's when we knew we had a crisis looming.”

She added, “Data is our friend. We did an analysis of why we were losing people, and who we were losing them to. We were losing our skilled employees.”

Some of the reasons people were changing jobs, S’ne said, was that they are looking for flexibility. Most are looking for better opportunities elsewhere. “We started having deeper conversations on why people were leaving and what kind of opportunities they were looking for. We had deep conversations with people about their aspirations. We encourage our leaders to have the right conversation around talent.”

S’ne also shared that their company has been on a culture transformation journey for three years now. “There’s a big focus on creating conditions for people to perform at their best. We have a clear purpose, which is nurturing lives. We do a lot of work understanding what drives people.”

At Tiger Brands, they have responded to people’s feedback in terms of what would make life better for them. “Could we make our products more accessible to our staff? We’ve since developed an online shop for our staff where they can shop and save between 40 to 50 percent. This is a direct response to what people have said.”

Kutlwano revealed that she does not believe the Great Resignation is a bad view after all. “Is it a bad thing if the skill you have developed needs to grow and they have reached the ceiling in your organisa- tions? People need to grow even if they grow outside the organisation,” she said.

“The crisis is when they leave and you have not built enough succession. We need to focus on the strength of skills we have in the organisation. Organisations need to focus on high performance and developing skills,” Kutlwano said.

Workforce mobility

Sthembiso noted that their research showed that people who are younger are looking for different things.

“People are motivated by different things to work. We need to reward them. The Gen Zs and millennials are looking for autonomy and interesting work that is going to evolve. Jobs should evolve,” Sthembiso said.

He said at Deloitte, they believe people need to move to spaces where they can thrive. “Workforce mobility is good. Research shows if you can notice people when they disengage, interventions are critical. Our leaders are not trained to pick those patterns. With hybrid work, it is difficult to pick up if a person is disengaged. We need to ask the right questions.” Once employees are disengaged, it is difficult to re-engage them, Sthembiso pointed out.

He contended that the Great Resignation is a good thing, but when people leave when they are upset, they don’t talk positively about their former employer. “Once they leave when their work is no longer fulfilling, they will say bad things about your company. We want high performers to leave our business so that they are good ambassadors.”

S’ne said she subscribed to the idea of catching people while they still want to shape the DNA of the organisation. “It all stands and folds on leadership. We have a big role as HR professionals in terms of leading our leaders to be better connectors to our talent and activists. You need to act on the feedback you get and be open to changing what needs to be changed. It’s the leaders who are going to change things,” S’ne said.

Renowned South African comedian Joey Rasdien wrapped up the amazing conference by keeping everyone in stitches with his quirky jokes. This was also the time when guests took time to unwind and enjoy a drink.

Workday and Sage were the diamond partners of HR Indaba Live