In This edition

1. Differentiating Your Workforce Strategy
2. The Certification Controversy
3. Mentoring For Learning Impact
4. Expatriate Policy: Time For A Diversity Check?
5. Threat To Flexible Staffing Arrangements
6. Case-Law & Legislation Review: Dismissals - Operational Requirements
7. Downloads: The Guidebook To Online Recruiting
8. Book Reviews
9. Web Reviews
10. Unsubscribe & Moving Soon

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Jeff Sacht: Publisher-editor

www.equityskillsweb.com

jeffs@worldonline.co.za

'A MUST TO PRINT & READ'

30,000+ AND STILL GROWING!

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1. Differentiating Your Workforce Strategy*

By Mark A. Huselid, Brian E. Becker, and Richard W. Beatty

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Even the best managers often forget to craft a workforce strategy along with their overall company strategy, but the two really need to be linked.

An excerpt from the new book, The Workforce Scorecard:

In Chapter 1, we outlined three challenges companies face as they attempt to manage the workforce as a strategic asset. The first of these, the perspective challenge, is the focus [now]. At the foundation of the perspective challenge is an increased emphasis on differentiation-of employees, jobs, and performance. Such a shift in focus may represent a new approach to workforce management for most firms. Indeed, we find it interesting that while most managers appreciate the value of differentiation as an attribute of products and services, we don't observe the same emphasis on the role of differentiation in the execution of workforce strategies. For example, managers routinely evaluate the key elements of their customer value proposition or marketing strategies and readjust when necessary. Yet they rarely apply the same discipline to managing and measuring the foundational driver of strategy execution: workforce performance and the HR management processes and systems that drive it. [...]

Differentiating the execution of workforce strategy

Execution is the second dimension of workforce strategy. Just as the content of workforce strategy requires more differentiation, so too does the execution of that strategy. They are related in part because increasing differentiation in the content of the workforce strategy implies increased differentiation in the execution of the strategy. Not all positions have the same strategic importance, and being able to identify and act on differential performance within those "A" positions takes on even greater importance when the firm has developed a detailed and specific business strategy. Therefore, while execution of the workforce strategy is in part a shared responsibility of line managers and HR professionals, it is foremost the responsibility of line managers. It falls to line managers to adopt the principles of differential execution if the workforce strategy, and ultimately the core strategy, is to be successful.

The problem

Firms that don't emphasize differentiation in the execution of their workforce strategy will under perform, but the source of the problem won't be obvious. Without the right perspective, the line of sight between the execution of the workforce strategy and firm performance is in most cases simply too indirect. In our experience the simplest indication that there is a problem is in how HR generalists allocate their time. In "low-differentiation" firms, HR professionals spend too much time on employee performance problems; specifically they spend too much time on employees who should no longer be with the firm and should never have been hired in the first place. This marks a failure to differentiate by HR at the point of hire, but perhaps more importantly a failure to differentiate by line managers once the performance problem is obvious.

THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON WORKFORCE STRATEGY FALLS SQUARELY ON THE SHOULDERS OF THE LINE MANAGER [Editors emphasis]. The misallocation of HR resources follows directly from the workforce decisions of line managers. HR managers respond to requests of supervisors and managers to solve specific workforce performance problems-especially of under performing employees. These are problems that should be solved between the individual employee and the line manager, but many of these problem employees become HR's problem. The key is to deal with the root cause-never to hire low performers in the first place-and secondly to have measurement and information systems that enable and encourage line managers to quickly fix or exit problems in the workforce.

The responsibility for a new perspective on workforce strategy falls squarely on the shoulders of the line manager. But just as we call for a new-shared responsibility for workforce performance, the reliance on an undifferentiated strategy in large part reflects the perspective of most HR professionals and the HR management system. HR professionals' understandable attention to legal compliance issues and administrative efficiency encourages an emphasis on homogeneity (i.e., treating all employees the same regardless of role or performance level), which tends to drive variance out of the system. Even where line managers might prefer a more differentiated system, every tool, every form, and very often the firm's culture make it nearly impossible to treat the execution of the workforce strategy as anything more than an administrative chore.

