People Dynamics - July 2017

WWW.IPM.CO.ZA JULY 2017 VOL35 NO.6

ORGANISATION-OF-THE-FUTURE TOPPING LEADERSHIP CONCERNS Tour of Duty Compact In Employment Contract Out? MANAGING MILLENNIALS

AN OXYMORON? Intellectual Property

Don’t be caught napping

Leadership Spotlight

#IPMACE2017 J O U R N A L

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T H E

I N S T I T U T E

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P E O P L E

M A N A G E M E N T

CONTENTS

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12

19

8

14

Leadership

4

Change invasion

7

Human capital research

8

HR Trends worth thinking about

12

Modern workforce

14

Diversity management

19

Technology & the World of Work

20

Corporate reputation

22

Multigenerational workplace

24

Organisational effectiveness

26

HR & Intellectual Property

28

Legally Speaking

30

Employment Law

32

24 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

30

Legally Speaking

Very little in employment law is fait accompli, and the pursuit of justice doesn’t have to stop at the arbitrator’s decision.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Legally Speaking

31

THE ARBITRATOR’S DECISION IS NOT ALWAYS FINAL By: IVAN ISRAELSTAM, Chief Executive, Labour Law Management Consulting

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ither party to an arbitration can take the arbitrator’s conduct on review to the Labour Court if they are able to prove that the arbitrator, in making his/her award, has materially broken a rule thereby committing ‘misconduct’.

Arbitrator ‘misconduct’ can and does occur in many different forms including, amongst others, bias, interrogation of witnesses, failure to keep records, ignoring of evidence, refusal to allow a party the right to question witnesses or bring evidence, failure to apply his/her mind, misconstruing of evidence, overstepping his/her authority and failure to consider statutory provisions.

An arbitrator cannot make a fair decision if he/she fails to take into account all of the material evidence placed before him/her.

In the case of Crown Chickens (Pty) Ltd vs Kapp & others (2002, 6 BLLR 493 LAC) the arbitrator found that the employee had not called a colleague a “kaffir”. However, the Labour Appeal Court found that the arbitrator had, without good reason, rejected the evidence of two witnesses whose evidence indicated that the employee had called his colleague a “kaffir”. The Court therefore overturned the decision of the arbitrator, found the employee’s dismissal to have been fair and ordered the employee to pay the employer’s legal costs.

In the case of Prince vs CCMA and others (2005, 2 BLLR 159) the employee was fired for stealing money collected from car park pay station. The CCMA arbitrator found that the employee had been involved in the theft and upheld the dismissal. The Labour Court found that the employer’s evidence had been sketchy and contradictory and that the CCMA commissioner’s award finding had not been based on the facts. The employer

was required to reinstate the employee with 44 months’ back pay plus interest.

The employer was also ordered to pay the employee’s legal costs.

In an unreported case (Number JR 1606/04) the employee was reprimanded by a manager for failing to phone in while absent from work. The employee left his employment, went to the CCMA and claimed that he had been dismissed. At the CCMA the employer denied that the employee had been dismissed and brought substantial evidence to show that the employee had been instructed to return to work.

During the arbitration hearing the commissioner frequently cross examined the employer’s witnesses and made remarks deriding the evidence of those witnesses.

The arbitration award, which was in favour of the employee, failed to take into account the evidence brought by the employer.

The employer took the arbitrator on review to the Labour Court claiming that the award failed to take the facts into account and that the arbitrator was biased. The Court found in favour of the employer and found the dismissal to be both procedurally and substantively fair.

Parties therefore need not give up if they truly believe that, on the proven facts, they were short changed due to irregular conduct on the arbitrator’s behalf.

However, even if the aggrieved party has evidence of arbitrator ‘misconduct’; it is difficult to persuade a court judge that this evidence amounts to solid proof meriting the overturning of the award. In the unreported case described immediately above the employer used proper labour law expertise in order to prove its case. Failure to use such expertise would most likely to have resulted in the employer losing the case.

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CEO’s message

ED’S NOTE T

he multi-generational workplace brings in an interesting challenge for managers and executives, because of diverse employee expectations and factors of engagement and satisfaction. Georgina Barrick brings some insights on the topic (page 24 - 25), as does Tony Frost’s article (page7) which addresses change attitude among a different generation.

The Deloitte Human Capital Trends study (page 8 -11) supports Frost’s idea of multicareers and the abandonment of traditional

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

retirement age, stating that ‘the concept of a career is being shaken to its core as employees now face the prospect of 60year careers’. The Deloitte research points to Organisation of the Future as being the primary global management concern, with digital consideration increasingly playing a central role in organisational modeling.

As can be expected, among top five human capital management concerns in South Africa is Diversity and Inclusion. Whereas global focus areas are age, religion and sexual orientation, South African executives are still addressing race and gender aspects of diversity, according to the study. That is why, in considering leadership development interventions, Letepe Maisela (page 4 -6) advocates the consideration of universal leadership principles while paying attention to a localised, contextual application.

Talking of local applications, there is much interest in the adoption of international standards and practices, yet in the field of employment law, global differences in worker profile and legal systems make it imperative that one keeps abreast of developments in a South African context. For this reason, IPM hosts monthly case law updates where different legal experts host a round table and field questions on organisation specific applications. Tricky situations such as ones highlighted by Ivan Israelstam (page 30 - 31) are also tackled live, with the option of oneon-one private consultations.

We have enjoyed increased interaction from you and always welcome your input on how to make your People Dynamics experience more enjoyable. We also thank you for the warm welcome and well-wishes that you extended to the IPM acting CEO, Dr Jerry Gule, whom some of you have made time to meet personally.

We hope that you have secured your seats to every seminar, workshop and round table that you want to attend as part of your continuing professional development for 2017. If not, you had better visit (page 16-17) for the selection and advise us of what we may have omitted that would benefit you and your team. Also, remembering the People Management calendar highlight, we hope you are ready! We are referring to the internationally-acclaimed IPM Annual Convention whose Early Bird rate has been extended for those who made the requests upfront due to financial year-end constraints.

We hope you are looking forward to the wealth of trend information, insights, wisdom and the networking that this unique event affords you.

People Dynamics is the monthly journal of the Institute of People Management (IPM). The IPM is dedicated to the effective development of human potential.

In terms of fast-emerging global challenges, it is critical to champion the strategic role of human resources and to acknowledge that both development and management are catalysts for growth. In the spirit of progress and support, the IPM provides members with effective leadership and access to appropriate knowledge, information and the opportunity to network with key local and international players.

People Dynamics provides a forum for debate and discussion on all issues affecting HR practitioners in South Africa, the African continent and beyond.

People Dynamics is distributed to all members of the IPM and to other key decision-makers in the industry.

To receive People Dynamics regularly and enjoy additional benefits – including discounts on HR-related services and professional networking events - contact Welile Mabaso on welile@ipm.co.za.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the IPM. ISSN No - 1019-6196

AFRICAN HUMAN RESOURCES CONFEDERATION

CEO’s message

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“Between a rock and a hard place” – A call for Visionary, Proactive and Responsive Leadership

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lobally, leadership is under siege from all fronts. Not only do countries have to contend with climate change, natural disasters and political instability, the VUCA effects impose their own challenges economically and financially. In South Africa, we have to deal with our share of social issues around inequality, poverty and unemployment.

At the heart of these three issues is the low aggregate of talent development in the country. While access to institutions of higher learning offers more people the opportunity to gain quality education, this has not yet translated into a meaningful economic return for the country. Graduates still have to look for jobs in a deflated market, without the ability to create opportunities themselves or synergise with businesses in the community.

Also, while government has created some channels to develop, equip and fund small enterprises, most of these have choked in the face of advanced competition and tough economic climate, and have relied on government contracts rather than find new markets to grow the pie.

In a gesture to eliminate segregation and group areas act, metropolitan areas opened up to all citizens, shining a beacon of hope for scores of youth whose future would otherwise

have been confined to the homelands. The challenge came with the mass migration that became overwhelming to city infrastructure, having government dividing focus and attention between accommodation of millions of work immigrants who needed homes in the cities, and upgrading infrastructure in rural areas to ensure that the quality of life is uplifted to offer opportunities for decent living earned from diversified sources including small industries.

The premium that government has had to pay for suppliers to service rural areas, however, has been such that the scale of development has been far from meeting the demand. Also, a lack of appropriate resources to maintain rural community projects has seen these reduced to rubble, resulting in billions of government expenditure showing sub-par benefit and returns, to the extent that scores still have to be carried by social development programs.

In addressing economic inequalities, government launched the black economic empowerment policy, accompanied by legislation that makes it possible for thousands of people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds to get a foothold into meaningful economic participation. Whether BEE beneficiaries have been insightful enough

Be part of those with a will to succeed and courage to lead change in their own areas of control – no matter how ‘significant’.

to cascade opportunities to those who may not have had direct access remains to be answered. A view is that government has given birth to a monster – a materialistic animal whose focus is on self-gratification without any thought given or plan being devised to systematically uplift those at the back of BEE beneficiary line. With sadness, one observes how some jet-setters with capacity to care for sick or disabled family members, find it convenient to entrust their care to overburdened government facilities.

These issues and the developments of the last few months call for some soul-searching, and may have cast some doubt about South Africa’s prospects of pulling itself out of the tight spot that our leadership finds itself in.

