May 2013.pdf - SABPP

HR o ce
ISSN 2304-8573
The Official Communication for all HR Professionals
May 2013
Worker’s Day Edition
Worker’s Day Edition
sabpp now registered as an npo
Connect with us on twitter: @sabpp1

Inside:
Contact us
3 Board Desk A NEW ERA FOR
• A New Era for HR:
Setting HR standards for South Africa
5 Stakeholder Relations
• HR Internships
• Open days In-house presentations
• NPO Registration with Department
of Social Development
6 HRRI
• Neuroscience and the Three Brains
of Leadership
• Book Review: Flourish
• ASTD Annual Survey Report
• Research into Bullying at Work
• Training and Employment
for People with Disabilities
8 Professional Services
• Workers’ Day 2013:
A message from all SABPP workers
• Registration matters
• Advertising HR jobs
• Mentoring committee
• HR Standards Summit:
21 MAY 2013
• Global L&D Lessons For South Africa:
23 May 2013
• HR Business Partnering and Metrics
Breakfast Session: Cape Town
• Ethics Committee
• Professional Registration Committee
needs more members
• New Professional Registration
Certificates
• How to Register as an HR
Professional
• SABPP Gauteng Committee Events
on 4 and 14 June
• Ethics Tip-Offs
• Welcome to all student members
12 Learning and Quality
Assurance
• The Power of Learnerships
- Getting young people working
2
Learning & Quality Assurance
Naren Vassan
naren@sabpp.co.za
Research
Penny Abbott
penny@sabpp.co.za
Marketing & Stakeholder Relations
Kenneth Nxumalo
kenneth@sabpp.co.za
Professional Services
Sithembele Stofile
sithembele@sabpp.co.za
Professional Registrations
Tshwarelo Mothopeng
professional@sabpp.co.za
Social media
Jaco du Plessis
voice@sabpp.co.za
1st Floor,
Rossouws Attorneys Building
8 Sherborne Rd, Parktown
PO Box 2450, Houghton, 2041
South Africa
T: +27 11 482 8595
F: +27 11 482 4830
Twitter: @SABPP1
www.sabpp.co.za
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CONTRIBUTORS
Siphiwe Moyo
Janessa Leita

BOARD DESK
A NEW ERA FOR HR: SETTING HR STANDARDS FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Siphiwe Moyo,
Chairman: SABPP
Welcome to the
Workers’ Day edition
of HR Voice. We
celebrate worker rights
and responsibilities.
As you know, SABPP
has a new Board,
and the new Board
members have
chartered a new era
for HR in South Africa
by launching a project
to develop the first
set of HR standards
for South Africa.
The purpose of the
initiative is to lead and
assist HR managers in generating integrated standards
and metrics for the HR function aligned to business
strategy. HR management system standards are needed
to set a national benchmark of good practice and a
consistent way of managing HR functions and people in
organisations. HR metrics refer to tangible measures that
show the impact of HR on the bottom-line of the business.
Without a national set of standards, all current efforts at
benchmarking and benchmarks are meaningless.
Other professions like accounting and engineering
have clear standards for professional practice, but the
same cannot be said of HR. Accountants present their
companies and clients with a consistent approach to the
financial aspects of a company. They all conform to GAAP
(Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) and this unified
standards framework ensures consistency and credibility.
For example, balance sheets and income statements are
done in the same way, no matter the type of company
or industry, and this consistent approach is prevalent
throughout South Africa.
However, there are many inconsistencies in the standard
of HR work within organisations, between organisations,
within and across sectors and nationally. These
inconsistencies are based on a variance in standards
at best, and the absence of standards at worst. This
results in poor people management practices at most
organisations costing them dearly, despite some pockets
of excellence at leading companies. However, this will
change with this national HR standards project.
SABPP in association with HR Future and several other
professional associations will generate HR functional
standards (for example for workforce planning, learning,
performance management), tangible HR metrics, as
well as standards for integrated reporting. SABPP will
drive this process and stay in close contact with the
HR community in ensuring that they are involved in the
generation of HR standards, as well as supporting them
with the necessary capacity-building when applying these
standards in practice. The HR Standards Project will kickoff
on 21 May with 13 national standards being created for
each one of the building blocks of the SABPP HR System
Standards Model (see figure below).