Moreover, the costs and benefits of this new perspective are not equally apparent. The problem is that the immediate costs are obvious and often tangible in terms of both financial investments and increased effort. Differentiation takes effort. At a minimum it requires a clear explanation of what the firm is looking for in the way of employee performance. By contrast, because workforce success is a leading indicator of firm performance, the benefits necessarily "lag" the more obvious costs. Make no mistake, however-the benefits are substantial. The overarching benefit is increased strategic success. At its core, our argument is that in firms where workforce performance is crucial for strategic success, the status quo results in strategic underperformance. By treating all jobs more or less equally, the organization under invests in high-return ("A") positions and over invests in low-return ("C") positions. These losses are compounded by under investments in high-return employees ("A" players) and over investments in low-return employees ("C" players). As a result, high performers leave and low performers stay, which over time creates a drag on firm performance and the need for significant, and often unfocused, layoffs.

Differentiation by roles-identifying the "A" positions

Managers are paid to differentiate. In the case of workforce strategy, this takes the form of disproportionate investments in high-return positions and high-return individuals. The challenge is to think of these investments as strategic decisions and bring the same discipline and effort to investing in intangibles as to making tangible investments decisions.

The first step toward differentiating the execution of a workforce strategy is to recognize and accept that some positions and roles in the organization have a more important influence on the execution of strategy than others. We use the term "A" positions to describe those positions that have a significant influence on the execution of the firm's strategy. There is no rule of thumb regarding the percentage of the workforce that might be included in this designation. The lesson is that firms will vary by how they execute their strategy, and this differentiation will translate into a differentiated workforce strategy. What we can say is that a choice will have to be made regarding the importance of a position, and that the choice should be driven by how the firm has chosen to execute its strategy.

The Three Challenges of Successful Workforce Measurement and Management

What should be clear is that the decision about which positions will be designated "A" positions will follow directly from the nature of the differentiation in the workforce strategy. For example, if the firm has adopted a core workforce differentiation strategy, the positions will map directly onto the overall approach to delivering value to the customer. If your firm has extended the differentiation of the workforce strategy to strategic workforce customization, the choice of "A" positions will be linked directly to the system of performance drivers that populate the firm's strategy map. In either case, identifying the "A" positions should be considered an integral part of the organization's workforce strategy. This is one of the key points of intersection between the corporate strategy and the workforce strategy and should be a key strategic responsibility of line managers. It is also an essential element in the development of your Workforce Scorecard.

An "A" position (e.g., R&D scientist) is a job that has a critical impact on the formation of one or more of the strategic capabilities (e.g., new product development) the firm needs to execute its strategy. As a result, "A" positions are critical to the firm's competitive advantage. Note that these positions have nothing to do with a firm's hierarchy, which experience has taught us is often an "A" position criterion proposed by executive teams. Resist this temptation! "A" positions can be found in a wide variety of places throughout the organization. In R&D it could be a biochemist; in joint ventures, a manager of new business development; in marketing, a field sales representative; in government relations, the chief lobbyist; in retail, a cashier, and so on.

An example of a firm that has developed a clear workforce strategy and identified "A" positions is IBM. IBM's overarching strategy is to go to market as "One IBM," which means leveraging its resources in hardware, software, and consulting to provide a systemic solution that is uniquely tailored to the business needs of each client. A key element of this strategy is ensuring that IBM can develop into an "on-demand" business. IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano defines an on-demand business as an enterprise whose business processes-integrated end-to-end across the company and with key partners, suppliers, and customers-can respond with speed to any customer demand, market opportunity, or external threat.16

IBM believes that an on-demand business requires an "on-demand workforce"-one that is responsive to market requirements-adaptively brings the right skills and expertise to meet client demand, is resilient to market forces, and provides strong leadership. Key elements that help to create an on-demand workforce include deploying programs that recognize accomplishments, regarding people development as an investment, differentiating performance and rewards, nurturing leadership capacity, driving accountability, and balancing its human asset utilization. In other words, IBM intends to use its HR management system to help deliver value to its customer, the business.

IBM's new business strategy relies on considerably more cross-IBM collaboration than ever before. This in turn requires more and better workforce management systems. IBM needs to be able to assemble workforce capabilities to meet client needs wherever they may be in the world, and they need to be able to do it quickly. The challenge in doing this is that 49 percent of the workforce has less than five years' experience with the firm, and more than one-third of the workforce do not work out of a traditional IBM building, but are considered mobile workers. As a key element of their execution strategy, IBM has developed what it describes as an Adaptive Workforce (ADWF) in its services business.

In essence, ADWF is the application of supply chain management principles to the workforce. In IBM's case, the key question is "How do we optimally match resources to client demands, across units within IBM and throughout the world?" Including contract workers, IBM has more than 475,000 employees throughout the world. The problem is that historically, the resources have been in a variety of supply pools and difficult to aggregate leading to sub optimized response to client needs. To deal with this issue, IBM has included approximately 65 percent of the workforce (primarily technical, client-facing employees) in their ADWF program, which is a multimillion-dollar transformation project integrating strategy/policy, process, organization, and technology to ensure that the resource supply and demand information is available throughout the business to match critical skills to client needs, on demand.