Yet, out of the millions who inhabit this country, no doubt lies potential for responsive and responsible leadership, emanating from a significant collection of great minds and healthy consciences who have the will and the courage to make ground-breaking decisions to turn the tide.

It is a certainty that South Africa shall emerge victorious.

Allow us to show you where our conviction stems from, at this year’s IPM Convention themed: Proactive, Responsive & Visionary Leadership, with subthemes spanning Ethical Leadership, HR Governance, Risk Management, Organisational Culture and Engagement.

Be part of those with a will to succeed and courage to lead change in their own areas of control – no matter how ‘significant’. Let’s meet on the 19th -22nd of November at Emperors Palace. Secure your seat today.

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Leadership

LEADERSHIP

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Leadership

Today’s corporate smart-talk is about leadership – effective leadership.

Management is no longer an issue, it is taken as a given. While management skills could be garnered through some stint at a Business School, it requires more than books to become a good leader.

BY: LETEPE MAISELA, Author – Survival in the Corporate Jungle

But what is leadership?

Steven Covey, Management guru and author of the best selling ‘7 Habits Of Highly Effective People’ defined leadership as ‘a choice and not necessarily a position.’ What he meant is that one could be in a leadership position but fail to lead. Often leadership is associated with power – power to influence others. There is, however, a darker side to leadership. Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky in an article that appeared in the Harvard Business Review, June, 2002 pointed out to that ‘to lead is to live dangerously.’

They asserted that while leadership is often depicted as an exciting and glamorous endeavour, one in which one inspires others to follow through good times and bad times, such a portrayal ignore the leadership dark side such as ‘the inevitable attempts by some followers to take the leader out of the game.’

To that I could add: ‘the higher one ascends, the thinner the air becomes’ – ask any mountain climber.

In a work situation, subordinates or rival colleagues can make it their mission to sabotage a leader’s efforts; frustrate him out of the job or “help” make him ineffective that the Board ejects him out of the leadership seat.

What, though, is a leader, and what qualities are deemed ‘leadership qualities’?

In an Anthology of Leadership Theories compiled by Joseph and Jimmy Boyet, authors of ‘Beyond Workplace 2000’, both concluded that that leaders in their entire guise possessed one common attribute, which is ‘willing followers’. Thus it does not

matter whether you are talking about The Pope, Bishop Lekganyane of The ZCC, President Zuma or The Dalai Lama, they all have one common feature, which is, willing followers.

One central feature of a leader is ‘charm’.

In Management and Leadership textbooks, the likes of John Schermerhorn may refer to this charm as charisma. Charisma combines the leader’s positive influence and inspirational motivation that drive followers to places they otherwise wouldn’t go to.

In the workplace, we talk of leadership as ‘driving’ employees to levels of delivery they otherwise wouldn’t reach.

While these aspects may sound like attributes typical of an outgoing, eloquent person, it is fact that these qualities can be taught, learned and practised by any aspiring leader, no matter what their personality. This is because the success of a leader doesn’t always come from verbal expression. Leaders persuade others by action - walking the talk or, as a colleague would point out, “by what they put in place to make it easy or worthwhile for followers to stay on course”.

She goes on to assert that “effective leaders may even fade in and out of the picture, with followers empowered to take turns to lead the rest, as long as the leader has had the foresight to put the right mechanisms in place as ‘influence and motivation in action’.

You might have guessed it. Another quality of a leader is vision.

As the term spells it out, in order to lead, you have to know where you are going. You need to ‘see’ where you want to take your followers; to visualise the end state and let it motivate you to brave unchartered paths with them to get them there. Closely associated

5

to vision is foresight. While vision can be creative, daring and may not be reined in, foresight is vision with wisdom and insight attached to it.

Leadership has become a mature topic in South Africa. Many “gurus” are emerging since pioneers like Reuel Khoza had first put their thoughts to paper, and, collectively they are taking leadership out of cult status into a strategic imperative.

As expected, a South African version of leadership could not veer clear of diversity issues, particularly at the turn of the century.

When corporate sage Reuel Khoza wrote his first book on Leadership, he aptly titled it “Let Africa Lead”.

The book emphasizes on the need to develop home-grown leadership techniques.

In a Business Day article as far back as 21 August, 2002, Mpho Makwana, former Eskom Chairman, defined a leader as: ‘someone you opt to follow to a place you would not go by yourself’.

Makwana’s definition raises some key points on leadership. Firstly, a choice on the part of the follower, and secondly, it suggests bravery or courage on the part of the leader.

And yes, courage is another quality of a leader.

A leader has the courage to dream, to innovate, challenge and the courage, to tread on treacherous waters in pursuit of a vision or conviction.

Linked to courage is integrity.

Aside from integrity helping a leader to stay the course even when things get rough - to be true to his word and prove reliable and dependable, integrity also gives the leader the ability to admit when wrong or off-course; to retract, apologise and solicit wisdom among his followers.

While courage can help the leader venture or take a plunge, it is his integrity that helps him to persevere through tests that challenge his decisions, and to concede when his judgment is off and things need to change. He will own up, earning himself further trust from followers.

This type of quality is related to humility.

Humility as a leadership quality has been put at the heart of the ‘value-laden’, more modern types of leadership which include authentic leadership, servant leadership, transformational and transcendental leadership, all of which tend to be reciprocated by trust from followers.

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Leadership

The Leadership Enhancing Process

Most companies or organisations have identified a need and desire to develop leaders who are competent, motivated and equipped to fulfil the Corporate’s vision.

In particular, there is wide recognition that people are central to the success of an organisation. They also may be at the centre of an organisation’s downfall, particularly where people management and leadership is deficient.

For the most part, organisations have identified that the leadership process has to be congruent with the culture of the organisation. While Blanchard & Hersey’s principles of Situational Leadership apply, an organisation does well to be cognisant of the powerful aspects of value-laden leadership such as transformational and servant leadership as studied by researchers like James Sarros, particularly towards developing human capital for sustainability and competitive advantage.

Recognising something is one thing, PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

A “leader-employee” relationship is a key component for employee motivation. implementing is another. As we know, the best strategies have come to nothing when not executed properly. At the root of this is poor leadership, which loses followers somewhere between the visioning and delivery. Execution ‘requires discipline and commitment across the board and it also requires the right levers for motivation and engagement’. A “leader-employee” relationship is a key component for employee motivation. If The Hawthorne studies have taught the human resource executive anything, it is this fact.

It is for this reason that organisations develop strategic partnerships that

help them design and deliver a range of leadership development solutions that align with universal principles while addressing unique organisation-specific needs.

Your professional membership entitles you to sessions that can help you find those unique solutions and partnerships, ensuring that aspects of corporate strategy on sustainability, competitiveness, global alignment, local relevance and organisational culture are taken into consideration.

Different IPM member-partners are engaged for a glove-fit between organisation’s needs and experts’ specialisation.

Wellness

7

WHEN CHANGE INVADES Our world is constantly subjected to change. We are, according to the pundits, living the fourth industrial revolution, negotiating the age of Big Data, the Internet of Things and of Virtual Reality.

Not all change is welcome, at least at the outset, yet we learn of the dangers of dwelling on the negative.

BY: TONY FROST, Founder Sirocco Strategy

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t is said that there are only three certain things in life: Death, Taxes and Change.

This article is about change and preparing for the changes that we inevitably have to meet, confront and manage as we walk down this Valley called Life.

Preparing and embracing change is halfway to making it work for you instead of it becoming a bogeyman that seems like the enemy.

So where do we start?

Handling change is much more of a mental issue than a physical one.

Having said that, however it is essential that we understand that the old maxim of “A healthy mind in a healthy body” is particularly important in the context of change! So getting yourself into a routine of exercise is a very healthy and productive way to prepare yourself to deal with the pressures of change. Exercise produces the most excellent and healthiest happiness drug, serotonin, as a by-product.

So exercise away but just have a health check before you start if you have not exercised vigorously for a while.

Now that we have established that a fit, healthy body makes you better prepared and more resilient let us take a look at what else you could be doing to transport yourself happily into the new age that awaits us: • Try to get into nature as often as possible.

Apart from the fact that really clever companies are actively learning from nature and producing products that mimic what they have found in nature, nature has a wonderful way of reducing stress levels and creating an inner peace that is difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere.

• Surround yourself with positive people.

Dump those who are negative and can see no good in the world. This latter group will make you tired and depressed. Leave them to deal with life as they see fit, but they are no good for you. Be realistic but live with hope.

• Join or create a group that embraces the changes, that works hard at learning what it means and how best to embrace it and make it meaningful and exciting instead of daunting and scary. By immersing

“God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference” - Reinhold Niebuhr

yourself in this circle and cycle of learning you will see all sorts of new possibilities in the world that open up new opportunities for you and the wisdom you have developed during your life.

• Forget about the idea of retirement. And try to persuade your company to revisit their notion of retirement and retirement age. These are really outmoded concepts especially since we are living longer and with much health than ever in the history of the world, and this trend is unlikely to change. This will not necessarily mean that you continue doing what you are doing but it does mean that you are gearing yourself for a new career path doing something different, meaningful and useful.

Do not put these steps off for some future date because actually the future is right now!