The SABPP HR System Standards Model encompasses
the four phases of all good quality management practice,
i.e. prepare, implement, review and improve. The three
standards components are HR-business alignment at the
strategic level, the functional and cross-functional HR
value chain, as well as measuring HR success. Within
these three standards components, the 13 HR standards
are as follows:
1. Strategic HRM
2. Talent management
3. HR Risk Management
4. Workforce planning
5. Learning & Development
6. Performance management
7. Reward
8. Wellness
9. Employment Relations Management
10. Organisation Development
11. HR Service Delivery
12. HR Technology
13. Measuring HR Success
continued...
3

BOARD DESK
A NEW ERA FOR HR: SETTING HR STANDARDS FOR SOUTH AFRICA continued...
The SABPP HR Standards and Metrics project will focus
on the following three short-term phases:
Phase 1 constitutes the development of the standards. A
group of 130 HR directors will meet on 21 May to write the
standards. This will be an interactive process culminating
in a set of draft standards.
Phase 2 consists of sharing the draft standards with the
public and broader professional community for comments
and inputs (June – July). These comments will be
integrated to improve the draft standards.
Phase 3 will be the highlight of the project when the
standards will be released at South Africa’s first National
HR Standards Conference. The final standards will be
published into a standards book and presented at the
conference from 20-22 August.
As Chairperson of SABPP, I am very excited about this
major milestone in the history of HR in South Africa. It
is my vision that we should all collaborate in setting and
raising the standard of HR work, irrespective of our area of
specialisation. We ask the HR professional community to
support this ground-breaking initiative by co-designing the
first set of HR standards for the country. Moreover, once
the standards are available we will all be implementers of
the standards. The HR standards project will elevate HR
to the level of other professions and provide a common
platform for driving sound HR practice at all workplaces.
Kindly support our alliance partner, HR Future, and SABPP
CEO Marius Meyer with this exciting project. We will use
the winter season to generate the standards that will be
available before spring, when a new season and new era
for HR will emerge – a time for quality, consistency and
excellence. We look forward to your involvement on this
exciting journey.
Siphiwe Moyo, Chairperson of SABPP, is also a
motivational speaker and Senior Learning & Development
Manager at Nedbank. HR Managers and Directors
interested in the project can contact HR Future on
alan@hrfuture.net or SABPP on marius@sabpp.co.za
or follow them on twitter @SABPP1. More information
about SABPP is available on www.sabpp.co.za.
4

stakeholder relations
During the last month SABPP interacted with dozens of stakeholders throughout
South Africa. Not only were our skills development road-shows with SAQA and
the QCTO a huge success, we also liaised with several other stakeholders such as
learning providers, students, academics, alliance partners and HR managers.
HR INTERNSHIPS
Working with the National Youth
Development Agency and HR Support
Solutions, SABPP is proud to announce
that the first pilot programme for HR
Internships at Small Businesses has
been launched. HR managers who are
able to place HR interns can contact
marjie@hrss.co.za. Likewise, HR
students are also most welcome to
submit their CVs to Margie.
NPO REGISTRATION WITH
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
We are proud to announce that
SABPP has been registered with the
Department of Social Development as a
Non-Profit Organisation in accordance
with the NPO Act. Our registration
number is 117-218 NPO.
OPEN DAYS
IN-HOUSE PRESENTATIONS
The SABPP team members are
available to visit your organisation
to share progress with key projects,
and to help HR teams to register as
professionals in accordance with the
NQF Act. Last month we visited a
number of leading organisations such
as MTN, Transnet, African Rainbow
Minerals and the Department of Labour.
