HRI
courage under fire
It’s time to rebuild HR National lockdowns, introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, forced new ways of working and communicating – and required HR teams to move away from their traditional role of a support service, to that of leadership and reassessing the function’s value proposition to business.
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BY THANDO PATO
he HR Indaba Conversation, which focused on rebuilding and reevaluating HR policies and procedures, was a unique opportunity for attendees to gain insight into Vodacom’s repositioning and rebranding, from a technology company to a major player in the fintech sector. Vodacom Business sponsored the conversation. Vodacom South Africa executive director Njabulo Mashigo took delegates through the thought process at the start of the session, before handing the stage to a stellar group of panellists who discussed the rebuild that HR leaders are currently working with. There was unanimous agreement that 2020 was a year that changed the face of HR, with the pandemic forcing new ways of working and
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communicating, and HR teams moving away from their traditional role of a support service, to that of leadership. In some instances, HR departments took over the traditional role of line managers as they introduced and implemented Covid-19 policies. Panellist Vicky Tlhabanelo, human resources executive at Royal Bafokeng Platinum, said, “We need to hand our [temporary] custodianship back to our customers, especially line managers. We cannot just be implementers.” She was one of three HR executives who spoke on how companies could rebuild and move away from operating in survival mode – 18 months after lockdown entered the average person’s vocabulary. Panellists agreed that it was time for businesses to overhaul their