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Human Capital Trends Research

Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report 2017:

Rewriting the rules

FOR THE DIGITAL AGE BY: VIRUSHA KALIDEEN AND GILL HOFMEYR: Director: Organisation, Transformation and Talent, Deloitte

“Dave Ulrich asserts that HR exists to serve the Business, leading to an assumption that HR is a reactive and responsive support function.

Strategic HRM, however is proactive, visionary and pre-emptive, thanks to research insights that aid the HR executive’s foresight”

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Human Capital Trends Research

Rank by Importance

South Africa 2017 importance score

Africa 2017 importance score

Global 2017 importance score

Organisation of the future

83%

87%

88%

Employee Experiene

83%

82%

79%

Talent Acquisition

81%

84%

81%

Careers and Learning

81%

86%

83%

79%

69%

85%

78%

78%

78%

79%

73%

75%

71%

66%

63%

33%

40%

Diversity and Inclustion

80%

Performance Management

80% 76%

Leadership

74%

Digital HR

71%

Peaple analytics

64%

The Augmented workforce

34%

Robotics, cognitive, computing

0

20

40

60

80

9

100

Figure 1: 2017 South African scores ranked by Importance: depicting the top human capital trends for South Africa, together with Africa and Global scores.

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he Deloitte 2017 Human Capital Trends report is the largest ever, with over 10 400 executives from 140 countries participated in the global survey this year, including 295 South African business leaders.

They all offered insights on the future of work and the human capital’s valuable role in shaping it. The theme for this year, “Rewriting the rules for the digital age,” reflects the strong conviction in 2017 that a “new set of rules” is required to make sense of our changing world. How do organisations prepare for the digital age? What does HR need to do differently?

Building the organisation of the future demands a team approach and talent-centric focus. CEOs and CHROs are struggling to reorganise around automation, employee-centric design, agility, and digital business models.

Preparing for HR in the digital age starts with digital transformation in HR. It involves HR leaders exploring new technologies, platforms, and ways of working.

HR departments today are under pressure to rewrite the rules by redesigning talent practices, from recruiting to leadership to performance management; by experimenting

with digital apps; and by building a compelling employee experience. All this must be done with a focus on redesigning the organisation around teams, implementing analytics and organisational network analysis, and driving a global focus on diversity, culture, learning, and careers.

The rating in importance of the 2017 trends, for South Africa, Africa and Global respondents is as follows: Highlighted below is a brief overview of the five most important trends: Organisation of the Future

Organisation of the Future was the number one Human Capital trend globally and in South Africa for 2017, ranked in order of importance. Why has organisational design swept to the top of the list as the most important trend in the Global Human Capital Trends Survey for two years in a row? The answer is simple: The way highperforming organisations operate today is radically different from how they operated ten years ago.

Globally many organisations are not

only imagining new organisations, they are actively building them. This picture is very different in South Africa, however, with only 11% responding that they are actively building the organisation of the future, compared to 19% globally. Only 6% of South African respondents rate their organisations as highly agile.

“Despite the need for change, many organisations continue to operate according to industrial-age models, weighed down by legacy structures, practices, systems, and behaviours that must be confronted and discarded before true change can take hold.”

- 2017 Global Human Capital Trends Report Interestingly, some sectors may be better predisposed to unlocking organisation flexibility than others. In our 2017 Global Human Capital Trends survey we found that technology sector clients are more open to thinking about new organisational models, including open talent networks, due both to the nature of the sector and to increasing competition for talent.

Figure 2: shows that only 36% of South African organisations rate themselves as agile OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

10

Human Capital Trends Research

50

Employee Experience

42% 40 30% 30

23%

20

Not agile

Somewhat agile

Agile

0

6%

Highly agile

10

Figure 2: How agile is your current organisation and culture?

25% 25

23% 18%

20

18% 15%

15 10

Purpose

Work

Rewards

Culture

0

Engagement

5

Figure 3: Your employee experience strategy

50 30%

30

Talent Acquisition

26% 18%

20

15%

10

No plans to re-evaluate our talent acquisition strategy and programmes

Updated our talent acquisition strategy and programme within the past 3 years

Updated our talent acquisition strategy and programme within the past year

State of development of your talent acquisition strategy

0

5%

Updated our talent acquisition strategy and programme within the past 5 years

40

Figure 4: State of development of your talent acquisition strategy Careers and Learning

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

As organisations shed legacy systems and dismantle yesterday’s hierarchies, continuous learning and finding the right people have both become critical for business success. Employees are leaders’ top priorities. Cultivating the employee experience, from the initial job application through retirement, is becoming more important as companies attempt to differentiate themselves from the competition.

In a digital world with increasing transparency and the growing influence of Millennials, employees expect a productive, engaging, enjoyable work experience.

Rather than focusing narrowly on employee engagement and culture, organisations are developing an integrated focus on the entire employee experience. This means bringing together all the workplace, HR, and management practices that impact people on the job. A new marketplace of pulsefeedback tools, wellness and fitness apps; and integrated employee self-service tools is helping HR departments understand and improve this experience.

“Through new approaches such as design thinking, employee journey maps, and employee net promoter scores, HR departments are now focusing on improving this complete experience.” - 2017 Global Human Capital Trends Report While 83% of South African executives have rated this as the second most important trend, globally, “Employee Experience” comes out as the fourth most important trend for 2017.

Figure 3 highlights that 25% of South African respondents believe that their employee experience strategy addresses engagement, while 15% believe that their strategy focuses on the organisation’s purpose.

A new breed of cognitive technologies is radically transforming recruiting, as talent sourcing and recruitment face tremendous pressure to create a compelling candidate experience and expand sourcing channels.

Predictive analytics also play an increasingly important role to conduct workforce planning, evaluate different recruiting sources, assess quality of hire, and use prehire assessments.

Talent, and the employee value proposition at financial services companies in particular, is morphing significantly. Analyticsdriven recruiting could make a big impact, especially in call centers where turnover is high, for example in insurance and retail banking support functions. South African organisations need to be able to

Human Capital Trends Research

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28%

25

25

21%

20

20

19% 16%

14%

15

20%

19% 13%

15

12%

11%

10%

10%

10

10

5%

Figure 5: Role of the learning department in your organisation

recruit for the organisation of the future by understanding millennial employees as well as what new skills are required for the digital age. Despite the importance of this trend, only 35% of South African organisations responded that they are currently reevaluating their talent acquisition strategy.

Figure 4 notes that 15% of South African respondents have no plans to re-evaluate their talent acquisition strategy and programmes.

The concept of a career is being shaken to its core. Employees now face the prospect of 60-year careers. Simultaneously, the half-life of skills is falling rapidly. These new realities are forcing companies to rethink the way they manage careers and deliver “always-on” learning and development (L&D) opportunities. Leading companies are moving to overhaul their career models and L&D infrastructure for the digital age, though most organisations are still in the early stages of this transformation.

Learning technology is changing rapidly.

Traditional learning management systems are being complemented with and replaced by a wide range of new technologies for content creation, delivery, video distribution, and mobile use.

27% of South African respondents state that they are restructuring their career models, while 16% use short term assignments as part of career development.

Figure 5 indicates that careers and learning is seen as a regulatory and compliance

Political Views

Sexual Orientation

Personality

Religion

Age/ Generation

Culture

0

Gender

5 Race

Facilitate new hire and employee on-boarding

Help employees grow and navigate careers within the company

Help employees explore new skills, capabilities and experiences

Meet regulatory compliance requirements

0

Helping employees build skills in their current jobs

5

None of the above

3%

Figure 6: Inclusions by your organisation in its understanding of diversity and inclusion.

requirement issue for 21% of South African organisations, 16% believe that they help organisations grow and navigate careers within the company.

Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion has been a top-five trend for South Africa since featuring in the top five in 2014. In 2017, 80% of executives rate this trend as very important/important while 50% rate themselves as not ready for it.

Interestingly, 46% of South Africans rate the CEO as the primary sponsor of the diversity and inclusion programme within their organisation. Understandably, South Africa’s main focus remains race and gender at 20% and 19% respectively, whereas globally, Diversity and Inclusion has a greater focus on broader aspects of diversity like religion, sexual orientation and age/generation.

Conclusion

The world is changing at a rapid pace and employee needs are also evolving fast. Your talents’ working life needs include different types of working arrangements to match flexible and dynamic working styles for the digital age. Collaborating as a network of teams is becoming increasingly important and traditional organisational models with many layers of management, complex organisational structures, procedures and red-tape will increasingly hamper competiveness in the disrupted future world of work.

Organisations will have to become more flexible and fluid, with leaders who are able to make decisions and implement changes in a quick and agile manner.

South African organisations, both the public and private sectors, face the joint challenges of improving the skills of their employees and enabling the workforce to become greater contributors to society. This will require significant investment and collaboration from all industry sectors of the economy particularly in HR development.

Increasingly, companies will have to equip their employees with digital literacy skills in order to remain competitive. This investment in skills and training will enrich our local talent pool and enable the workforce to become much more productive employees to our South African companies in a digital era.

We recommend that companies be bold, embrace agile work methods and make the organisational shifts and changes necessary to meet the very disruptive challenges of the future.

This boldness will allow these organisations to adapt and actually shape a future where people and their individual and collective skills will truly be a competitive advantage.

Your IPM membership gives you access to a full copy of the Human Capital Trends report as well as consultation or commentary specific to your organizational strategic development needs. Please email research@ ipm.co.za for assistance.