To arrange a visit to your company,
please contact Kenneth on
kenneth@sabpp.co.za
5

hrri
Published by
KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES
Featured article from the latest edition
of Human Capital Review http://www.
humancapitalreview.org/content/
NEUROSCIENCE AND
THE THREE BRAINS OF
LEADERSHIP
The complex issues and adaptive
challenges facing organisations today
require a far more generative response
than simply devising innovative strategies
and new business models. New
strategies, developed and executed from
conditioned ways of being and thinking
predictably, end up back in status
quo. What is required is a new form
of leadership. Not a new approach to
leadership, but a new form.
This new form is not about a particular
leadership style or “type” of leadership.
It’s about the leaders themselves and
their ability to emerge new levels of
consciousness and wisdom in their
decision-making, write Grant Soosalu
and Marvin Oka.
Knowledge Resources has generously
made a free subscription to this valuable
on-line journal available to SABPP
registered professionals. Email
hrri@sabpp.co.za to sign up.
Professor Martin Seligman was in
South Africa last November for the FNB
Progress Conference on Happiness
@ Work. The leader of the Positive
Psychology movement and originator of
the concept of Learned Helplessness,
Dr Seligman is a prolific author in the
field of self-improvement and positive
psychology. In this latest book, he
builds on his Authentic Happiness
Theory and elaborates on how to
achieve well-being and to flourish in
life. He has, through the extensive
academic research for which he
is renowned, identified five pillars
which together build well-being. The
five pillars are: Positive Emotion;
Engagement; Relationships; Meaning;
and Accomplishments.
None of these can be addressed in
isolation, and if one pillar is missing,
well-being in its fullest sense cannot be
achieved. His most encouraging finding
is that each of these pillars is teachable,
and he has wonderful examples from
many walks of life, including prepubescent
children, drill sergeants in
the US Army and from corporate life.
The book deals also with the ways
to flourish and in this section he
introduces his concept of GRIT, which
he sees as more than self-discipline
BOOK REVIEW: FLOURISH
and resilience – it is the combination
of very high persistence with a high
passion for an objective. He also deals
with turning trauma into growth and
discusses the biology of optimism –
how optimism can produce positive
physical improvements.
At the end of the book is his Signature
Strengths Test which allows the reader
to measure his or her strengths and
to compare them to global norms
on the website. There is also a very
comprehensive list of references which
can lead the reader to a wealth of
literature on the subject.
R208 from Exclusive Books website www.exclus1ves.co.za
ASTD ANNUAL SURVEY REPORT
This survey covering learning and
development benchmarks is now available
in CD format.
It can be purchased through the website for
a member price of R100 including VAT.
The CD contains, in addition to the
full research report, a set of slides for
presentation in-house at your organisation.
6

hrri
RESEARCH INTO BULLYING AT WORK
Are you bullied at work?
• Have you ever been bullied at
work?
• Do you know someone who is
bullied, or has been bullied at
work?
• Are you an HR professional
currently employed in the private
sector in general, and financial
sector in particular?
If you answered ‘yes’ to one, or
more of the above questions and are
willing to share your experiences,
you are invited to participate in an
academic study conducted by a
Doctoral student in Organisational
Behaviour at the University of
Pretoria.
The research will be conducted
through face-to-face interviews in
Gauteng or telephonic interviews in
the rest of the country. If you are
interested to find out more about this
study, please contact Ngao Motsei on
082 414 7935, or by e-mail on ngao.
motsei@gmail.com.
Her cut-off date is mid-May 2013.
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT
FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Last October, the Services SETA
convened a workshop with various
stakeholders to discuss how to
improve the levels of absorption
of persons with disabilities into the
South African labour market and the
services sector in particular. Penny
Abbott represented the SABPP at
this workshop.
Presentations from the Departments
of Labour and Higher Education
and Training covered several
government programmes for funding
and providing access to training and
development opportunities for people
with disabilities.
However, many of the Disabled
People’s Organisations present
at the workshop emphasized that
the key objective is for people with
disabilities to enter the workplace,
not to continually be trained.
its website, “a body constituted by
employers who are committed to
addressing issues confronting the
integration of people with disabilities
in the workplace.