Managers are paid differentiate.

As a result of this type of analysis, IBM has identified membership on the Strategic Leadership Team as a key "A" position. The SLT consists of about three hundred people, or about 1 percent of total (full-time) employment. Selection to the SLT reflects both the significance of the positions held by these employees and their leadership skills. Members of the SLT are expected to be role models and drive the strategy down through the organization.

Another example of an "A" position at IBM involves "major deal making." IBM's strategy of going to market as "One IBM" requires developing and selling business-transformational systems solutions that leverage the firm's capabilities in hardware, software, services, and consulting. This is an important part of the firm's comparative advantage over firms such as Accenture (whose primary focus is on consulting and software) or HP (hardware and software). The economic impact of a successful "systems sell" can be significant. For example, a "clothed" server (i.e., one with software applications installed) will generate on average several million dollars more in revenue over its service life than will a "naked" server (one without software). Developing sales leaders with the breadth of experience to master major deals and leveraging IBM's full brand to help generate business transformational solutions for clients is a key objective for the firm. This is an important part of the firm's focus on developing cross-unit initiatives that can drive growth and innovation.

It is important that line managers and the senior executive team understand that identifying the strategic "value" of a job should not be left to an outside method of job evaluation. Effective processes for identifying "A" positions do not include scientific methods of job evaluation that rationalize the value of jobs in one organization in comparison with the value of jobs in another organization. There is no market equivalent for the strategic value of a job, because of the unique way in which "A" jobs contribute to your firm's strategic success. Designing and implementing a workforce strategy requires investing in a mix of intangible assets (strategic human capital) that contribute uniquely to the success of your firm's strategy. This is in stark contrast to job evaluation systems intended to develop an internally consistent set of job values that ultimately are independent of the firm's strategy. Said differently, if seniority and job level explain 90 percent of the variation in pay in your organization, you probably need to take another look at how jobs are valued in your firm.

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business School Press. Excerpt from The Workforce Scorecard: Managing Human Capital to Execute Strategy by Mark A. Huselid, Brian E. Becker, and Richard W. Beatty. Copyright 2005 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

* Reprinted under license agreement from HBS Working Konowledge

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IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP:MANAGING CHANGE & TRANSITION IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK

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An Intensive and Practical 2- DAY WORKSHOP FOR HUMAN RESOURCES AND LINE MANAGERS TO DEVELOP THE CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE TO PLAN FOR AND LEAD TEAMS THROUGH CHANGE & TRANSITION. Enhance your ability to plan for and lead a team through the transitions triggered by a continuously changing world of work.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

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By David Creelman who can be contacted at creelmanresearch@canda.com

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2. Mentoring For Learning Impact*

By Susan Zeidman who can be reached at szeidman@clomedia.com

Originally published in the April 2005 edition of Chief Learning Officer Magazine

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Managers frequently turn to the training department with questions such as: How do I get a promotion? How do I make my meetings more meaningful? How do I get better results from my team? A look of frustration or bewilderment usually accompanies these questions. People want and expect to be shown the path to success. There is usually no clear-cut answer, but mentoring frequently comes up as a possible solution. Mentoring programs can motivate and excite employees and create a learning-teaching mentality throughout the organization. In other words, mentoring is usually a win-win experience for everyone involved.

Four effective types of mentoring programs offer a variety of experiences, from one-time to long-term events. When administered carefully, even a one-time event can change an employee's perspective and create that "aha" experience. The four program types are:

# Mentor Panel

# Group Mentoring

# C-Level Breakfasts

# One-on-One Mentoring

#1. The Mentor Panel

The target audience for this mentoring program is a group of high-level, client-facing employees from the same business unit. A total of 10 employees take three advanced classes together-business writing, PowerPoint (content-based, not technical) and presentation skills (videotaped)-over a six-week period.

After the training, mentees make individual presentations to a group of senior-level executives from a variety of business areas, such as sales, marketing, product development and human resources. Prior to the presentations, 10 mentors are coached on how to give both positive and constructive feedback, which they provide immediately after each presentation. All mentees hear the feedback from the mentors at the same time. A written assessment is given to the presenters after all of the presentations are given.

The mentors and mentees participate in separate group debriefing sessions to discuss the outcome of the program.