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Trends in HR

SIX HR TRENDS WORTH THINKING ABOUT BY: BONOLO NAMANE, Intern at Mapitsi Holdings

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ompany culture still reigns supreme within the HR universe, but the trend has been on attracting growth-driven workers and creating cost-effective ways to meet the work-balance needs of employees.

1. Corporate Perks Become Passé

Less than five years ago, many HR departments thought ping-pong tables, massage chairs and free snacks were the key to luring employees into their workplace. Now, recruiters know that these types of perks don’t necessarily attract top talent, and even high-ticket perks don’t create loyal employees. Millennials want effective mentoring from senior management and effective collaboration throughout their workplace.

Companies that focus on developing a strong corporate culture and mission are more likely to retain top performers because of their core relevance than frills.

Employees in their twenties and thirties care less or as much about take-home pay as they do about the ability to work at a place that reflects their core values.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

2. Coaching and Development Replace Performance Management

Traditional employee performance appraisals diminish the engagement and happiness of workers, even when employees receive positive feedback. Instead, HR professionals encourage managers to move towards a coaching culture that prizes skill development, regular feedback and continuous learning and growth opportunity. This type of coaching relies on asking open-ended questions, providing hands-on opportunities to develop new skills and allowing teams of workers to self-coach through stretch projects.

3. The Millenials regard Learning as a Benefit

An alignment with values is a must.

Progressive companies ‘give’ employees a budget to spend on “how they want to grow and how they want to learn.” With this emerges a new format of learning, a move from a horizontal to a vertical approach to development. This has been witnessed on how budgets are used – in a variety of

Trends in HR

quick programmes, subscription to tools that ease work approach and in facilitating broad, ongoing collaborative learning.

Contrary to horizontal development which is the development of skill, ability and behaviours, vertical development refers to the stages that people progress through with regard to how they make sense of the world. Vertical development can be explained through Kegan’s three stages: the socialised mind, the self-authored mind and the selftransforming mind.”

4. Rise of Feedback Culture

Peer feedback is on the rise. Companies need to become more open to seeking out feedback from employees to boost retention and productivity.

There’s a lot more emphasis on having a comprehensive engagement survey — having some sort of thread with their employees of how are they doing, how are they feeling and having something that’s consistent — every quarter or every six months”.

Once programs and tools are set up, it’s important to train managers to give good feedback, too. At the end of the day, the goal of feedback is to drive talent development and impact performance.

It’s one thing to create a system for capturing feedback; it’s another to be able to draft effective feedback that helps elevate people’s performance.

5. Optimising ‘Tours of Duty’ as opposed to permanent employment

The Tour of Duty concept first emerged a few years ago and continues to rise as employees, especially knowledge workers, become more mobile and eager to shift roles in search of learning opportunities and challenges.

While Tour of Duty compacts seem risky compared to a permanent work contract, recognising that high-performing employees give no retention or loyalty guarantees anyway, no matter how attractive the corporate handcuffs may be, cancels out this perceived risk.

In fact, in a Tour of Duty compact relationship, both the employee and employer get optimum value, with deliverables pre-agreed and time-specific.

At the end of the term, employer will have achieved his project goal and the employee becomes even more marketable. Talent retention no longer becomes the focus, but mutual employer-employee value optimisation does, resulting in significant impact on the company culture.

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6. Changing Role and Perception of HR

The challenge and opportunity for HR leaders is the changing needs and expectations from their department. Only recently have companies begun to think of HR as a thought leadership partner.

The primary objective for the HR folk is to enable the business through talent capability building, and you can only do that in response to a business strategy. If the business strategy changes frequently, the HR teams have to be exceptionally nimble as well. Also noted is HR’s role in employee communications and driving engagement. There are no more traditional HR functions, but more of company culture operations. The goal of culture operations should also be to make your employees succeed in what they do rather than just making new processes to follow.

A lot of people perceived HR as just policy makers — and increasingly it

There are no more traditional HR functions, but more of company culture operations. is seen as forward-thinking, striving to make an environment where people are happy and excited to go to work, and more importantly, thrive at work.

In conclusion, the value of HR in an organisation can always be optimised by ensuring that HR becomes a forwardlooking, strategic partner and insightful leader: anticipating trends, embracing innovative ways of work, leading change to extract the most out of workplace relationships for mutual employeeemployer benefit.

Thinking on these six trends will hopefully ignite some fire under the progressive HR practitioner, to evaluate how relevant these might be to her own organisation and how they could benefit her stakeholders and her unique environment.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

14

Management

MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKPLACE CHALLENGES

THE FOUR ‘As’

of the modern workforce PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Management

If you think much focus is being given to millennial management strategies in the workplace, you are probably correct.

And the attention is justified, given that this group is predicted to form over two-thirds of the workforce over the next decade BY: BRUCE VAN WYK, director, PaySpace

M

illennial employees can be the best thing that ever happens to your business – they can bring a fresh perspective and intricate digital knowledge to your company. But, if you’re looking nine-tofivers, who expect long careers at the same company where they report to managers that they eventually replace – then prepare for disappointment. Millennials want jobs where they feel they’re making a difference and crave balance and democracy, and if they don’t feel like they’re getting what they need, they’ll move on.

While some may feel that this makes them occasionally tough to manage, they will soon amount to 75% of the workforce, and can be a potentially valuable resource for your business.

That said, taking advantage of this resource requires preparation and compromise. Here are the four As to keep in mind when hiring millennial employees.

Autonomy

Adaptability

Millennial employees value independence, and have little patience for the cold, systematic logic that underpins internal corporate structures. If a process impedes their ability to do their best work, if they have to secure authorisation from five or six stakeholders to complete a straightforward request, or if simple tasks are repeatedly and unnecessarily rendered complicated, then they will kick up a fuss.

In organisations with high-levels of job satisfaction, millennials are more likely to report that the company has a strong commitment to equality and inclusiveness, compared to organisations with lower job satisfaction levels. The future workforce will be partially defined by greater employee autonomy. If they need to apply for leave, they’ll use an automated HR system – instead of seeking email approval from their line manager and their line manager’s line manager before waiting several days for departmental confirmation. If they need to access tax records, then they’ll do so via self-service

Flexibility is a core value for many millennial employees: they don’t want to fit their lives to work, they want their work to fit their lives. According to research by Deloitte, having a good work/life balance is the most important consideration when evaluating a job offer if money or financial benefits are taken from the equation.

If it’s possible and convenient for them to work while travelling or abroad – and it often is – they’ll want to take advantage of it and they’ll be frustrated if they can’t. If they have family commitments, they’ll want to work from home. If there’s valuable information that they need, they’ll want to be able to view it whenever and wherever they are.

The days of forcing employees to adapt to the office are over. The future employee may not even travel to the office. Cloudbased systems allow for virtual desktops, and other innovations that require only an internet connection. It’s easy to adapt to your employees’ needs – and if you do it, they’ll reward you for it.

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It’s easy to adapt to your employees’ needs – and if you do it, they’ll reward you for it. software without waiting for largely uninvolved stakeholders to find time to consent.

Millennials have an independent streak that can greatly benefit your business, and modern technology is allowing them to make the most of it.

Access

The future workplace will largely comprise digital natives who grew up with access to a vast library of online information. If they didn’t know the answer to something, they didn’t suffer through ambiguity: they simply looked it up. In the workplace, where things aren’t often so cut and dried, they can become somewhat exasperated.

Millennials are not willing to wait in the space between asking a question and getting an answer: they want information, and they want it yesterday. If they are confused by their salary, they’ll want a full breakdown of payments and deductions. Giving them access to a self-service payroll system will ease this somewhat, but think about ways to open up processes across the business. Ease of access is better for millennial employees and better for the business’ efficiency.

Advancement

Millennials enter jobs with optimism and ambition. In fact, 87% of millennials say professional development or career growth opportunities are very important to them in a job. They want their role to be the start of something bigger – not a tedious grind where incremental promotions and pay rises are all they have to look forward to. They want growth and mentorship; opportunities for development and advancement; they want professional satisfaction and fulfilment.

It’s possible to help your employees with these aspects of their careers without micromanaging them. Technology can again be of use here: online performance journals can assist your employees with up-to-date review information, and can hold them accountable to their monthly or quarterly goals. Electronic performance appraisal systems can also help accumulate 360 feedback and let them know how they can progress their careers.