We have joined together as a group
to share our experiences, develop
best practices, confront and tackle
prejudices that act as barriers to the
integration of people with disabilities
in the workplace, and form a common
understanding of the challenges and
solutions required to fully develop the
potential of people with disabilities
to contribute meaningfully to society
and business.”
In view of the dismal lack of progress
in achieving employment equity
targets for people with disabilities,
HR professionals should find out
more about how the SAE4D can
assist them.
SABPP PARTNERS WITH
BUSINESSBRIEF MAGAZINE
SABPP is proud to announce that,
as a professional service benefit,
we have negotiated online copies
of BusinessBrief magazine at no
charge, on an ongoing basis.
This falls in line with the fact that
BusinessBrief has been accredited
by SABPP for CPD/E (Continuing
Professional Development/
Education) purposes.
For your information, BusinessBrief
is a Business Management
Magazine that provides decisionmakers
in business with the
information they need to make
better business decisions.
There are ten regular sections
that contain articles dealing with
the management issues that
affect and influence business
decision-making.
In order to take advantage
of this offer, please click
on the following link:
CLICK HERE
http://www.bbrief.co.za/voucher
and then insert the following
voucher number: BPP13AM
NOTE: This voucher is only valid
until 31 May 2013
Dr Jerry Gule, GM for HR and
Transformation at Total, gave a
presentation in his capacity as
Chair of an organization called
SA Employers for Disability
(www.sae4d.co.za). This
organization, comprised mainly of
large employers, is, according to
The SABPP is compiling a resource
to help employers gain access
to people with disabilities as
employees. If any of our members
has any particular interest in this
area and can offer a case study or
other information, please contact
penny@sabpp.co.za.
7

professional services
WORKERS’ DAY 2013: A MESSAGE FROM ALL SABPP WORKERS
The 1st of May is Workers’ Day. Leo
Tolstoy said “work is the inevitable
condition of human life, the true
source of human welfare.” As we
reflect upon the role of workers in
society, we are reminded of the
enormous progress that has been
made. The reality is that up to the
middle of the twentieth century,
work was characterised by slavery,
exploitation, discrimination and
the gross violation of human and
worker’s rights all over the world.
Jeremy Cronin reminds us of the
perpetuation of inequalities in certain
sectors of the South African economy.
He states in the Sunday Times:
“Black workers and the urban poor
continue to be hugely disadvantaged
by their geographical marginalization
in dormitory townships.”
The history of the Workers’ Day goes
back to the 1886 Haymarket Affair in
Chicago, (USA) where police tried
to disperse a large crowd of striking
workers who were demanding shorter
hours of work. A bomb was thrown
at the policemen by an unidentified
assailant resulting in the law
enforcers firing live ammunition at the
defenceless crowd.
Since then this day has been used
by the working class across the
world to emphasise the need for
fair labour practices and conditions
of employment. In South Africa on
Workers Day we celebrate the role
played by trade unions and other
labour movements in the struggle
against apartheid.
However, over the last three decades
across the world, there was more
progress in workers’ rights than in
the history of work before. The recent
trend toward an employment value
proposition, very often reflected in
awards such as “the best company
to work for”, signifies a shift towards
a full realisation of the importance of
creating a work environment where
employees can flourish, as employers
realize that this contributes directly to
the “bottom line”. We can now reflect
on the 3 R’s we celebrate today:
• Rights: Today workers have rights
in many countries, and these
rights are enshrined in national
constitutions, national bill of rights
in many nations, international labour
standards and a focus on decent
work, taken through to national
labour legislation, codes and
regulations. In certain areas, such
as health and safety, significant
progress has been made in most
parts of the world.
• Responsibilities: Despite the focus
on worker rights, most employees
realise that they have a coresponsibility
with management
to make a meaningful contribution
to productivity in workplaces.
For instance, without the active
contribution of workers, safety at
work will remain a pipedream.
• Results: Workers have contributed
to performance, sustained their
families, provided products and
services to customers, grown their
companies and industries, as well
as societies and economies. While
management, with the support
of high level specialists such as
engineers and architects, designed
and planned the construction of
buildings, not a single building
would have arisen without the sweat
and meticulous hard work of labour.
