NB: If your Internet service provider (ISP) or server administrator filters incoming e-mail, please add Equity Skills News & Views to your list of approved senders to ensure you receive this e-journal to which you are subscribed.

Jeff Sacht: Publisher-editor
www.equityskillsweb.com
jeffs@worldonline.co.za

'A MUST TO PRINT & READ'
>24,000 & still growing!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Continuing Professional Development (CPD): Become A Professional Member Of The Human Capital Institute Today!!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Human Capital Institute (HCI) is the unrivaled leader and supplier in Africa of CPD membership services for the Human Resources Profession. HCI offers over 50,000 web pages of thought leadership content, a complete range of 21 educational programmes on Human Capital & Talent Management, research tools, services, and research reports and much more. Find out more about HCI http://www.workinfo.com/free/downloads/HCI.htm Purchase subscription at: http://shop.workinfo.com.shopdirect.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=RR0011

----------------------------------------------------------------------

HCI Research Foundation Shortly To Be Powered By BlueRiverStone:

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Download A Sample Of Blueriverstone’s Research Reports: ‘Corporates Undervalue Their Brand When It Comes To Online Talent Acquisition’

Research conducted by BlueRiverStone for Financial Mail in 2005 shows that only 42% of SA's top 100 corporates are using their websites to recruit candidates with varying degrees of success. A  good e-recruitment strategy can draw high quality candidates at significant cost reductions and greater operational efficiencies. Most companies have not given any consideration to the link between the corporate brand and talent acquisition. The full report of the study is available at www.blueriverstone.com Contact Ian Kruger of BlueRiverstone.com @ ian@blueriverstone.com 0834083248

----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Sabotaging The BBBEE Process: Bigger Corporates And Government Retarding The Process?*

By Paul Janisch and Keith Levenstein who can be contacted at info@caird.co.za; www.caird.co.za

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
We believe that any organisation that insists on rating its suppliers using narrow based principles is sabotaging the BBBEE process. Questionnaires that limit the empowerment credentials of an organisation to black ownership and control are still being circulated. This information is then used to decide whether or not a company is "black empowered". In some cases business threatening decisions about continuing to purchase from the business are made based on this information.

This is both problematic and wrong!

The perpetuation of narrow-based BEE criteria and questionnaires will have a definite negative effect on the economy. This short list is our assessment of some of the problems.

1. Fronting. Misrepresenting the ownership and management of a company is the easiest thing in the world to do. The existence of a name on a shareholders' register is no guarantee that that person actually benefits from his or her shareholding, whether this be a financial or any other benefit. Fronting also creates the mistaken impression that there are enough black-owned firms to service the entire economy. This reality is still a way away, apartheid ensured that black entrepreneurship was stifled and retarded in every possible way. All the controls in the world will not prevent new and cleverer ways to misrepresent a company's BEE status.

2. It stifles entrepreneurship. South Africa needs more entrepreneurs, not a replacement of white entrepreneurs with black ones.

3. It favours a miniscule section of the population. The new uber-rich black elite seem to be getting richer at the exclusion of the overwhelming majority.

4. The true intention of BEE - i.e. creating opportunities for the entire population, is negated.

5. This is speculative - but it is likely to have some impact on the brain-drain.

The Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment Act of 2003 identified that narrow based principles could not possibly benefit the majority of the population. It set out to create a larger set of criteria that would see companies extending their empowerment initiatives to have a greater impact on the whole economy. This has culminated in the drafting of numerous charters and the dti's BBBEE Codes of Good Practice, each with its own scorecard. Each scorecard is made up of seven elements: Ownership, Management, Employment Equity, Skills Development, Preferential Procurement, Enterprise Development and Corporate Social Investment.

The hall of shame (those organisations who do not support broad based black economic empowerment) is growing in number. It includes government (have you ever tried to fill in a government tender) and state owned companies (ESKOM is a fantastic example). Commercial companies like major banks, telcos, and other large corporations may state in big banner advertising that they are now "BEE", but they do not follow the guidelines in the slightest.

A bank told us that they use narrow based questionnaires because of the difficulty in verifying broad based data they may get from suppliers. In discussing this further with them, they acknowledge that they will not change the policy for a year or two.

This implies, and they recognise the facts that:

>> To do business with them will require a "white" owned business selling 50% or more of their shares to a black investor.