Mentees appreciate the exposure to executives and the enormously helpful feedback from the mentors. They benefit from the mentors' complete and focused attention, without distractions. Although the presentation experience may be stressful, most mentees recognize that it will help them create better client relationships and enhance their performance.

A byproduct of the program is a team-building success story. Since the mentees have a common goal, they arrange to practice their presentations together before meeting with the mentors. These rehearsal sessions allow mentees to help and push each other to modify, adjust and perfect their presentations as a peer group.

#2. Group Mentoring

This form of mentoring is also designed to be a short-term, career-building experience for high-potential individuals. In a single year, a total of 18 mentors and 54 mentees can participate from a 300- to 500-employee division. The size of this program is manageable in a small company, whereas several programs can run concurrently in a larger company.

To start, three mentors and nine mentees are invited to a large conference room and are divided into three groups. Each mentor meets with three mentees at the same time and then rotates to the other groups at 30- to 40-minute intervals.

During the meetings, the mentors discuss how they became successful at the company and their areas of expertise. They also use the time to answer mentees' questions about career growth. All mentors make themselves available for follow-up meetings that are arranged by individual mentees.

Every other month, new mentors and mentees meet. At the end of the year, a final group mentoring meeting is held with all of the participants to reinforce the learnings of the initial mentoring meeting.

Group mentoring gives mentees an opportunity to expand their network of contacts throughout the company and allows them to ask questions which they might not want to share with their managers.

Mentors also benefit from group mentoring-the experience introduces them to talented employees who may be well matched to their divisions when positions become available.

#3. C-Level Breakfasts

What could be more valuable to an employee than having breakfast with the CEO, CFO or COO? What could be more insightful to C-level executives than meeting with their employees to informally share information that might never reach them through the usual channels?

In this form of mentoring, a small group of 10 to 12 senior managers, who do not ordinarily meet with the CEO, can be invited for a two-hour mentoring breakfast. This time is most valuable to all involved when participants arrive at the breakfast prepared to discuss the company's future and current objectives. Employees and executives can discuss business challenges and possible solutions. The nuggets of information gleaned from these meetings are invaluable to both the mentees and executives.

Participants invited to discuss company issues with senior-level managers tend to feel valued and walk away with a richer understanding of the goals and direction of the company. They also leave with a greater appreciation of the executives' passion for the business that drives the decision-making. The C-level participants get an opportunity to hear from people they do not meet with regularly and the exchange of ideas in this very informal setting can later be investigated and grown.

#4. One-on-One Mentoring

Finally, a more traditional approach to mentoring is the long-term, one-year relationship to identify and nurture individual employees' professional development goals.

In most cases, the human resources department matches mentors with mentees-preferably from different departments. During the first meeting, the mentor, mentee and human resources discuss ground rules, or behaviors that lead to success in the mentoring relationship. Discussion topics include professional goals, frequency of meetings, establishing rapport, confidentiality, and checkpoints with human resources, etc. Human resources should check in with the mentor and mentee once each quarter to monitor progress and discuss any issues that arise during the program.

Success of one-on-one mentoring programs is determined by the level of commitment to the meetings by both mentors and mentees.

This kind of mentoring relationship is spoken about with great affection by both mentee and mentor because it helps the mentee succeed in business and helps the mentor grow the next generation of business leaders.

Success Factors

Successful mentoring programs can take many forms. Common to all are three important factors:

1. Structure the program so that all participants completely understand their roles. Do not assume that senior-level executives will automatically know what to do as mentors.

2. Respect confidentiality, which is a must. Mentoring programs are all about trust. Mentees and mentors should feel comfortable sharing stories freely.

3. Coach mentors to be teachers. Coach mentors to ask questions rather than give answers. Coach mentors so they can truly develop their leadership skills.

Mentoring programs are a premier learning solution to improve employee morale, build careers and develop managers' coaching skills.

*Reprinted by permission of the editor Chief Learning Officer Magazine

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3. Expatriate Policy: Time For A Diversity Check? *

By Olivier Meier, Mercer Consulting April 2005

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The term "diversity" often implies gender equality or affirmative action (for minorities, particularly in the US). But what does it mean in the area of expatriation? How is an increasingly diverse expatriate population affecting expatriate management?

Firstly, what is expatriate diversity as opposed to workplace diversity? An easy answer may be that expatriate diversity recognizes that many different types of people are now expatriates - women, younger people, single parents, numerous nationalities, non-HQ employees, and so on. In the past, it was assumed that an expatriate was a Western (usually American) male, married, with children, who were sent on assignment from the headquarters (HQ) country. Many traditional expat policies were designed with these assumptions in mind.