In celebrating the above, we are
reminded that we need to continue
striving towards exercising our rights,
accepting our responsibilities, and
achieving results. At times, further
sacrifices may be needed to achieve
an optimum balance between rights,
8
responsibilities and results.
However, work and the workplace
has changed dramatically over the
last five years given unprecedented
advances in technology. The
question is whether workers have
also changed. Are we as workers
and employers ready for the
technological revolution spearheaded
by advanced technological innovation
and the explosion of social media?
The latter phenomenon has already
toppled governments through the
power of instant communication,
connection and engagement as
the new source of individualised
and collective empowerment and
democratisation.
Despite fair labour laws and the gains
made by workers in recent times,
the reality is that workers still face
significant challenges that could take
decades to resolve:
• The pursuit of equal opportunities
is an ongoing reality worldwide, and
not a single government can proudly
proclaim that inequality in terms of
race, gender, disability and other
forms of discrimination has been
eliminated completely.
• Courts are kept very busy with
continuous labour disputes based
on poor working conditions and
other forms of unfair labour
practices.
• Child labour, abuse of women and
lack of opportunity for people with
disabilities still occur in many parts
of the world.
• While advances in safety have
been made, accidents still occur
resulting in injuries and loss of life.
Notwithstanding this progress, it is
now a reality that more workers die
from poor health (caused by poor
lifestyle, poverty, and diseases)
than from injuries at work.
• Skills and talent shortages are
continued...

professional services
WORKERS’ DAY 2013: A MESSAGE FROM ALL SABPP WORKERS continued
perpetuated all over the world through lack of access to education and
development opportunities, making it difficult for many employees to realise
their full potential.
• The explosion in executive pay over the last decade exacerbates pay gaps
between the highest and lowest earners in society.
• World-wide, the level of unionisation is decreasing, and this mean that
protection and advancement of workers’ rights needs to be handled
differently.
• Although significant progress has been made regarding gender equity,
flexible work practices appear to be the exception rather than the norm and
an appropriate work-life balance is often not achieved.
• The recent trend toward indigenisation in certain countries could limit
opportunities for expatriates and fuel xenophobia, especially in the light of
the increased globalisation of workforces and workplaces everywhere.
• Youth unemployment has risen in many parts of the world, and if not
addressed will widen the gap between the employed and the unemployed,
thereby threatening political stability in many countries.
But what exactly should employers do to show their commitment to worker
rights and empowerment? The SA Board for People Practices proposes the
following key actions:
1. Identify factors which will help to create a people-driven organisation
culture where each employee can realise his or her potential. If people
really are your most important asset, treat them as such.
2. Ensure compliance to international labour codes, such as the labour
standards of the International Labor Organization, in all countries where
you do business.
3. Review all HR and other policies in your organisation to ensure
compliance to all labour laws, codes and standards. Best employers
are already proud to announce that they exceed the minimum labour
standards.
4. Assess your company’s contribution to the socio-economic landscape, the
lives of workers, and the communities in which you operate.
5. Create a personal development plan for all employees. Show them how
they can create a career and better themselves.
6. Review the gap between the highest and lowest earners and ensure fair
and market-related salaries where possible. Consider how equitable the
profit sharing in the business is and think about how to introduce profit
and productivity schemes.
7. Eliminate all forms of direct and indirect discrimination in the workplace.
8. Invest in skills development as the major source of worker empowerment.
9. Recognise and celebrate worker achievements, not only at work, but also
in their personal lives.
10. Involve workers in the process of creating sustainable organisations, not
only for our own organisational growth, but to sustain the earth for future
generations.
As Menander stated:
“He who works diligently need
never despair; for all things are
accomplished by diligence and
labour.”
Stronger employer-employee
collaboration is needed to assist
workers and companies in dealing with
economic challenges. A more mature
employer and employee are needed
in the modern work environment.