>> In two years time, when they change their policies this will no longer be required, and the transaction could just as well be reversed.

Are they serious? Do they realise that a partnership in a business is more than for convenience sake? How can a genuine partnership be reversed just because they expect to finally wake up in a year or two's time?

What these hall-of-shamers are not quite aware of is that they are in a great position to assist their suppliers in developing a broad-based BEE profile and in some cases actually help those suppliers score points.

The first step must be to insist on a broad-based scorecard, this could be from an unaccredited rating agency (there are no accredited rating agencies at present) or a self assessment (from EconoScorecard). This process will expose each supplier to the intricacies of BBBEE and scorecards.

The second step is to analyse the scorecard information from each supplier. They will be able to assess the score and the actual black ownership of each supplier (50.1% black ownership does impact on a supplier's score). This information is also vital to calculate a preferential procurement score).

The third step may be to provide suppliers with the opportunity to get involved in that purchasing organizations own enterprise development and CSI projects as a method to improve a supplier's score. Similarly the purchasing organization might be able to support a supplier as an enterprise development beneficiary - there are benefits from purchasing from an enterprise development beneficiary.

*Reprinted by permission

----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Closing The Recognition Gap 

By Jerry Pounds who can be contacted at www.praiseforprofit.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
For the last three decades, employee surveys have repeatedly pointed to recognition as being one of the critical ingredients in employee satisfaction, morale, motivation, and retention.

To try to fill the recognition gap, American companies spend in excess of $100 billion every year on merchandise, awards, and cash rewards - all accompanied by fulsome supervisory praise – in the belief that these incentives make their employees feel wanted and respected.

But mysteriously, after all this time, surveys continue to reflect employee dissatisfaction with the "recognition" they are receiving.

According to the 2005 Employee Recognition Survey conducted by WorldatWork and the National Association for Employee Recognition, nine out of 10 of the 614 organizations surveyed had an active employee recognition program; yet when the Gallup Organization surveyed some four million workers on the topics of recognition and praise they found that two thirds felt they had received no recognition on the job last year.

So are employee recognition programs ineffective, or is there disagreement between what employers define as recognition and how employees perceive it?

According to the Employee Recognition Survey, eight out of 10 (81 per cent) organizations with recognition programs "recognized" employees with certificates or plaques. Almost six out of 10 (57 per cent) gave away company merchandise and gift certificates , more than four out of 10 (44 per cent) handed out jewelry and more than a third (38 per cent) office accessories.

Employers clearly seem convinced that the delivery of these tangible rewards achieves the key objective of creating a "positive work environment." Yet still survey after survey finds that up to seven out of 10 of employees are marginally or actively unengaged.

This "recognition gap" exists because when employees ask for recognition, they are expressing the need for something much more complex than a cheap gilded plaque or a service pin that thanks them for several years on the job.

To employees, the real meaning of the word recognition refers to the presence of systems and practices that reaffirm their value to the organization. But its misinterpretation as meaning "attention" has led to the widespread misdirection and waste of billions of dollars-worth of organizational resources.

Part of the problem is that all those surveys do not actually define what they mean by recognition. They seem to assume that it means the same thing to everyone. And this also illuminates a bigger issue: communications problems frequently hinge on the differences between individual interpretations of the meaning and use of certain words.

While it may seem familiar, the word recognition carries a constellation of potential meanings So if I was an employer and several thousand of my employees said in a survey that they are dissatisfied due to lack of recognition, I would like to know exactly what they meant before I threw billions of dollars at the problem.

But instead, American business leaders continue to commit an enormous amount of time, energy, and money to make employees feel recognized without taking the time to discover what this actually means.

In my 30 years as a management consultant, I observed firsthand the negative effects of processes that reduced recognition to a series of robotic activities. This convinced me that the crucial step in addressing the lack of recognition in the work force is to listen to what employees who were on the receiving end of these misplaced processes have to say.

Praise Is Not Recognition

The practice of using praise to meet an employee's need for recognition is neat and tidy – but wrong. Praising employees for work behavior or results leads primarily to embarrassment, distrust, and poor management/employee relations.

Employees sense the manipulation behind constructed positive comments and feel controlled and devalued by the experience. Supervisors and managers feel the same discomfort but also feel pressured (even threatened) by managers and consultants to either compliment their employees for good work – or else.