Master the four As and you’ll create a company that’s professionally, culturally, and emotionally attuned to the needs of millennial workers.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

Date(s)

Programme/ Workshop

Partner/Presenter

Target Audience

CPD Points

Non Member

Member

Jan 24

Learning & Development Community of Experts - Round Table

+ TPI*

L&D Specialists

0.5

R500

Free

Jan 27

Case Law & Related Lessons for Sound Management of Employee Relations - Breakfast

+ Cliffe Dekker & Hofmeyr / Michael Yeats

Intermediate to Senior/ Executive

1

R580

R350

Feb 10

The Role of HR in helping Organisations prepare for, and navigate the Digital Economy – A Strategic Response to the 4th Industrial Revolution

IPM

HR Managers, HR Practitioners

1

R980

R550

Feb 13

Research Community of Expert Practitioners Round Table

IPM

IR, Labour Relations Managers & Corporate PR

0.5

R500

Free

Feb 23

Healing the Toxic Labour Relationships in SA - Seminar

+ Labour Law Consulting/ Ivan Israelstam

CEOs, HR Executives, Labour Specialists

1

R980

R550

Feb 28

IPM HR Student Forum

+ Accenture*

HR Students, Representatives, Lecturers/Educators

1

R500

Free

Mar 2-3

HR Leadership - Seminar

+ Mavis Ureke

HR Executives, Senior Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Mar 9

Remuneration & Benefits Community Experts – Round Table

+ CDH

Human Capital & Remuneration Specialists

1

R500

Free

Mar 13

HR Tools for Entrepreneurs

IPM

Small Business operators

1

R580

R350

Mar 28

Organisational Effectiveness Community of Experts - Round Table

+ QBIT/Sibongile Mogale*

COO’s & OE Executives

0.5

R500

Free

Mar 29-30

Emotional Intelligence for Effective Management

+ Mavis Ureke

Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Apr 3-5

HR Master Class - Workshop

+ TPI*

Human Capital Specialists, HR Line Managers

6

R7850

R6550

Apr 11

Social Media & Corporate Strategy

+ 33Emerald*

HR Executives, Managers , Corporate Strategists

1

R1800

R1600

Apr 20

HR Business Partner Community of Experts – Round Table

+ Accenture*

HR Practitioners

0.5

R500

Free

Apr 21

Freedom & Youth – Leadership Discourse

IPM

Youth & Young Managers

0.5

R350

Free

May 9

Coaching & Mentoring Community of Experts Round Table

+ TalentLine*

Managers

0.5

R500

Free

May 16-17

HR Metrics - Workshop

+ HR Touch/Maggie Mojapelo

Human Capital Specialists, HR Managers

4

R5150

R4150

May 23

Employment Law & Industrial Relations

+ Cowan Harper & Associates

IR Specialists, Labour Union Officials

2

R1800

R1600

May 25-26

Job Evaluation - Workshop

+ 21st Century

Human Capital & Recruitment Managers

4

R5150

R4150

May 31

Disciplinary Enquiry Plans - Workshop

+ CDH

Line Managers, HR Managers & Employee Relations Officers

1

R1800

R1600

Jun 1-2

HR Metrics – Workshop

+ HR Touch/Maggie Mojapelo

Human Capital Specialists, HR Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Jun 6

Employee Wellness Community of Experts – Round Table

+ ICAS/Juanita Simpson*

HR Managers, COO’s, SHEQ Specialists

0.5

R500

Free

Jun 8

The Latitude of Employment Contracts - Workshop

+ LLC/Ivan Israelstam

Line Managers, HR Managers, Employee Representatives

1

R980

R550

Date(s)

Programme/ Workshop

Partner/Presenter

Target Audience

CPD Points

Non Member

Member

Jun 13

Job Profiling - Workshop

+ 21st Century

Line Managers, Human Capital & Recruitment Managers

2

R2900

R2450

Jun 20

Research Community of Experts – Round Table

+ HRSC

HR Strategists, Knowledge Managers

0.5

R500

Free

Jun 22

Mentoring & Coaching - Workshop

Mavis Ureke

Line Managers, HR

1

R1800

R1600

Jul 4-5

HR Business Partner Master Class

Improvid

Intermediate to Senior HR Managers

6

R7850

R6550

Jul 7

Dispute Resolution, Strike Management & Related Procedures

+ CDH

HR Executives, IR Managers, Labour Officials, GM’s

1

R1800

R1600

Jul 12

Employee/Labour Relations Community of Experts - Round Table

IR, Labour Relations Managers & Corporate PR

0.5

R500

Free

Jul 17

HR-Led Digital Transformation

+ Accenture*

HR Executives, Managers

0.5

R980

R550

Jul 20

Women’s Conference (Durban) Transcending & Digital & Life Barriers

+ Empowaworx

Women in Corporate, Public Enterprises, & Small Business

2

R1600

R1200

Jul 25-26

Project Management for HR Leaders

+ Mavis Ureke

HR Leaders, Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Aug 3

Human Capital - Return on Investment - Seminar

+ Mavis Ureke

Human Capital Executives, HR Managers

2

R3600

R2850

Aug 10

CCMA Cross Examination Techniques - Seminar

CDH

HR Executives, IR & ER Managers

1

R1800

R1600

Aug 17

Women’s Conference Transcending & Digital & Life Barriers

+ Empowaworx

Women in Corporate, Public Enterprises, & Small Business

2

R1600

R1200

Aug 23-24

HR Metrics - Workshop

+ HR Touch/Maggie Mojapelo

Human Capital Specialists, HR Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Aug 29-30

Remuneration for HR Managers - Workshop

+ 21st Century

HR Managers, Remuneration Practitioners

4

R6000

R5150

Sept 6-7

HR Business Partner Master Class

Improvid

Intermediate to Senior HR Managers

6

R7850

R6550

Sept 21

Managing & Optimising Diversity Workshop

+ Empowerworx

Directors, Managers, Line Managers

2

R11800

R1600

Sept 22

HR Directors Forum & IPM 2017 Convention Kick-off Meeting 1

+ Industry Experts / Convention Speakers

HR Directors, Human Capital Specialists

0.5

R5800

R4950

Oct 5

HR-Led Digital Transformation

+ Accenture*

HR Executives, Managers

0.5

R980

R550

Oct 5

IPM 2017 Convention Final Briefing & Submissions

+ Convention Committee Member(s)

IPM Convention Presenters

-

N/A

N/A

Oct 18-19

HR Metrics – Workshop

+ HR Touch/Maggie Mojapelo

Human Capital Specialists, HR Managers

4

R5150

R4150

Nov 19 - 22

2017 IPM Convention & Exhibition

+ Local & International Experts, Industry Specialist Suppliers

Business Leaders, HR Executives, General Managers, Human Capital Development Specialists, HR Strategists, IR/ER Officers & Managers, SHEQ Officers, Corporate PR & CSR Managers, Academics, Students, Entrepreneurs, People Development Professionals , HR Practitioners

8

R12790 (R11050 Early Bird Payable by 15 June)

R10790 (R8500 Early Bird Payable by 15 June)

Progressive Business Leaders, Academic Institutions, Business Chambers & Professional Bodies, Economic Development & Tourism Agencies, Wellness & Hospitality Groups

It is said that it takes hard work to achieve one's goals in life.

It also takes a healthy body. Recreation and relaxation keep things well balanced, and avoid getting the mind and body overtaxed.

The Institute o People Management invites you to join its members, HR Professionals, business executives and government officials for IPM Charity Golf Day Sunday, 19 November 2017 Serengeti Proceeds from the golf day will contribute towards the support and facilities upgrade of iThemba Rape and Trauma Support Centre in Benoni.

Diversity Management

19

Making Workplace Disability Solutions Work Globally, the World Bank estimates that one billion people are living with a disability. This represents 15% of the world’s population. In South Africa it is more difficult to ascertain the exact number of people living with a disability, and estimates place it between 7.7% and 10% of the population.

BY: SYLVIA MOHALE - CEO, Grow People Partners

T

here is a wide range of disabilities, not all of which are being declared in the workplace. Those who choose not to declare are often held back by fear of being isolated, discriminated against or victimised, and this is particularly true about the less obvious challenges, including neurological conditions.

Managers may see employees struggling to cope at work, and be forced to “performancemanage them out of the organisation” without determining the real issues.

Business leaders and HR managers do well to stay vigilant to such cases.

Sensitively drafted company policies and compulsory diversity education can create a conducive environment for employees to open up about their challenges. This further gives the organisation an opportunity to make necessary plans or adjustment to accommodate the needs of all employees, including those living with not-so-obvious disabilities, before an embarrassing moment untenable to the organisation and detrimental to the employee may occur.

Disabilities occur through accidents, diseases, wars or as a result of a genetic disposition.

There are some evolutionary changes in relation to disability in South Africa. Existing structures and support measures for people with disabilities are being challenged, and rightfully so. Whilst we have made progress in redressing past inequalities regarding race and gender equity we are currently lagging regarding the effective integration of individuals with disabilities into all aspects of society. This applies particularly to individuals with physical disabilities.

Work of decent quality is the most effective means of escaping the vicious circle of marginalisation, poverty and social exclusion.

disability management solution. This results in a haphazard approach; a lack of sensitivity and appropriate accommodation; discomfort amongst the workforce regarding day-to-day interaction with individuals with disabilities; a lack of development programmes and a resultant lack of career progression opportunities. The effect of this being stagnation or a high level of turnover of individuals with disabilities.

Three of the key building blocks of a successful programme are a thorough initial assessment of the capabilities and needs of the prospective employee with a disability, modification of the physical environment - which can be done in a simple and cost effective manner, and a sensitisation of management and staff.

While an organisation may attempt to attract a person living with a disability, it is insensitive and inhumane to hire the person purely to meet BBBEE targets.

Every prospective recruit needs to be considered for his or her abilities not for disabilities. In helping the organisation meet their equity targets, GPP focuses executives on what each person brings into the organisation, and advises on how proper integration can be effected. The point is for people living with disabilities to be and to feel part of the organisation, and not isolated due to their inabilities.

Be the change you want to see in the world. - Ghandi People with disabilities are frequently trapped in this vicious circle and positive action is needed to assist them in breaking out of it. Barriers which disabled people face in getting jobs and taking their place in society can and should be overcome through a combination of policy measures, regulations, programmes and services.