In today's age of diversity, traditional policies are being challenged. HR managers handling expatriation must deal with diversity - through managing different types of expatriates, and within policy. Companies have not always anticipated the practical difficulties that this growing diversity may create.

In this first part in our series on Expatriate Diversity will we look at why expatriate diversity is on the rise, and at issues around different types of expatriates.

The rise of expatriate diversity

Many factors contribute to increasing diversity in the expatriate population. Some of these factors are related to overall workplace diversity. Women are increasingly breaking through the glass ceiling. In many countries, there is an increased focus on national diversity and hiring practices. Because the makeup of employees has changed so much over the years in North America and Western Europe, so too has the makeup of expatriates from companies headquartered in these locations.

Beyond HQ diversity, there is also the fact that companies themselves are becoming increasingly global, so expatriates do not necessarily originate from the HQ country. The emergence of homegrown multinational companies in countries like India and China reinforces this tendency. One might ask "How many Asian expatriates were there in the assignee population 15 years ago?" Many companies that would have answered "none" only a few years back probably have Indian, Chinese, and many other Asian nationalities among their expatriates on assignment today.

Another factor is age. Different generations within a culture have different lifestyles and different expectations. In the western world the differences between 'Boomers', 'Gen Xers' and 'Nexters' is pronounced, but not half as pronounced as within developing nations.

The different lifestyles of new generations of expatriates give rise to new issues. For example, a young, unmarried expatriate living with a partner may have quite different concerns and issues than a mid-career executive with a family and children. These new types of expats will have different expectations about an assignment, or even about a job, then did expatriates from past generations.

The profile of the expatriate population is changing and one thing is certain: the percentage of women, or Asian, or younger, or other "non-traditional" expatriates is on the rise, and bound to grow significantly within the next decade. It is therefore vital that HR Managers understand the issues surrounding diversity and ensure policy reflects the needs and expectations of a diverse expatriate population.

Key issues of expatriate diversity

Managing a diverse expatriate population means addressing a wider set of issues and expectations then were present in the past. So what are the different aspects of this growing diversity and how is this affecting expatriate management?

Female expatriates

While there are more woman on assignment than ever before, women are still underrepresented in the expat population. Few companies have more than 20% female expats. Women may be missing out on assignments for the same reasons that decades ago they were not considered for jobs or promotions. Companies need to ensure that they are not overlooking the best person for the assignment because of latent gender prejudices surrounding assertiveness or family obligations.

Another common misconception is that a female assignee will face difficultly in the host country. Certainly in some countries women's lives can be very restricted; however, foreign women usually enjoy much greater freedom in these very countries, as they are not expected to abide by the same rules as local women. In fact, many business women have commented that they enjoy more professional freedom and opportunities while on assignment in apparently oppressive countries than they do in their "equal" home countries.

The trailing spouse

While most companies actively encourage the expatriate's family as well as the expatriate to accept an overseas posting, few companies place much emphasis on assisting the spouse in finding a job or continuing a career. This is out of synch with the reality of modern, developed societies, where dual income partners are the norm. Surely it is high time to recognize that one of the biggest killers of a successful assignment is the inability of the spouse to find a proper job. Since a male trailing spouse is still seen as a novelty, males can experience even more difficulties in an already difficult role.

Non-traditional families

Another new issue for expatriate management is the rise in such non-traditional families as single parents, non-married couples or same-sex couples. Policies need to be flexible, even if the frequency of dealing with such families is relatively rare. Families themselves must be aware that the host country could be less liberal than home. In some countries unmarried cohabitation is frowned upon, or in the case of same-sex relationships, even illegal. However, in most companies equality regulations dictate that expatriate policies are written in a way which allows for the same rights: using the term "partner" rather than husband/wife or spouse.

Age - New generations and new expectations

Today's younger expatriates usually have past experience traveling, studying, and working outside their home country prior to their first international assignment. In addition, they are likely to have looser ties to their companies and more interest in exploring alternative career options, even while on assignment.

Because of this, younger expats have different experiences and expectations of the assignment. They may adapt more easily to different cultures and integrate better within the host country, but they may also be more impatient and more likely to leave the job. In addition, they could have totally different demands - requesting things such as broadband access at home, or reimbursements for the costs of cellular phones for family members.