As a consultant, I presided over hundreds of recognition initiatives in which supervisors and managers were instructed to praise their employees for making small performance improvements. Then we interviewed the employees – only to find that they still did not feel recognized for their work despite this concerted praise from above.

Merchandise Is Not Recognition

Do we really think that when employees tell us they want recognition, they are expressing a desire for awards, jackets, cups, hats or pens?

Merchandise does nothing to give individuals a sense of value and meaning about their jobs. In fact, it does the opposite: it trivializes their efforts and contributions to the organization.

The ongoing theater of ceremonious appreciation is rejected by everyone involved - except the reward and recognition industry itself. Or course, on occasion, an employee may enjoy receiving a coffee mug, but most of the time the whole farce is a misguided attempt to apply an inappropriate solution to a poorly defined problem.

Money Is Not Recognition

Money may be our society's scorecard, but it is no substitute for dignity, respectful treatment, and the sense of value that accompanies them.

However loud the argument that money is the most desirable form of recognition and the solution to all performance problems, the fact remains that many people who are well-compensated still feel that they are trading their self-respect for cash.

Consequently, we see top executives bailing out of lucrative positions - not for higher income, but for more input, respect, and freedom.

Most people would take a cut in pay to work in a company where they feel appreciated, involved, and supported, but this is not a trade-off. People should be well-compensated for their contributions as well as receive respect and support - and they know when they are being shortchanged.

Recognition Is Partnering

The occasional "good job" is never enough to satisfy employees' sense of value. Most employees feel recognized only when their supervisor or manager talks to them about their work during productive discussions that convey mutual respect.

Canned, off-the-shelf performance improvement programs always emphasize strategies and tactics designed to get employees to perform. Even the recent emphasis on coaching and facilitation is based on the idea of artfully applying a set of skills to elicit some "motivational" outcome in employees.

As a result, managers treat employees as objects of manipulation and control. These interactions are inherently condescending - and employees know it.

So wouldn't it be much easier for supervisors and managers to have productive discussions about work with their employees than to continually strive to execute a contrived reward agenda?

In the natural flow of these discussion, employee performance feedback evolves. Whether this is positive or negative is not defined by the intentions of the supervisor; valid feedback is data-based information about performance. If a person has done something that improved an outcome, this will surface during a discussion of the work. If there is a problem, frequent and timely interactions allow people to take corrective action.

Because people think of recognition as having their value authenticated by someone who knows their job, this type of performance dialogue by its very nature acknowledges employee contribution and validates the work as meaningful.

Recognition Is Involvement

It is equally the case that involving people in problem-solving and decision-making adds to their sense of value and worth.

Asking employees their opinions, asking them to help solve problems or implement improvement and providing them with opportunities to discuss important decisions goes a long way towards minimizing the social distinction of the management hierarchy.

But many organizations still don't get it. Instead, they try to persuade employees that they are respected by simply handing out snappy titles and business cards. But the realities of status are not mitigated by slogans that only profess equality.

If leaders do not value their employees, then calling them 'associates' – just like canned praise, cheap merchandise and clichéd mission statements - cannot camouflage that reality.

Recognition Is Respect

Some people are just ill-suited to managing others but more often they are misdirected by dysfunctional leadership and antiquated practices.

Nevertheless, eccentric personalities do seem to gravitate to management careers. Individuals who have been able to succeed through intimidation – those whose employees will perform to any standard to avoid having to "talk" with their boss – are all too numerous in the management ranks.

Much of the controllable turnover in business and industry is created by the inappropriate behavior of supervisors and managers who don't understand that the word recognition means respectful treatment.

No amount of 'touchy-feely' language in annual statements, brochures, mission statements and customer commitments can circumvent the necessity to hold executives, managers, and supervisors accountable for treating employees with compassion, empathy, and dignity. Words mean nothing when actions negate them.

Training is often used to try to minimize the deficits of managers and supervisors who are having "people problems," but the real problem lies in the assumption that managing employee perceptions (a shell game) is more important than honest dialogue and genuine relationships. So supervisors are taught yet another strategy to motivate or praise employees and their credibility slips even further.

Recognition Enables Individualism

The rules, policies, regulations, and procedures that are required to manage a large organization can cause employees to feel like cogs in a machine. Bureaucracies are also notorious for producing marginal performance through the indifference created by rule-driven cultures.

There is a direct relationship between the company's responsiveness to individual needs and the potential for that organization to engage employees.