The South African workplace, therefore, has a key role to play. However, it has been observed that when an attempt is made at integrating individuals with disabilities, the approach is not holistic and tends not to consider all the facets of a truly integrated

While most organisations may welcome giving an opportunity to people with disabilities to work on their premises, practical operational restrictions may place this out of reach. In such cases, the organisations may wish to adopt a facility or fund a project that supports people living with disabilities, and schedule times for employees to pay a visit to the establishments to gain understanding of their challenges and build empathy as an organisation.

We have a smorgasbord of disability solutions available. Organisations can select all to implement a best practice solution or select one or two and add to them over time.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

20

Technology

Working anywhere, anytime:

THE EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY on the world of work BY: NICCI WHITEAR, LLM, Senior lecturer, UKZN; CCMA Commissioner and consultant attorney at Austen Smith attorneys, PMB

“Most of us would welcome the option of working remotely, particularly in the comfort of home if just to avoid time wasted commuting. But it’s worth evaluating the advantages that come with working remotely against the disadvantages” PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Technology

A

dvances in digital technology such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers which enable employees to work at home and elsewhere are rapidly transforming the traditional model of work.

The use of such technology has enabled employees to work ‘anywhere, anytime.’

Employers tend to encourage it, as it is perceived to increase productivity and performance. And employees are generally in favour of such developments because it gives them greater spatial and temporal flexibility. There is evidence that it can improve work-life balance, reduce commuting time, and increase productivity, but it can also potentially result in employees’ working longer working hours, working at a higher intensity and it can interfere with the work-home divide, which is essential for employees’ well-being.

This is according to a new joint International Labour Organisation (ILO)Eurofound report released in February 2017. The report entitled ‘Working anytime, anywhere: The effects on the world of work’ focuses on employees who use new technology to work outside of the employer’s premises and often outside of regular working hours. The data for the report are drawn from 15 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan and the United States, as well as ten European Union countries. The report showed that Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the US have the highest incidence of employees working off their employer’s premises. Overall, at least 40% of employees were found to do some form of work outside their employer’s premises and after hours. This was mainly related to telephone calls and email communications.

Managers and professionals are most inclined to do this sort of work, but it is also prevalent among sales staff and clerical workers.

The report highlights a number of positive effects of this type of work. For example, greater working time autonomy leads to more flexibility in terms of the organisation of working time which is particularly advantageous for employees with duties to care for children or the elderly. Reduced commuting time can also be a significant benefit. Together, this can result in an improved work-life balance and higher productivity. In addition, business continuity can be maintained in times of natural disaster and office expenses can be reduced. However, the report also identified some problems with “the

encroachment of work into spaces and times normally reserved for personal life.” These disadvantages include a tendency to work longer hours, at a higher intensity and an overlap between paid work and personal life – which can lead to psychosocial problems such as family conflict, high levels of stress and burn-out.

The report identifies three different types of workers who fall into the category of workers being discussed. There are homebased workers, who seem to enjoy better work-life balance overall.

This category comprises mostly women.

There are also ‘high-mobile’ workers who are more at risk of negative health and well-being outcomes. ‘High mobile’ workers

21

and also to ensure that minimum rest periods are respected, in order to avoid negative effects on workers’ health and well-being.”

There is evidence that people need some face-to-face contact with colleagues, but there are times when physical isolation and autonomy offers the best scenario for successfully completing a task. There may be fewer interruptions, and more continuity of work. Obviously individual characteristics like motivation and skill also play a role in determining whether flexible working arrangements enhance productivity.

“Two to three days working from home seems to be that sweet spot,” Jon Messenger told reporters in Geneva.

Employers tend to encourage it, as it is perceived to increase productivity and performance. And employees are generally in favour of such developments because it gives them greater spatial and temporal flexibility. are those who constantly work in different locations. The report also identified those who divide their time between their primary office and another site. All three of those groups reported higher stress levels and more incidents of insomnia than those who always work at their employer’s premises.

The ‘high mobile’ workers were the most prone to stress and insomnia, at levels way in excess of their office-bound counterparts.

“This report shows that the use of modern communication technologies facilitates a better overall work-life balance but, at the same time, also blurs the boundaries between work and personal life, depending on the place of work and the characteristics of different occupations,” said the ILO’s Jon Messenger, co-author of the report.

Oscar Vargas, of Eurofound - a Dublinbased research group, commented that “It is particularly important to address the issue of supplemental work performed through modern communications technology, for example additional working from home, which could be viewed as unpaid overtime,

The ILO encouraged governments to develop policies for governing the technological revolution in the workplace, referring to a new French labour code provision that enshrines “the right to be disconnected” and a growing practice among some companies to shut down servers to stop emails during designated rest times and holidays. They suggest that this could ensure that the benefits of the technological revolution in the workplace could be harnessed without any negative effects on employees’ health and well-being. A key issue is whether work outside the workplace substitutes for it, or merely supplements it.

The latter is more problematic.

People Dynamics looks forward to covering further deliberations on these and similar issues from the Annual Labour Law Conference themed “Past Lessons, Future Challenges: 30 years on”, facilitated by The Conference Company at Emperors Palace on 2-3 August 2017, Special rates to the Conference apply for IPM members whose reservations are facilitated via IPM. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

22

Corporate Reputation

Reputation… you can’t fake it, you have to live it PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

Corporate Reputation

23

fairness demands, this ultimately becomes apparent. Your true colours show.

Research points to four contributors to a good name: • Authenticity (you are solid and credible; you always keep your promises) • Consistency (you are always reliable and do what you say you’re going to do) • Truthfulness (you are trusted because you always tell the truth) • Readiness to make good (cover-ups compound the damage; apologise and make amends, always do the right thing).

BY: ANNELIZE VAN RENSBURG, Director, Signium

C

Despite many efforts made by brand consultants, Corporate Reputation, like brand equity, is a mission to quantify.

In his last South African seminar series, Dave Ulrich showed ways to demonstrate its value, yet it remains difficult to quantify it at operational level.

orporate Reputation doesn’t show up in quarterly revenue columns or profit lines. However, quantification becomes possible in at least two scenarios … when you lose your good name and your share price and sales plummet or when you sell the business and the premium paid for goodwill ensures top dollar (or not). Either way, reputation clearly emerges as a tangible asset and a strategic business imperative.

However, corporate scandals in banking, automotive manufacture, high-tech, Big Oil, Big Pharma and many other areas suggest that it’s all too easy for businesses to follow the money rather than follow their consciences.

When this happens, a business endangers a reputation built over decades. Repair work might take just as long and be extremely costly.

Benjamin Franklin put it neatly: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation; only one bad one to lose it.” Years later, his compatriot Abraham Lincoln highlighted an important distinction. He remarked: “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.” In other words, reputation is perception and that perception is determined by character – your nature and make-up as a person or company. Corporate reputation is not a function of how slick your PR team is or how smart your lawyers are. Reputation reflects corporate culture.

If you’re a sharp operator wedded to selfinterest no matter what the law says or basic

A company’s inner character ensures that these traits shine through. Character is supported by business leaders who act ethically and embrace good governance.

An ethical approach results in strategic thinking and readiness to absorb temporary knocks for the long-term good. Social media scrutiny widens the reputational challenge and risk. Ethical leadership is not enough. It is necessary to visibly live these values in all actions and interactions; locally, nationally and internationally. You are judged by the company you keep, here and overseas.

Suppliers, partners and associates must subscribe to similar values.

Benjamin Franklin put it neatly: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation; only one bad one to lose it.”

Remember, when Enron went belly up, in effect, it brought its accounting firm down with it – a business that at the time was one of the world’s big five accounting and auditing groups. Cover all bases, even unlikely ones. If you don’t, you risk reputational disaster. The Titanic was the pride of the White Star Line and ‘practically unsinkable’. That didn’t stop her going to the bottom after hitting an iceberg that should not have been so far south at that time of year. White Star Line’s reputation was never the same again.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

24

Management

The

Loneliness of Leading Millennials

– a multi-generation workplace challenge BY: GEORGINA BARRICK, Managing Director, Cassel & Co

M

y name is Georgina. I am a Generation X leader and I lead Millennials.

As a Gen X-er, I find leadership both rewarding and challenging. Like my peers, we find it rewarding because we’ve quietly worked hard to get where we are today.

We’ve put in long hours, paid our dues and are finally taking over the leadership mantle from retiring Boomers.

And, challenging because, as the original ‘latchkey’ kids, we’re naturally independent, self-reliant and resultsorientated, which means that we favour a ‘hands off’- ‘low face time’ leadership style.

We largely expect our teams to get on with the job, working independently – and we expect results. But, this doesn’t work for all of our team members.

Enter stage left: The Millennial…

These curious beings are currently aged between 17 and 35, and I find them our polar opposite in many respects.

Labelled ‘Generation Y’ – or, more derogatively, ‘Generation Snowflake’ – they’ve been described as entitled, high maintenance and pampered – the ‘everybody gets a trophy’ generation. Born to helicopter parents, Millennials are used to constant attention, praise and feedback.

Their unfettered access to ‘always on’ PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

technology and social media has hardwired them to want everything instantly. Instant gratification is the only way they know.