Likewise, both parties need to realise
that they have a wider more allencompassing
role to play, and that is
to contribute to worker empowerment,
socio-economic development and
sustainability. Let us continue to
advance worker empowerment to grow
people, economies and nations.
This article was written by all
the workers of the SA Board for
People Practices (SABPP), the HR
professional and quality assurance
body of South Africa.
You can follow SABPP on twitter @
SABPP1 or visit their website on
www.sabpp.co.za
SABPP published a position paper
on decent work, and copies can be
downloaded from its website http://
www.sabpp.co.za/contingent-workforces-and-decent-work-positionpaper-2012/.
Yes, we should celebrate workers’ day, not only today, but every day.
We need to acknowledge that worker rights have to be balanced with
responsibilities.
continued...
9

professional services
REGISTRATION MATTERS
At this time of year, many enquiries
regarding new memberships are
received. Please encourage your
colleagues who have not yet registered
with us to visit the website pages
which answer all the questions about
registration. http://www.sabpp.
co.za/professional-services/be-aprofessional/
ADVERTISING HR JOBS
HR jobs can be advertised very costeffectively
on our website, reaching
the thousands of HR practitioners who
visit the site every month. Contact
Kenneth Nxumalo to advertise
Kenneth@sabpp.co.za.
MENTORING COMMITTEE
The Mentoring Committee met during
February and approved the new
Candidate Programme. The final report
on the Mentoring pilot project for other
levels of HR professionals showed
that the programme design developed
through this Committee works very
well and can be rolled out. Further
communications regarding this will follow
over the next few months.
GLOBAL L&D LESSONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA: 23 MAY 2013
During 2011 and 2012 a number of HR
and L&D leaders from some of South
Africa’s leading companies embarked
on a tour to learn from companies
considered as global leaders. In 2011
the trip went to New York and Boston
and visited organisations such as IBM,
Citi Group, P&G, Harvard, Siemens
US and Deloitte amongst others. In
2012 a different group went to Paris
and London and visited organisations
such as Total, Schneider Electric,
L’Oreal, Insead in Paris and Accenture,
HSBC, Rio Tinto, SAB Miller, Vodafone,
Shell and Cranfield Business School
amongst others. A number of themes
and lessons emerged from these
visits. Programme leader, Terry Meyer
MHRP, will be sharing his insights at
a free breakfast session to held at
Wits Business School and hosted by
WBS, HR Future and the SABPP on
23rd May 2013. Please contact us on
executiveoffice@sabpp.co.za should
you be interested to join us at this
event.
HR BUSINESS PARTNERING AND METRICS
BREAKFAST SESSION: CAPE TOWN
24 May 2013
SABPP Happening in the Western Cape –
Come Meet Fellow HR Professionals
The SABPP Western Cape Committee
is hosting its first event. All Capetonians
are invited to join us for a breakfast and
take advantage of the opportunity to
hear from a top industry expert and to
meet other Western Cape-based Human
Resource professionals.
HR Business Partner at SABMiller.
She will present a case study on HR
Business Partnering and HR Metrics at
SABMiller. We will also share the model
for the SABPP National HR Standards
and Metrics Project with the Western
Cape HR Community.
HR STANDARDS SUMMIT:
21 MAY 2013
The highlight of the month is the SABPP
HR Standards Summit to be held on 21
May. HR Directors of leading companies
will get together to develop the first set
of HR standards for South Africa. We
thank HR Future for the support with this
exciting initiative. HR Executives who
are interested to join us for the summit
to develop HR standards can contact
the SABPP office on executiveoffice@
sabpp.co.za or (011) 482 8595. Once
the standards have been developed
and signed-off by the HR and business
community, it will be officially launched at
the first National HR Standards Summit
on 20-22 August, please diarise this date
so long, more details will follow soon.
You will learn about HR best
practices from one of South Africa’s
top companies (SABMiller) and be
introduced to the new National HR
Standards and Metrics Project.
The guest speaker will be Barbara Pinto,
The price is only R140 for SABPP
members and R240 for non-members.