To truly recognize an employee, the organization must be flexible, supportive, and responsive to individual special circumstances. One cannot feel recognized as an individual when management shows indifference to legitimate issues and needs by automatically quoting "company policy."

The Recognition Solution

Many organizations are beginning to understand that to attract and retain the best employees they have to develop honest relationships with them. Some even realize that homilies, slogans, canned praise and trinkets only promote a superficial approach to satisfying the human need to be valued.

To elicit the highest level of performance from their employees means addressing the issues of involvement, respect, support, and responsiveness.

Employees feel recognized when − as an outcome of how they are treated by the organization− they consider themselves as partners. Recognition comes as a result of providing employees with career paths, opportunity, promotions, equitable pay, safe working conditions, and challenging work.

So when employees ask for recognition, they are asking for no more than their employers expect for themselves: honest communications, respectful treatment, and acknowledgement that they are people with feelings, personal lives, and the desire to truly contribute to the company.

*Reprinted by permission of the editor of Management Issues

----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Workforce Flexibility: Managing Employees On The Move*

By Adam Miller who can be contacted at www.wpmag.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 There was a time when a person’s career choices were limited to the original job path or company they chose when entering the workforce. As a result, many employees remained in the same career track with the same organization for their entire career. In those days, it wasn’t difficult to manage employees and their development, but times have changed. Today, employees have more career opportunities than ever, which is great for them but a real challenge for HR managers who must handle their development.

Opportunity Awaits

With companies growing domestically and expanding globally, employees now have access to an unprecedented wealth of opportunities for advancement, mobility and flexibility within their careers. They can move up the corporate ladder, switch to a new job function within the organization, move to another division, work remotely or even transfer to another country. While this diversity of career options builds morale and helps extend an employee’s potential and time within an organization, it also creates logistical challenges for HR departments responsible for tracking and managing each employee’s training, development, performance and compensation, among other necessary functions.

Between the growth of the global workplace and the advances in technology that make telecommuting possible, the pace of business and the way it is conducted has drastically affected the needs and demands of the traditional workplace. With numerous organizations now offering employees the ability to work from home—a great approach that responds to the much-sought-after work-life balance—comes a logistical headache for HR and training managers responsible for trying to keep employee development on track with training and other offerings.

Interestingly, job flexibility and employee mobility, which causes these management challenges, also presents an opportunity for organizations. Employees are not only offered more opportunities, they also are more open to change than ever before. This benefits the organization by enabling it to use and promote its talent better. For example, companies can optimize their talent by finding the most appropriate positions for employees based on their unique talents and skill sets. This helps increase retention as organizations focus on offering revised responsibilities as a means to keep employees challenged and rewarded.

Another benefit for the organization is the opportunity to be more proactive and responsive to the rapidly changing business environment. As the market demands, companies can more readily identify positions that need to be filled and the experience required to fill those roles. They can also go a step further to identify which employees can immediately fulfill those needs and build project teams that respond to the changing market landscape.

Doing Business Today

Times have changed and employees no longer stay in one position or company for their entire career. Those who do remain with one employer are shifting roles between departments, are cross-functional or make either lateral or progressive moves both domestically and internationally. As positive and strategic as these moves are, it can still be extremely difficult to keep pace with career shifts, especially with the speed of today’s changing business environment.

This shift from the traditional business model can be attributed to a variety of factors including globalization, the mindset of Generation Xers, who are more apt to jump from one position to another in search of a better work environment or higher salary, or the cost savings that many organizations achieve due to reduced overhead as a result of hiring contractors or remote employees. About 12 percent of the U.S. workforce qualifies as dispersed. In fact, leading global organizations such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Agilent Technologies have adopted the virtual office concept with 40 percent to 70 percent of employees working remotely (BusinessWeek, Dec. 5, 2005). This indicates that this trend is on the rise and that HR departments will need to adjust their strategies to serve their employees.

The Global Perspective

The increased trend toward global business presents yet another challenge to managing today’s workforces. Organizations are expanding rapidly into other countries in search of inexpensive materials, new markets and new talent. It’s now commonplace for employees to transfer to a new division located outside of the United States to do the same job in a newly targeted region or to perform an entirely different function for their organization.

Again, while it’s a great opportunity for employees who seek job opportunities with organizations that offer these types of flexible, relocation programs, coordinating such a global workplace can be difficult for the employer who now must manage performance and development across borders. And those companies that opt to play it safe by not offering relocation options outside the United States find it difficult to compete in an increasingly tight labor market.