They are impatient, outspoken and have limited ability to accept constructive criticism. They’ve been isolated by technology and want to make an immediate impact. In the workplace, Millennials thrive on a steady stream of feedback and positive reinforcement, routinely voice their opinions without thought for consequence, expect to move up the corporate ladder quickly and insist on work that is both stimulating and personally fulfilling. Their desire for instant gratification means that, if they feel their needs aren’t being met or that they can’t achieve desired goals, they don’t stick around to give you a chance to fix the issue.

It’s lonely leading them as you always feel like maybe you haven’t done enough and even when you have, they decide that they’re feeling ‘lost’ and leave you anyway.

However, we all know that history repeats itself. Like Millennials, Gen X initially got a bad rap. We were labelled the aimless ‘Friends’ generation – slackers who would never amount to much.

Like Gen X’ers, Millennials are also adaptable, flexible, view work as a key part

Management

Millennials have been sheltered from having to build and nurture relationships in the real world – and it’s hurting them.

25

of life, are technologically sophisticated and believe that they will change the world for the better.

All indications are that, as they grow, they will fulfil their potential and promise.

But, we’re going to have to help them – in ways that don’t drain or overwhelm us - or leave us feeling disappointed.

Perhaps one of the ways that we can achieve this is to shift the responsibility for mentoring from ourselves to others.

Ideas like reverse-mentoring, where a Millennial mentors and in return learns from another millennial; group mentoring, where peers give feedback through a technology platform; or anonymous mentoring, where mentees are matched with trained mentors outside of the company, all provide regular feedback and positive reinforcement without requiring too much input from the Gen X leader.

I’m not suggesting a completely ‘hands off’ approach – just a way in which a Gen X leader managing many Millennials can find some balance.

Millennials have been sheltered from having to build and nurture relationships in the real world – and it’s hurting them.

Technology has become their enabler and their shield. Facebook and Instagram create an artificial world, showing a carefully crafted veneer of how perfect life is. Let’s be honest – no-one ever posts an ugly picture. Suicide and depression rates are far higher among Millennials than in previous generations.

As Gen X’ers, we can help them to build relationships – and confidence.

One suggestion is to ban technology from meetings. Without a mobile phone or an app to rely on during meeting lulls, they will have to engage with the people at the table. These small interactions teach social skills and build relationships. They open the opportunity for real conversation and often spark a deeper understanding of the people around you. It’s hard to swipe left when you have to do it face-to-face.

Millennials need a clear career roadmap, with detailed expectations, outputs and timelines. Understanding how they’re being groomed for success may mitigate some of the Millennials impatience to move up the ladder. There is a caveat. You may still find that you will do everything ‘right’, give Millennials a reason to believe, purpose and fulfilling work – and they may still leave anyway.

But, we’re Gen X and we’ll live to fight another day.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

26

Organisational Effectiveness

Manager and Consultant

MIND THE GA The extenuous effort that goes into proper organisational effectiveness diagnosis may be painful, but the results and sustainability of applied solutions make it all worthwhile, compared to quick fixes that have a nonsustainable impact.

By: BELIA NEL - FOUNDER, Improvid Performance Consulting

“M

ind the gap” is a phrase we all know too well. Those who use local tram system public transport or who have travelled to London and used the underground rail system will recognise the line gap between the tram or train edge and the landing.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “gap” as Lack of balance; a problem caused by some disparity; an incomplete or deficient area; or a wide difference in character or attitude.

In our world of Performance Improvement we should “find the gap” and then “mind the gap”!

Sadly, in many organisations today gap analysis do not get the attention it deserves.

Many practitioners and managers choose to be “blind to the gap” and implement a quick fix solution which usually cannot be measured. Even prior to embarking on a solution, line managers should ask, “What are the results or sustained performance change for this solution?” Unfortunately, many managers, consultants, learning, performance and HR practitioners, are unable to answer this question.

In part 2 of this series, focus was on adding value and working in partnerships to bring about performance change.

Holistic performance as a mind-set shift to identifying, addressing, and measuring performance issues in organisations.

In a series of articles, the focus will be on the 10 Standards for Performance

Organisational Effectiveness

Levels of Performance

Gap Where is the gap?

Action Plan What type of investigations will be planned?

27

Result(s) What are the perceived results you want sustained?

Work

Worker

Workplace

World

Framework: Standard 5: Determine the Need or Opportunity

• Standard 8: Ensure solutions’ conformity and feasibility • Standard 9: Implement solutions • Standard 10: Evaluate results and impact In this article, the focus is on the fifth standard.

Standard 5: Determine Need or Opportunity

GAP!

Improvement published by Improvid.

As a recap of what previous articles in this series covered: the first four standards are known as principles because they are fundamental to the other standards that make up the systematic methodology. The first four standards are: • Standard 1: Focus on results or outcomes • Standard 2: Take a systemic view • Standard 3: Add value • Standard 4: Work in partnerships

The subsequent standards which form our practice or methodology in a systematic process are: • Standard 5: Determine need or opportunity • Standard 6: Determine cause • Standard 7: Design solutions including implementation and evaluation

Competent managers and practitioners do investigations to find out the difference between the current and the desired performances also known as the performance gap. In essence, when we determine what the problem or need is by focusing on the end result, we apply our differentiating holistic approach which includes the 4-point principle. The first four standards and a 3-point practice is illustrated below.

The work of managers and Performance Improvement consultants is always at the three levels: • Workplace = Organisational impact factors: Examples include poor communication and information flow, lack of performance culture and ineffective leadership practices.

• Work = Operational impact factors: Examples include outdated procedures, lack of SOPs, misinterpreted value chains and ineffective and outdated systems.

• Worker = People impact factors: Examples include a lack of knowledge or skill and a lack of performance motivation.

An additional level – not necessarily viewed as the fourth level, is our focus on “world” which informs these three levels. This incorporates all the factors which we have no control over and which are typically known as external barriers, which, in reality may be external enablers.

Below is a framework to map your plan for your need and opportunity analysis in a holistic approach.

How is it done?

As the first step in our practice, the following should be done: • Determine the exact need, opportunity or performance issue • Determine the size of the gap by applying our holistic approach, i.e. the work (operational performance gaps), worker (people performance gaps) and workplace (organisational performance gaps) • Facilitate discussions to clarify intent of the investigation • Determine the scope of the investigation • Choose the appropriate method of analysis • Decide and plan how to gather information and data of the identified gap(s) • Gather and analyse the data • Report the finding with recommendations • Interpret the findings and decide what is doable • Assist by making informed decisions and set priorities about what actions to take.

Practical Guidelines: Consulting Tips to Determine the Need or Opportunity

• Identify the objectives of the analysis, stakeholders to involve, data requirements, planned investigation and start and end of analysis.

• Achieve agreement about the size and/or scope of the need or opportunity.

• Agree in measureable terms the expected goals when identifying the need.

• Interview stakeholders, observe current performance and processes, and examine existing documentation.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

28

Organisational Effectiveness

Determine Need or Opportunity

• Do research by including benchmark reports and case studies.

• Determine which needs or opportunities are worth pursuing further by doing a cost/ benefit analysis.

• Ensure you defined the entire scope of the project.

• Direct activities towards the desired result to ensure the gap is identified as the difference between the current and future situation.

• Inform stakeholders of your holistic approach (work, worker, workplace and world) to determining the need or problem through gap analysis.

• Determine your data sample size.

• Decide on your data gathering methods and obtain agreement • Ensure your methods support the purpose of the investigation

S

M

A

Checklist: Use the checklist below as a tool to stay on track with your need and opportunity analysis.



Use analysis methods appropriate to the situation.



Determine the question (hypothesis) you want to answer.

R

out the analysis at the  Carry appropriate level: individual, group, process, organisational, or societal. recommendations on whether  Develop to act on the findings and how.

T

Work

Worker

Workplace

World

Agree the specific data gathering to support processes.

Confirm all the role players when confirming the needs.

Access all specific surveys completed in the organisation.

Do scenario planning or SWOT analysis to confirm need or opportunity.

Agree the measurable processes and activity output of the need or opportunity.

Agree measurable data gathering deliverables of all stakeholders.

Determine measurable data gathering techniques of the entire scope.

Decide what is in or out of organisational control for need or problem identification.

Identify all the processes, workflow activities and value chain steps to confirm need or opportunity.

Decide and divide achievable data gathering methods with all role players.

Confirm what needs confirmation techniques would fit the culture.

Decide what the actionable steps are to identify the problem or opportunity and its external barriers

Confirm the need or opportunity against results-driven procedures, systems and processes.

Agree resultsorientated need confirmation tactics with all role players.

Decide whether reward tactics will be applied for concise problem and need identification.

Agree whether the need or opportunity analysis is reasonable and realistic for the organisation in the industry/ societal context.

Decide how the needs analysis processes will be tracked and what the timelines are.

Confirm with all role players in the need analysis process their trackable output and timelines.

Provide tangible incentives for need and opportunity analysis activities to be time based.

Decide whether the needs and opportunity analysis is timely in the industry and/or external environment context.

data-gathering methods  Use appropriate to the situation.