To book your seat, contact Bongi on
bongi@sabpp.co.za or (011) 482
8595. SABPP would like to thank
Rainbow Chicken and Metropolitan for
sponsoring the event for us.
10

professional services
The Ethics Committee met under its
new Chair, Pauls Gibbons, during
February. A plan of action for 2013
was agreed, including:
a. Reaching out to the broader HR/
business community. This will be
done through articles, for SABPP
publications, newspapers and
magazines; a new DVD on ethics
in business including interviews
with leading advocates for ethics;
and launching SABPP HR Ethics
workshops for members and
Given the large number of exhibitions
and company visits we had over the
last two months, a significant increase
in new registrations is expected over
the next quarter. Our committee
therefore needs some additional
NEW PROFESSIONAL
REGISTRATION
CERTIFICATES
To those of you who have registered
as professionals prior to our
rebranding in 2012, you are most
welcome to request a new rebranded
certificate at a cost of R125 only.
Please contact Tshwarelo on (011)
482 8595 or professional@sabpp.
co.za to request a new certificate.
ETHICS COMMITTEE
students.
b. Building an ethics toolkit for the
website.
c. Building alliances and linkages,
initially with Ethics SA and
Corruption Watch.
We are looking for a sponsor to print
a large stock of our Ethics Guide so
that we can distribute it widely. If any
of our members think their employer
would like to sponsor this worthy
effort, please contact
Kenneth@sabpp.co.za.
PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION COMMITTEE
NEEDS MORE MEMBERS
capacity. Should you be interested
to join our professional registration
committee sitting the last Wednesdays
of the month (from 12:00 – 14:00),
please contact Sithembele Stofile on
sithembele@sabpp.co.za
HOW TO REGISTER
AS AN HR
PROFESSIONAL
Please contact our office on
professional@sabpp.co.za
and we will gladly assist you in
registering as an HR professional.
Alternatively, you can
download the application form
at www.sabpp.co.za
SABPP GAUTENG COMMITTEE
EVENTS ON 4 AND 14 JUNE
The SABPP Gauteng Committee is
ready to meet Gauteng HR professionals
at two special breakfast events planned
for 4 June (Johannesburg) and 14 June
(Pretoria).
Should you be interested to attend any
of these sessions, please let us know
on bongi@sabpp.co.za Welcome
to the new vice-chair of our Gauteng
Committee, Cabangile Sithole CHRP,
HR Manager at Nampak.
ETHICS TIP-OFFS
SABPP urges all stakeholders to report
any potential ethical risk involving a
SABPP staff or board member, registered
professional, supplier, client or training
provider to ethics@sabpp.co.za.
We appreciate the two complaints
involving professionals received last
month. Investigations are currently being
done regarding these matters.
WELCOME TO
ALL STUDENT MEMBERS
There has been a significant increase
in student members over the last
month, and welcome to all new SABPP
students. Students can contact us on
bongi@sabpp.co.za
bbrief.co.za is a portal where business decision makers can access
business resources in South Africa that effect their decision making ...

learning and quality assurance
THE POWER OF LEARNERSHIPS - GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE WORKING
JANESSA LEITA – CEO SIYANQOBA PRIVATE FET COLLEGE
For many young people desperate to
get their foot on the first rung of the
career ladder the biggest obstacles
they face include not having the
means to study and improve their
academic and social skills and having
no way to build essential experience
because no one will hire “green”
recruits.
Many of these young people are
eager to prove their worth but don’t
get an opportunity to realise their
full potential and all too quickly they
are past the critical 35-year old
barrier and it then becomes virtually
impossible to escape the ranks of the
unemployed.
It is estimated that there are more
than 4.5 million unemployed people
in South Africa with over 500 000 of
these unemployed graduates and
more than 500 000 unemployed
matriculants. The hard reality is that
Government alone cannot solve the
unemployment problem.
They can create a foundation and
put in place the right policies and
legislation but it is ultimately up to
South African Businesses to step into
the void and help get South Africans
working through initiatives like the
EOH Job Creation Initiative.