Expansion and globalization also force HR managers to keep up with the needs of the organization. They now must consider the changing scope of job descriptions, which have become far more flexible in recent years. Additionally, as the organization grows and new technology is introduced, there is a constant need for new positions and unique skill sets that previously were not required. This need is compounded by the increased turnover experienced by many organizations.

Fight Fire With Fire

Although the introduction of new technology can impact business methods and the structure of the organization, new technology is also the solution when it comes to managing the complex HR needs and demands of today’s mobile workforce.

Bearing in mind that a constantly shifting, mobile workforce creates many challenges for today’s HR professional, today’s organizations should investigate the benefits that a human capital management (HCM) solution can provide. HCM solutions can automate employee development processes and integrate learning and performance management. These features and functionalities can provide a measurable and accurate inventory of the organization’s skills and performance levels. Each employee’s skills, certifications, experience and performance can be tracked and managed regardless of changing roles or physical location. The job of managing the mobile workforce becomes significantly less daunting and is instead a process that can be managed successfully on a daily basis.

The ability to automate and streamline employee development and training is one of the numerous benefits an HCM solution provides. An automated employee development solution can identify and provide needed training to employees and help in the development of new and existing skill sets. This feature is crucial as organizations search for new employees to fill newly created or vacant positions as they develop existing employees for future promotion. Coupled with succession planning, integrated learning and performance can enhance the process for grooming high-potential employees by providing measurable performance indicators and automatically generating development plans that get employees to the next level.

Training and development efforts aren’t limited to employees who work out of an organization’s main office. Today’s advanced e-learning tools are Web-based, offering employees the ability to participate in required or assigned training courses remotely and at their convenience. This on-demand model benefits training managers because it reduces the costs of in-person training and creates training options that are more accessible to employees. Additionally, training managers can create online learning portals with customized training schedules, list employee-specific requirements, certification renewal dates and other important information. Such portals reduce the number of inquiries and help manage the process for all employees, not just remote workers.

Does Anyone Speak Cantonese?

Internal recruiting can be daunting for organizations with thousands of employees spread across remote locations, especially when filling positions with employees from existing positions, departments and countries. However, with the right HCM solution this potentially overwhelming task becomes virtually painless.

In the past, the learning data training managers collected on employees was kept separate from the performance data HR managers collected. With the help of HCM, organizations now can seamlessly integrate this data to provide the most comprehensive overview of an employee’s skills, performance and training. Such data includes details on compliance and certifications achieved or required, years of service, performance reviews, training completed and required, development plans and employee special skills such as languages spoken.

HR managers are then able to search for specific skills, titles, certifications, etc., and pull a list of employees from across the organization that meets the search parameters. For example, an organization wants to establish a sales office in China, but it needs to find an existing employee who is willing to relocate, has strong sales experience and speaks Cantonese. The HR manager plugs these requirements into the search function of the HCM solution and in seconds, the search finds the names of three appropriate candidates. The HR manager then can review each candidate’s employment history, training, certifications and performance reviews as measured against predetermined goals to determine the best candidate.

With this technology, organizations can identify candidates for special teams and projects, newly created or open positions and future succession planning and talent management needs. In addition, such a solution can help ensure that compliance standards are met and maintained for employees moving into and out of positions with stringent compliance requirements—a key element in managing and meeting stringent Sarbanes-Oxley mandates.

HCM Gets SaaSy

Although an employee development solution is available as standard software, it is also available as on-demand software or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivered over the Internet and significantly less expensive to purchase and install. On-demand solutions require little time to deploy, require minimal if any IT maintenance and can easily integrate with an organization’s other critical business applications such as CRM and ERP. Some of the many benefits of the on-demand delivery model include the ability to meet the rapidly changing business needs of today’s organizations.

Changes to an employee’s status can be made on the fly. New positions, lateral moves, annual compensation increases, career preferences and new direct reports or supervisors can be updated easily. As employees complete training requirements and meet established goals, their records are automatically updated to reflect these changes, which are then updated instantaneously for accurate planning and reporting in the future.

Flexibility Is the Future

As today’s leading organizations continue to embrace the changing business landscape, the demands on human resources to track and manage employee development will be tested as never before. Only by leveraging the same technology that creates these challenges will organizations be able to manage the needs of a mobile, global workforce effectively. HCM services offer one solution that will ultimately become the standard for harnessing the lightning-fast changes and demands of this new era in business.

