Media

There is growing opposition from all sectors of business and industry to the government’s draft legislation in three major bills before parliament. These include the Labour Relations Act (LRA), Employment Equity Act (EEA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA).

Nritika Singh, MD of Isilumko Staffing, a national recruitment company, which offers temporary, flexible and permanent staff, comments, “As part of the recruitment industry we would like to add our voice to the mounting opposition and concern over draft legislation before parliament, which includes major amendments to current Acts, as well as an entirely new Act.

Many South African companies faced the challenge of staff turnover and absenteeism in 2010. Last year the situation was compounded by the FIFA Soccer World Cup and the ‘flu epidemic that hit the country during the winter months. This trend is likely to continue into 2011 and is especially prevalent at the blue collar worker level.  Staff absenteeism can in some instances be as high as 10% of the workforce at any given time. What is the solution to this situation?  

Nritika Singh, managing director of Isilumko Staffing (IS), a national recruitment company, which offers temporary, flexible and permanent staff, says, “One of our company’s goals is to offer our clients added value, by providing solutions to their internal staffing problems. Staff absenteeism, which is a common phenomenon in this country, can have a ripple effect on the entire operation of a business. By not having a full staff complement at all times individuals who do not turn up for shift work for example, can compromise the whole production process.

Since 2004, Magnet Communications has been naming South Africa’s IDEAL companies to work for through their annual research survey as nominated by some 38,700 participating students, MBA graduates and professionals.  The awards form an integral part of most leading company’s skills retention strategy to ensure they attract and retain the very best South African talent.

Bearing testament to the highly successful strategic marketing partnership between National Health Laboratory Service and Isilumko Media; NHLS has for the first time since the inception of the IDEAL Awards, been ranked as a preferred employer in the Sciences category.  At the award ceremony held in Sandton on 3  December 2010; the NHLS received 3rd place after the Department of Health and CSIR.

Matrics and final year university undergraduates are currently writing their exams and some may be in the job market early next year. How will they fare?

According to Nritika Singh, Managing Director of Isilumko Staffing, there is a widely held belief by many clients looking to fill staff vacancies, that unless a candidate is the perfect fit with the required experience in a particular field, they will not be considered for employment.

Singh says, “South Africa desperately needs skills in certain industries, yet we have found that while there are a great number of these newly graduated candidates, clients tend not to consider what the candidate is capable of doing, but rather than what experience they actually have. This means that clients are regularly rejecting really great candidates (with and without experience) due to them not fitting in the box perfectly.

Now in its 7th year, the Top Women Awards has been active in gender empowerment through the recognition of local leaders in empowerment paving the future for an equitable professional environment.   More than an event; the ceremony held on 09 September 2010 was a culmination of the pursuit of excellence by women, for women and for the country.  Isilumko (Isilumko Staffing and Isilumko Media), upon our first year of participation, was nominated for two awards:  Top Business and Top Gender Empowered Awards and in an encouraging and inspiring turn of events this year, walked away with one of the coveted awards of the evening; Top Gender Empowered Company in the Business Support Services Category, as well as being a finalist in the Top Woman Owned Company category.

The Western Cape workplace has traditionally had a stigma attached to it for being a difficult environment for Black African executives to successfully integrate into, when  relocating from other parts of the country.   

According to Steve Katz, Director of Isilumko Staffing and their specialist accounting and financial services recruitment division Isilumko Accounting, this view has been widely expressed by the Black African executives with whom they interact. He says that many of Isilumko Accountants’ corporate clients have sought advice on how best to attract African executive talent and to implement retention strategies.

The position with regard to possible new labour legislation is that the Labour Minister is currently busy drafting a Bill for the further regulation of the staffing industry. There has been recent public mention by the Minister that the banning of the industry is not on the cards.

Despite depressing global economic conditions and the gloomy forecast for the job market in the short term, there are some industries in South Africa which still offer enormous opportunities for school leavers and candidates who may have completed some form of tertiary education.

The use of Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter and other internet networking sites for recruitment is a growing trend worldwide, says Nritika Singh, MD of Isilumko Staffing.

The South African economy has slowed down significantly as a result of the global economic meltdown. One of the consequences is large-scale downsizing of many businesses, which in turn has led to retrenchments. According to Nritika Singh, MD of Isilumko Staffing, the present circumstances may bring about a reversal of the trend that has developed over the past five years…