S skills MIND THE
S skills MIND THE [GLOBAL] GAP There is a growing concern among many South Africans that skilled people are leaving the country in droves, choosing to relocate to New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Australia and Mauritius, to name a few. Any discussion about emigration numbers is complicated by the fact that there is no official bureau in South Africa that collects emigration data. Resources from StatsSA, the United Nations International Migrant Stock database, and national statistics offices of foreign nations, however, suggest that upwards of 23 000 people per year are emigrating from South Africa. “People who are emigrating are often skilled and experienced, which is why they can find work abroad. Therefore, it Visas for foreign nationals listed on the CSL are typically processed two to six months faster. This puts companies who urgently need to replace scarce workers not on the list at a disadvantage. is important to be reminded that skills are globally sourced for the economic benefit of those countries and South Africa must compete for scarce skills,” Marisa Jacobs, Director at Xpatweb. Xpatweb has carried out a Critical Skills Survey for the past five years, providing reliable data on the needs of South African businesses. As a result, it was the only private sector organisation invited to present its findings before the Departments involved in compiling the draft list. FOREIGN LANGUAGES: CRITIQUE Foreign language speakers, a role featured in the previous CSL, has been omitted from the current draft list. “Foreign language employees are more valuable than the language they speak and are critical to job creation inside South Africa’s borders,” says Marisa Jacobs, Xpatweb. This skill appears high on the company’s Critical Skills Survey results. Export industry Mary-Ann McCormick, HR Director at Indian Ocean Export Company (IOEC), says foreign language workers are essential to cementing strong business relationships in the firm’s Frenchspeaking market abroad. The company’s business development managers and export coordinators must be fluent in the language to a degree not found in South Africa. “If we are able to source them, they usually don’t have the skillset or experience we demand for the quality of service we must deliver,” she says. Foreign language workers not only communicate complex information fluently but bring with them international experience and an understanding of the unique traits and expectations of IOEC’s target market. McCormick reports that the company previously tried outsourcing these functions to agents in the destination regions but assuring service quality from a distance proved impossible. “For our model to work, our business development managers and export coordinators must be located in-house,” she says. Contact centres Organisations outsourcing their foreign market support function to contact centre operators typically insist that high-quality foreign language consultants be available to their customers. Contact centre services include telephone, chat and email support, as well as website translation and marketing programmes aimed at nominated countries. “These activities require in-depth knowledge of the specific country, its customs, traditions, preferences, nuances and more,” says Sharon Haigh, CEO of Contact Centre Management Group (CCMG), a professional body representing over 2 000 South African contact centres. “Merely being able to speak the language without this knowledge has proven insufficient for our members’ needs,” she says. According to Haigh, the 15% of foreign speakers typically employed at local contact centres ensures those companies can provide jobs to the 85% of local workers who support them. In addition, South Africa has been voted the world’s second most attractive business process outsourcing (BPO) destination for three years running. It can improve this standing by focusing on authentic foreign language support. Tourism Few South African business leaders missed Finance Minister Mboweni’s 2021 Budget Speech in which he called for a focus on job-creating sectors, specifically tourism. Leaders in the tourism field have long complained that a lack of competent foreign language speakers is hurting the industry, especially during peak season. Travellers with money to spend would rather frequent regions where their native tongue is represented. The Department of Tourism has acknowledged this need by offering a two-month course in Mandarin to local tour guides. However, one cannot learn a language effectively in two months and guides make up a small part of the overall business and marketing drive to attract tourists in the first place. Jacobs agrees: “Tourism is a major contributor to the South African economy and native foreign language speakers are strongly linked to growth in that sector.” She adds that preliminary results from Xpatweb’s 2020/21 Critical Skills Survey reveal a significant increase in demand for this role among participants, jumping from 6% last year to 16% in 2021. 30 | Service magazine
skills S Left: Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, City of Cape Town (L) and Mushfiq Hopkins, General Manager of iContact Cape Town. iCONTACT IN CAPE TOWN iContact, a leading BPO provider, officially launched its new Cape Town operation in Paarden Eiland earlier this year. The investment into Cape Town’s burgeoning BPO sector is a strategic development for iContact, which specialises in inbound and outbound customer service and sales, financial services support, customer retention and loyalty management, lead generation and back-office fulfilment predominantly for international business clients based in the US, UK, Europe and Australia. iContact is part of the Alefbet Holdings group which owns numerous collections and customer service BPO providers and employs some 1 500 full-time employees across its operations in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The launch event was attended by Minister David Maynier, Western Cape Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities, and Alderman James Vos, Mayoral Committee Member for Economic Opportunities and Asset Management, City of Cape Town. Cape BPO, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape’s strategic business partner responsible for the growth and development of the BPO industry in the region, BPESA, and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) were also on hand to welcome the investment into Cape Town’s BPO industry, which created almost 3 000 new jobs in 2020 despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Having our operations geographically placed between Cape Town and Johannesburg presents a real win for our client base across diverse industry sectors, and a distinct competitive advantage for our business,” says Clinton Cohen, CEO of iContact BPO. “The combination of our strategic locations, advanced business intelligence tools, data analytics capabilities, skilled leadership and large, educated skills pool with strong English language proficiency present our customers with an unrivalled value proposition.” From an impact sourcing perspective, the growth of Cape Town’s BPO sector is also particularly good news for youth employment, an area where some 50% of young South Africans are unemployed. The BPO sector provides a crucial lifeline for thousands of people, notably previously disadvantaged and disabled young South Africans – who find meaningful and stable employment in this growing industry. “Across our business, impact sourcing is a strategic imperative for us. A key attraction for setting up our operations in Cape Town is the tremendous collaboration that takes place between the public and private sectors to firstly attract overseas companies and investment to our shores by offering an exceptionally strong and efficient BPO sector, and secondly, the ability to create jobs and build careers for marginalised youth in the region through impact sourcing. Cape Town’s BPO sector has much to offer international businesses in this regard, with a very favourable exchange rate. “South Africa is an incredibly attractive option for outsourcing at a time when businesses across the globe are under enormous cost pressures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. South Africa is currently the third-largest offshore location for UK and Australian organisations to onshore service delivery, along with a comparable – if not better – quality of service, cultural affinity and great work ethic of our people. It’s a win-win all round,” concludes Cohen. A key attraction for setting up our operations in Cape Town is the tremendous collaboration that takes place between the public and private sectors. According to Minister Maynier: “The opening of the iContact offices in Cape Town today is a welcome boost for the BPO sector in the Western Cape and demonstrates that the BPO sector is an ‘island of hope’ as it is one of only two sectors that created jobs in the Western Cape last year. Importantly also, the BPO sector is creating jobs for young people in the Western Cape and this is why we are working to create an enabling environment for this sector to grow. In this financial year, we allocated R30-million to provide stipends to 1 000 new BPO agents for on-the-job training in call centres in the Western Cape. Not only have these funds provided opportunities for young people, but also alleviated skills shortages and ensured we remain globally competitive in the BPO sector in the Western Cape.” Clayton Williams, CEO Designate at Cape BPO adds: “We welcome iContact to the Western Cape and look forward to celebrating your success and have no doubt that you will contribute to creating many employment opportunities for our unemployed youth. As Cape BPO, we will walk this journey with you as your partner and want to thank our partners at the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government for their respective contributions to the growth and sustainability of our sector.” • For more information visit www.icontactbpo.co.za Minister David Maynier, Western Cape Provincial Minister of Finance and Economic Opportunities. Service magazine | 31