Sun Microsystems: Managing a Distributed Workforce

With 38,600 employees dispersed across more than 100 countries, Sun Microsystems, a provider of computer technology products and services, developed a unique distributed workforce management system coined the Open Work practice. Sun’s Open Work practice gives employees the choice of where and when they work. With approximately half of its employee population participating in the Open Work practice, Sun has developed methods and tools to help managers successfully manage their distributed workers.

Naturally, managing a distributed workforce requires managers to possess the ability to motivate, maintain cohesion and establish trust across a distance because in an office setting these tend to be easier to carry out. “The world has evolved today to where pretty much any manager now has to be aware of a mobile or distributed worker on his or her team—especially as we are going global where managers have to manage teams that are not all in one place,” said Ann Bamesberger, senior director of Open Work solutions. “Since we have gotten the technological aspect pretty much down pat, we are now able to focus on the social elements to help managers excel.”

Through Web-based services such as online simulations, help chat lines and blogs, managers learn management best practices for their distributed workforce. “The simulations are example situations. It is structured in a multiple-choice format and if the manager answers the question incorrectly, he or she gets a tutorial on what they could have done,” Bamesberger said. “Also, we do a lot of blogging: It is a big part of our culture. Manager’s blogs tend to talk about effective conference calling, their pet peeves as managers, distance collaborations, best practices, etc.”

According to Bamesberger, there is a Sun software manager who has his own Web site about his usual workday. “He writes what some of his pet peeves are, what his preferences are, like does he like to be called early in the morning or does he like to be called late at night, and what does he do during the course of the day. So it is sort of a personal blog on who he is,” she explained. “And his direct reports really like that because it makes him more human, more accessible and helps the employees figure out how they can keep themselves present in a situation where an out-of-sight, out-of-mind attitude is easy to follow.”

Also, Sun tries to hold on-site quarterly meetings to improve employee relationships and communication. Bamesberger said that quarterly meetings are not held merely for social reasons, but are—of course—work-related as well. But the social element has to be there because these meeting serve as a way to integrate distance workers. “You have to make the people working on the outside who are not proximate feel like their work is as critical as the work going on in HQ (headquarters) as well,” she said. “Historically, most people have felt that the important work is done on premise and the distance work—the work that is farmed out to the hinterlands—is work that is not mission-critical. That attitude does not work and needs to change because if that is the way they feel, they are not going to build any trust, cohesion or respect. And everybody wants to do important work, and no one want s to feel unimportant.”

But with flexible and exceptional managers overseeing distributed workers, the benefits can be abundant. According to Bamesberger, a flexible work environment can change the way people work—individually and as a team. “By giving employees the option to choose the best work location and schedule suited for their daily lives, employee satisfaction improves, employees achieve better work-life balance, they are more motivated and perceived to be more productive as well,” she said. “The Open Work practice is also an excellent tool to attract new employees and for retention.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Book Review: The Flight Of The Creative Classes

----------------------------------------------------------------------
# The Flight Of The Creative Classes

By Richard Florida, Harper Collins, 2005

Buy this book now: http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=293&sku=27853944

In this book, Florida continues to develop the idea that the growth of national, regional or city's economy is defined by its ability to attract and retain the members of creative class. His "Three T" theory (Talant, Technology, Tolerance) includes one component that does not exist in classic works on economic growth - tolerance. According to Florida, this component is the absolute prerequisite for everything else.

All those ideas, together with supporting research, you can also find in his previous book "The rise of creative class". But while the first book made me to nod in agreement, the second one made me gasp. What's the difference? In this book, Florida adds an international dimension and explains the reasons behind US economics losing its competitive advantage - which for years was based on America's ability to attract and retain the most talented people in the world.

Even though most of us would agree - on the common sense level - that this ability is degrading, the amount of supporting evidence provided in the book is amazing. It includes both statistical data and some real life stories (which make the book more readable for the average reader like myself). In addition, Florida analyzes many related issues and provides very actionable plan ... not sure if it is realistic, provided that for its implementation the politicians will have to check their egos at the door!

And this is another point, which makes this book really unique in the modern times: Florida does not take political sides; he objectively analyses both parties' programs and point of view... but honestly, I was not even able to guess where his vote went on the last election.

