To view a larger version of the cartoon online, click here.

We would like to invite all our readers to take part in our current Refer a Colleague Campaign ...and get a free electronic copy of the following templates:

• Pro forma performance contract for employment equity manager
• Disciplinary hearing guidelines & fair decision guides
• Resource pack for Talent Management
• Toolkit for workplace substance abuse

Workinfo offers two NEW exceptional courses for the HR practitioner that will ensure that you stay ahead of the game.

Workforce and Succession Planning

• Do you have a workforce and succession plan for your organisation?
• Do you have people in your organization that are indispensable? Would losing them create a hole that would be hard to fill?
• Do you have enough skilled workers to meet the future requirements of your organisation?

If not, Workinfo can assist you by training your Workforce and Succession Planning Committee so that they can have the right people, across the organisation, in the right place at the right time. Succession planning is an important subset of workforce planning and ensures that you have the right leadership in place at every level of the organisation.

Developing a HR Business Strategy

• Can your organisation's internal capability meet the requirements of your organisation's business strategy?
• Have you identified what skills your organisation will require 10 years from now?

Don't let your HR department get left behind by the business. Start planning your own HR Business Strategy now!

In this course by Workinfo we cover:

1. A guide to strategic human resource planning
2. How to make your HR Strategy integral to the organisation
3. Form a strategic human resource planning model
4. Analysis
5. Setting the strategic direction
6. Designing the Human Resource Management System
7. Planning the total workforce
8. Generating the required human resources
9. Investing in human resource development and performance

To book your team on either of these important courses - please contact Shani Cullabine.

Courses and workshops currently run by Workinfo.com:

• HR Business Strategy
• Workforce and Succession Planning
• Workplace HR Communication
• Communications for Communications and Public Relations Practitioners
• Managing for Diversity
• Employment Equity Committee Training
• Wage Negotiation Management Support
• Managing Employee Discipline and Dismissal
• Workplace Violence Prevention
• Industrial Relations

Courses and workshops soon to come:

• Interpersonal Skills - Transactional Analysis (2 days)
• Mentoring Skills
• Coaching Skills

South African business is currently awash with an unprecedented range of new initiatives - some borrowed, some home-grown, as we try to find the key that will unlock our competitive potential - transformation, Ubuntu, restructuring, downsizing, restyling, rightsizing, rightstyling...

The fact that there is a positive correlation between the increase in employment and an increase in unemployed graduates, remains puzzling to the most astute economists.

Quick recap: The first step in saving HR - establishing a Talent Department run by the Chief Talent Officer. The second step is to get rid of the nickel-and-dime stuff - the traditional, unimportant, uninspiring personnel administrivia. Step Three is just as important: getting rid of the knucklehead stuff...

The world's first studies on unconditional laughter confirm that laughter sessions at work can significantly reduce stress and increase work effectiveness.

Management training should be interesting, fun and exciting and it can only be that way for you if it is designed to suit your particular learning style.

Sponsored by Perrott Van Niekerk Woodhouse Inc. & Caselaw.co.za.

Tuesdays @ 20:45 Repeats on Thursdays @ 21:45 and Fridays @ 06:45.

The following programmes are now on the Caselaw.co.za and Workinfo.com websites available as webcasts:

• Interview with Jimmy Manyi, Head of the Employment Equity Commission
• Sexual harassment and employment law. Simon Coleman interviews Marylyn Christianson (Associate Professor of Law)
• Who is an employee? - Simon Coleman interviews Rob Perrott of Perrott Van Niekerk Woodhouse Matyolo Inc
• Substance abuse in the workplace. Simon Coleman interviews Alexa Stafford (Organisational Health Specialist, SAB) and Adrie Vermeulen (Director: SANCA Johannesburg)
• Strike action and employment law. Simon Coleman interviews Duncan Innes, CEO of Innes Labour Briefs.

Several individuals told me that they just don't feel threatened by Letele, a sign of a person that is comfortable with himself. Another sign is displaying a sense of humour, "In life I inject an enormous amount of humour, because that's who I am, and that takes away a lot of the stress."

Some of the positions currently on our list:
Director of Finance & Operations; HR Officer; Head of Media; Change Management Consultant.

The IPM is a member of the World Federation Personnel Management Association, as well as the African Federation of Human Resource Management Associations. Its mission is to be the professional association trusted and valued by HR practitioners.

The Premier Gathering of Human Resource Practitioners

Learn a little bit more about the expert speakers at the HR Africa Summit, here.

By drawing on international case studies as well as local influences the 2008 programme brings a diverse range of topics with over 10 international and 14 local experts.

Managing Human Resources in Africa
This book by editors Kamoche, Debrah, Horwitz and Muuka, is a refreshing new book that boldly tackles the HR challenges in countries right across the African continent, examining the impact of contextual factors on the development of HR practices in Africa.

Talent Management
The deliberate practice of talent management invariably leads to success and frees people to pursue and experience life as a rainbow of parallel streams with exiting intermittent contests, in which talent provides the amazing ability and leverage to conquer any number and variety of life's contests. It is a fascinating book to read written by Danie Joubert.

Participate in the following Workinfo.com surveys for 2007/2008:

This research questionnaire is designed to record the attitudes of women and their experiences towards career barriers. It forms part of a Masters Degree Dissertation entitled, "What Women Want". A further objective of this research is to identify the needs that women have in relation to their careers. It sets out to identify what aspects of work are important to women and will attempt to establish trends as to why women leave organizations when they do.

Workplace Violence Survey - Dignity-4- All
Dr Susan Steinman - worktrauma.org
Measure the extent of the relationship and people problems at the workplace, by taking this survey.

What do HR professionals in South Africa discuss with their colleagues the world over?

Look up troublesome abbreviations:

• ITP - Individual Training Plan
• KPI - Key Performance Indicator
• MOP - Measure of Performance
• NQR - National Qualifications Register
• PEBCAK - Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

"So essential is experiencing failure that it could be said that if you've never had any spectacular botch- ups, you'll have missed the lessons that could turn you into a sensational success."

The link Knowledge Resources gives access to advanced white papers, articles and guidelines on the Workinfo.com website. Find it in the column on the left-hand side of the Workinfo.com web pages.