EOH CEO, Asher Bohbot, who
masterminded this initiative says:
“A year ago we started with the
job-creation initiative which aimed
to encourage businesses to take
unemployed youth into their
organisations on learnerships and
internships.
We took placed 620 young people
into a year-long programme which
finished at the end of February. We
have given over 400 of the original
intake permanent jobs, and the other
200 that we can’t keep will be put on
new programmes or placed with our
clients.
This programme will be rerun in our
own organisation and more and more
of our business partners are also
taking on the challenge.”
The main areas of the EOH Job
Creation Initiative are the promotion
of internship and learnership
programmes; the repatriation of
jobs offshored to other countries
and working with Government to
mobilise business to take advantage
of incentive schemes for job creation.
Finally the initiative also aims to
encourage business to invest more
in South Africa which will result in job
creation.
The project hopes to repatriate
5000 offshored jobs and create 3000
jobs through provision of offshoring
services abroad and ultimately it
hopes to create 10 000 internships
and 10 000 learnerships.
Learnerships are a critical component
of the initiative. They offer a
structured learning environment and
the formal assessment process that
offers new entrants to the worldof-work
the chance to demonstrate
their commitment to learning and
their insatiable hunger to succeed
and contribute to their employer’s
success.
continued...
12

learning and quality assurance
THE POWER OF LEARNERSHIPS - GETTING YOUNG PEOPLE WORKING continued
Learnerships are implemented onsite
with host employers and, learners
can achieve full qualifications
registered on the National
Qualifications Framework (NQF),
through accredited private training
providers.
These interventions have three
specific pillars which ensure they are
balanced, relevant and worthwhile:
theory classes, workplace experience
and self-study.
A unique advantage of learnerships
is that they are work-based and
delivered onsite, and can therefore
be customised within the context
of the employers organisational
strategic objectives and goals, as well
as the relevant sector and industry
best practices and standards.
Findings from the collaboration
of relevant SETAs and host
organisations show that amongst
learnership benefits is the sharing
of industry good-practices with their
learners - from good communication
and people skills, excellent product
knowledge and the ability to solve
problems as they arise.
For learners, they get to build a
credible CV and their confidence
in practical skills like call-handling,
problem solving and business
communication skills is significantly
enhanced.
A key component in successfully
running learnerships is for
organisations to partner with
accredited training providers. These
providers need to be accredited
through various organisations such
as SETA, Umalusi, the QCTO and
DoHET. Their organisational ethics,
processes and sustainability is
scrutinised and evaluated at every
level, at least once a year and
this ensures that learners enrolled
through them get top-quality,
industry-endorsed training.
The good news is that SETA’s have
funding available for members
through the Skill Development
Levies Act and Discretionary Grants.
Learnerships score points on the BEE
Scorecard under both Employment
Equity and Skills Development. Each
element is worth a maximum of 15
points each. There is also the SARS
Tax Rebate under Section 12H of the
Income Tax Act if the Learnership
is a registered learnership with
the Department of Labour and the
agreements are formally registered
with the SETA.
This Tax Rebate is calculated per
learner, with an Annual Allowance per
year of the learnership or pro rata for
the portion thereof, and on another
allowance on completion of the
Learnership. This could, for example,
translate into a R100 000.00 Tax
Rebate per disabled learner on a
one-year learnership.
In the long term, South African
businesses will benefit in a variety of
ways from hosting learnerships:
• increased productivity amongst
skilled staff
• increased relevant skill base and
talent pool
• rewarded and recognised staff
that make a difference in the
organisation
• facilitated loyalty and respect
Learnerships are a powerful,
effective and extremely worthwhile
way to grow the skills in your
organisation and benefit from the
rebates offered by government. By
partnering with the right team they
can also be simple to implement and
administrate.
For more information on learnerships
please contact Siyanqoba Private
FET on 012 998 3668 or email
training@siyanqoba.co.za.
For more information on the EOH
Youth Job Creation Project please
contact Elmarie Esterhuyse:
Elmarie.jobreation@eoh.co.za.
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