One of the best and most interesting for me chapters is the one, where Florida analyzes the role of immigrants in the economic growth. I did not know, for example, that 5 out of ten richest people in the history of America were immigrants... and this is just top of the top of the iceberg.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Case-Law & Legislation Review: Companies Now Responsible Of Online Harassment

From: www.myadsl.co.za ; 18 april 2006

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Following two recent court decisions, South African employers may now be held liable for the harassing and racist actions of their employees – online and offline.These judgments signal a departure from long held views on vicarious liability of employers, says Reinhardt Buys of IT law firm Buys Inc. Attorneys.

“In the past, employers were only held liable for actions committed by employees in the course of their employment duties. Now employers may also be held liable for employee actions far beyond the scope of their employment, such as the abuse of email and Internet facilities,” said Buys.

On 6 April 2006, the Cape Labour Court ruled in the matter of Xolile Finca v Old Mutual that the employer (Old Mutual) failed to take appropriate action against a white employee who used the k-word towards black fellow employees.

According to the Court, such failure by the employer constituted direct and unfair discrimination and directed Old Mutual to cover Finca’s legal costs and pay a significant amount as compensation.

In a similar case, the Court of Appeal confirmed an earlier decision of the Cape High Court in the matter of Media24 v Grobler, ruling that an employer may be held liable for the harassing actions of employees towards others.

In the Media24 judgment, the Court found that an employer had a legal duty to ensure a friendly workplace free from, amongst others, harassment. Since Media24 failed to comply with such a duty, the Court ordered it to cover Grobler’s legal costs and pay compensation to the amount of R210 000.00.

Buys noted that, “Instances of face-to-face harassment and racism by employees are fast being replaced by the use of email, Internet, messaging and sms to distribute tasteless jokes, harmful text and even adult video clips.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Downloads: HR Metrics That Count: Aligning Human Capital Management To Business Results
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Download it now! http://www.workinfo.com/free/downloads/180.htm

This research explores the current capability of HR to report on human capital metrics and the capability needed to report in the future. The study was conducted with 246 HR professionals and business leaders in the United Kingdom and Canada. Although HR professionals and business leaders overwhelmingly believe human capital metrics are important, organizations are not currently focusing on the measures that count. Today, metrics inform rather than drive strategy. Tomorrow, the metrics need to drive strategy. Our research concludes that human capital metrics and reporting need to align to the business strategy to be useful as a driver of business outcomes.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Unsubscribe & Moving Soon
----------------------------------------------------------------------
UNSUBSCRIBE: Scroll to the end of the newsletter where you will find a code directly linked to your name. Click on the unsubscribe link. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS NEWSLETTER TO UNSUBSCRIBE. MOVING SOON: If you are changing your email address soon and would still like to continue receiving this newsletter, please email us your new or temporary email address to ensure that you do not miss out on the next edition.
------------------------------------
About the e-Journal/e-Newspaper
------------------------------------
Equity-Skills News & Views is a free bi-monthly newsletter for business owners, Line Managers, and Human Resource Practitioners (who support Line Managers) with the implementation of fair and developm ental people management systems and practices. The style of this e-Newspaper fits between the traditional email newsletters and printed professional trade journals & magazines. Subscribers will be kept up to date with the latest developments in the world of people management, receive handy people management tips, and feedback about labour court rulings that relate to the implementation of the key Labour Acts. Please add equity skills news & views to your list of approved senders if your Internet provider or server administrator filters incoming e-mail, to make sure you receive periodic e-mail alerts and this newsletter to which you are subscribed.
------------------------------------
Opinions expressed by contributors DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT the standpoint of the publisher-editor of Equity-Skills News & Views. Information published here is for general information, and is not intended as legal advice. The authors, editors, and publishers do not acce pt responsibility for any act, omission, loss, or damage occasioned by any reliance upon the contents hereof.

This message is sent in compliance with the ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSACTIONS ACT. 2002, Act No. 25, 2002 passed on 20 May 2003.

Sender: Jeff Sacht
URL: www.equityskillsweb.com
E-mail: jeffs@worldonline.co.za
Telephone: +27 011 485 4943
Facsimile +27 011 485 4943
Publisher-Editor: Equity-Skills News & Views
'A MUST TO PRINT & READ'
------------------------------------
Copyright (c) 2006 Registered electronic newspaper: 1SSN 1684-5714