The DREADED R WORD

College Africa Group – The DREADED R WORD

Everyone is aware of the current economic dire situation that South Africa is facing and we all appear to be helpless to change this course of direction WITHOUT some form of clarity from the Government on the state of most SEO’s and many Public Companies that have gone the route of enrichment at the Country’s citizens expense and under the watchful eye of the BIG Auditing Companies.

This is not the topic I wish to discuss, but merely laying the facts down in order to discuss the R word, that is being whispered in the many corridors, factory floors, Mines, banks and in every Industry.

RETRENCHMENT

Noun the reduction of costs or spending in response to economic difficulty.

In reality it means another destroyed family with little opportunity to recover from this tragic event.

This implies that the termination of the employee services is on account of external factors not governed by Management or Shareholders. I studied Economics and I can agree to some extent with this premise, however, I believe that this is not the always the case.

Some Companies see this as an opportunity to reduce costs in order to increase profits and get more work out of the remaining employees at the same or lower costs. Employees are replaced by one year interns to comply with BEE legislation and/or outsourced or replaced by AI.

These Interns are not always suitable for immediate integration into the workplace or be productive, refer to our Work Ready Programs.

Our education system is dysfunctional and during economic difficulties many companies stop training and marketing as they are not seen as to be important. Work Skills Plans (WSP) are religiously followed in order to comply with legislation and not much time is spent on the real requirements the actual worker or Company requires.

My assessment is that training is being left to persons with little or no real work experience and have no overview of the Company’s needs and requirements. Senior Management has been replaced or have delegated this most important function to persons mentioned above.

During these poor economic times we should be training so that we have a better skilled workforce which generally means a happy employee with improved performance. One Company we have worked with offered R 12000 training vouchers to every retrenched employee, that should be the norm.

I urge you to review your Company’s training program and the effectiveness thereof on the employees and the Company’s bottom line.

College Africa Group is a National BEE level 2, SETA accredited company and we are prepared to discuss your training needs and make every effort to work within your budget and assist the employee to Discover their Potential.

I look forward to your comments