Practical Tool: Determine the Need or Opportunity against “SMART” goal setting



Use sampling methods that follow recommended practices.

a survey format that complies with  Use recommended practice.

what feedback systems are or  Identify are not in use and how effective they

Correctly use documents or work products as a source of data.

are. Identify the inputs that the workgroup has available. (Inputs include information, directions, requirements, expectations, etc.)

the physical and technological  Identify opportunities and constraints in the

gaps between what is required  Identify and what actually occurs.



work environment.



Identify the actual work processes used to accomplish work.

causes due to lack of  Discriminate information, knowledge, or skill from

the actual and expected  Identify outputs of the work.

those due to inadequacies in the work environment, poor job design, inadequate feedback systems, lack of consequences, or poorly designed processes.

the consequences and who the  Identify receivers of those consequences are.

the feasibility or probability  Determine of eliminating the gap.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

In conclusion Managers and Performance Consultants should not be “blind to a gap”, but “find the gap” and then “mind the gap”.

We should conduct thorough investigations by gathering all the necessary information to make an informed decision about where gap is and the size of it in relation to the performance level. This is a key component in the performance improvement process The overall value is the end result which will be informed by the needs analysis, the causes and the intervention which will address the gap and result in measurable sustainable performance improvement.

In the following issues, you can expect a series of articles that will focus in-depth on the 10 International Standards of ISPI. Stay posted!

IP

Improving performance

29

So whose is it anyway?

- Rather be safe than sorry!

With intellectual property making up more and more of a company’s asset register, it’s becoming crucial for businesses to safeguard this area of their bottom line.

BY: LIA MARUS - EDITOR, writer, social media enthusiast

D

uring the course and scope of their employment, your employees will be exposed to much of your intellectual property which, if fallen into the hands of a competitor could spell harm to your organisation. So how can you, as an employer, protect this valuable asset from your employees if they leave your company?

What types of intellectual property are out there?

A business – depending on what type of concern it is – will be exposed to one (or all) of the following types of intellectual property: 1. Copyrights, and 2. Patents.

Copyrights

‘Copyright’ refers to the rights that you, as the author or maker, of a particular work have in said work. (These rights as outlined in the Copyright Act 98 of 1978 are – among others – the right to use, or authorise to use the copyrighted item.)

The specification of the Copyright Act is section 21(1)(a): “Subject to the provisions of this section, the ownership of any copyright conferred by section 3 or 4 on any work shall vest in

the author or, in the case of a work of joint authorship, in the co-authors of the work.”

However, there are certain instances in which the copyright of a piece of work does not vest in the author of that work. One of these instances is in an employment relationship where the author of a copyrighted item produces said item during the course and scope of his or her employment.

However, the challenge comes in with the type of agreement you have with the author of the copyrighted item.

For example, if you employ a journalist to write articles for a publication, the copyright of the articles that he or she writes for your newspaper or magazine vests in you as the employer. If you are a software house and you hire a project manager on a consultancy contract to supervise software developers who you have in your employ, who owns the copyright then? While the software developers are in your employ, the project manager is not.

Remember that in terms of computer programmes, the person who, among others, causes a computer programme to be made or controls the design of the programme – owns the copyright to said computer programme Since the project manager is not in your

‘Copyright’ refers to the rights that you, as the author or maker, of a particular work have in said work

employ, you have no control over what he or she does with the copyright.

So, rule of thumb: always ensure that you have agreements governing any copyright that you anticipate to be developed at your place of work, so that you can protect yourself as well as the author of the copyrighted item.

Patents

According to the Patents Act 57 of 1978, a patent over an invention allows the patentee – in other words the person who holds the patent – a monopoly over the particular patented item. So, for example, if a pharmaceutical company develops a new type of drug to cure a particular disease, and registers a patent over it, this company has monopoly rights over that patented item.

So what happens to a patent when an employee leaves a company?

Legal authorities as well as case law are very clear on this: if an employee develops a patented item during the course and scope of his or her employment the patent belongs to the employer. Burrell’s South Africa Patent and Design Law says as much: “An invention made by an employee within the course and scope of his employment would rightfully be the property of the employer.”

IP and Freelancers

With the rise of the gig economy, “gigging” – a term coined at the time of the 2009 financial crisis where people who had been let go started to make income from freelancing, became the order of the day..

While using these types of workers may be financially beneficial to your company, the fact that there is no legislation governing their relationship with the company and what they do with your information is a risk you need to mitigate in your business.

So to make sure that your trade secrets are safeguarded and your business stays intact, ensure that you have iron-clad agreements with your freelancers and consultants to ensure that they don’t take your intellectual property to your competitors.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE IPM

32

Employment Law

Uncovering the true reason for a dismissal Misinformation and misunderstanding can lead an employee through a dangerous path of ill-conceived confidence that can compromise an employment relationship and jeopardise future options.

BY: FIONA LEPPAN AND STEPHAN VENTER, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr

I

n the recent case of Willem Hendrik du Plessis v AMIC Trading (Pty) Ltd t/a Toys’ R Us (JS230/15) [2017] ZALCJHB 196 (23 May 2017), the employee referred a matter to the Labour Court seeking an order declaring his dismissal by AMIC Trading (Pty) Ltd (the employer) automatically unfair in terms of s187(1)(g) of the Labour Relations Act, No 66 of 1995 (LRA).

The employee was employed previously

by Redgwoods (Pty) Ltd, however, in 2012 the employer purchased the business of Redgwoods (Pty) Ltd and the employee’s employment was subsequently transferred to the employer. The employer’s head office was originally based in Modderfontein.

In 2013, a fellow employee informed the employee about an email she discovered, where the Human Resources Department of the employer and the employee’s directors discussed a strategy to dismiss the employee.

The strategy was that the employer would relocate its offices to Durban and the employee would be requested to relocate, and when he refused he would be retrenched.

After the employee became aware of the abovementioned email, he was informed by the employer that its head office was going to relocate to Durban. The employee was requested to move to Durban to work at the new head offices of the employer. The employee, being aware of the email, initially agreed but later changed his mind and then refused. The employer then commenced retrenchment procedures.

An independent company facilitated the retrenchment consultations, during which three offers were made to the employee.

One of these offers was that the employee did not have to relocate, but would then be employed as an area manager in Gauteng at a reduced salary. All the offers were rejected by the employee and he was consequently dismissed.

PEOPLE DYNAMICS | July 2017

The employee referred the matter to the Labour Court claiming that his dismissal was automatically unfair because the dismissal was due to the transfer of a business as a going concern.

The Labour Court considered the earlier decision of Van der Velde v Business & Design Software (Pty) Ltd & Another (2006) 27 ILJ 1738 (LC) (the Van der Velde case), which can be seen as the locus classicus when considering whether a dismissal is automatically unfair, where it took place due to a transfer of business. In that decision the Labour Court highlighted the different factors that need to be considered during this enquiry, namely: • The employee must prove that he/she was dismissed and that “the underlying transaction is one that falls within the ambit of section 197 of the LRA.” • The employee must further provide compelling evidence that indicates that the dismissal was causally connected to the transfer. When taking this factor into consideration, the Court will conduct an objective enquiry.

• Once the employee has successfully discharged the abovementioned evidentiary burden, the onus shifts to the employer to prove that the reason for the dismissal was a reason that is not automatically unfair.

• If the employer argues that the dismissal was based on a fair reason, for example operational requirements, the Court must apply a two stage test to establish “whether the true reason for the dismissal was the transfer itself, or a reason related to the employer’s operational requirements.” This test includes: • Factual causation test (the “but for” test) – would the dismissal have taken place but for the transfer?

• Legal causation test – this test must be applied if the factual causation test has been satisfied. With this test the Court will

objectively determine “whether the transfer is the main, dominant, proximate or most likely cause of the dismissal.”

• It is insufficient for an employer to claim that the reason for the dismissal was not the transfer itself, if the dismissal was effected in anticipation of a transfer and in response to the requirements of a potential purchaser.

• The court will take an objective stance in determining whether the dismissal was used by the employer as a means to avoid its obligations under s197. If the employer relied on the dismissal to avoid its s197 obligations, then the dismissal would have been related to the transfer.

If not, the dismissal relates to the employer’s operational requirements or other fair reason.

In the present matter, the Labour Court held that the email that the employee became aware of (where his possible dismissal was discussed) was discovered in September 2013, after this the employer searched for other premises in Johannesburg and even extended its lease in Modderfontein for a further three years. It was only after the terms of the lease became uneconomical that the decision was made to relocate the business to Durban. Therefore, the Labour Court held that the employer’s conduct, after the email, demonstrates that the strategy in the email was not carried through.

The Labour Court reached the conclusion that there was no evidence that the employee’s dismissal was related to the transfer of the business from Redgwoods (Pty) Ltd to the employer. The Labour Court granted the employer’s application for absolution from the instance and as a result, the employee was unsuccessful.

This case reaffirms the correct approach to determine whether a dismissal was automatically unfair, if it took place due to a transfer of business in contravention of s187(1) (g) of the LRA. All employers anticipating to be involved in a transfer of business should consider the factors listed in the Van der Velde case, to ensure that their actions are in line with the provisions of the LRA. This case may well be an example of a poorlyadvised employee.

It cannot be emphasised enough that sound advice is necessary before any farreaching decision on employment matters are made. It is less painful to proactively seek alternative opportunities in the marketplace when an employer buyout situation looms, but employees generally desist from this with hopes of securing large severance packages. These packages do not always materialise, and an adverse situation like the case described above may even become an unwelcome reality.