Increasing number of nationalities on assignment

The increase in expatriate nationalities leads to a significant rise in differing expectations, and thus, more demands for the expat manager. These expectations are based on differences in work culture around the globe, especially between the West and developing countries. Approaches to career management & priorities, or attitudes toward work-life balance can vary widely. HR managers have faced these issues in the past, but never to the extent as today, where each potential area of cultural conflict must be multiplied by the number of nationalities on assignment.

Diverse nationalities on assignment impact different aspects of expat policy and support. Take, for example, family support: over the years, International schools have opened all over the world to cater to the children of expats, but these usually teach in English. What about Japanese expats who recognize that their children must stay in the Japanese school system because of its highly competitive nature? Will there be a Japanese school in the host country? How far should the expat manager go to meet the expectations of each diverse expat?

The rise of diversity in the expatriate population is bound to challenge old models. Companies' policies are evolving in response to these changes, but how far their awareness of the implication of diversity goes is another story.

*Reprinted by permission

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IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP: MANAGING FOR DIVERSITY

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An Intensive and Practical 2- DAY MANAGEMENT/ SUPERVISOR WORKSHOP to develop insight and self-knowledge about intercultural competence and enhance your capacity to work with a diverse workforce.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

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4. Threat To Flexible Staffing Arrangements

Source: SEIFSA www.seifsa.co.za

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Government, organised labour and business constituencies are engaged in negotiations around proposed further regulations to labour broking, temporary and contract work arrangements in South Africa. These negotiations have potentially serious implications for all industries in South Africa.

During October, the Labour Minister released a report on the outcome of a research programme that his Department had commissioned into the changing nature of work and atypical forms of employment in South Africa. This report and its recommendations have been referred to Nedlac for negotiation.

The report cites alleged abuses of atypical employment arrangements by employers to evade their employment obligations. Business believes that present legislation, if properly enforced, is more than adequate to deal with this situation. However, both government and labour believe that legislative change is necessary.

The conclusions reached in the report and its recommendations to curtail these employment relationships have far-reaching implications for business and could impact negatively on employment levels in the country.

Recommendations and proposals:

The report's key recommendations and proposals are summarised below:

# The current definition of temporary employment services (i.e. labour brokers) contained in the Labour Relations Act is inadequate and should be harmonised with the definition of "employment services for gain" in the Skills Development Act.

# All labour brokers should be required to register with the Department of Labour. The Department's Minimum Standards Directorate should be empowered to ensure that these brokers comply with all relevant labour legislation. This registration should be renewed on an annual basis. As part of this registration process, the broker should be obliged to provide information on the number of employees it has on its database, the number of employees placed with clients and the number and names of its clients.

# In the absence of registration, a client using the broker's services should be deemed to be the employer of the employees so placed and should assume all the obligations of an employer in respect of these workers.

# Clients wishing to employ temporary workers on an indefinite basis should not use labour brokers. It is recommended that the word "temporary" should be defined to mean a three-month period of employment. Additionally, once such a temporary employment arrangement had been rolled over three times, the workers provided by the broker should become the employees of the client company.

# All temporary workers should become permanent after a certain period of time or after their temporary contracts have been rolled over three times.

# A code of conduct on outsourcing, contracting, temporary, casual and part-time work should be developed.

# All non-permanent employees should have an opportunity to join a provident or pension fund and the Department of Labour should explore ways in which such employees can acquire membership of such funds.

# The Department of Labour's enforcement strategy needs to be reviewed to prevent the use of non-standard employment practices to evade labour legislation. The business constituencies at Business Unity SA (Busa) have voiced serious concern over the nature and implications of the report's recommendations. SEIFSA has participated fully in these discussions and has rejected the recommendations outlined above.

Busa's views on the matter, which have been made known to government and labour, are as follows:

# The existing legislative framework is adequate to protect the interests of employees engaged in atypical forms of employment, including temporary work, and no new legislation is justified or necessary.

# Many of the issues covered by the report formed the subject of the Nedlac labour law negotiations in 2001 which culminated in a "package deal" that ultimately found expression in the Labour Relations Amendment Act of 2002.

# Busa has serious concerns that there has been no research or examination of any of the benefits that temporary employment might offer in terms of job creation, providing access to permanent employment or the development of an individual worker's skills.

# There is a worldwide trend towards non-standard forms of employment. The changing nature of work and the working environment, in the face of global realities, make this both necessary and, in many instances, desirable.

# Busa is concerned that any further regulation of atypical employment will reduce employment levels in South Africa. Temporary work is only one way of introducing workplace flexibility. If unduly onerous restrictions are placed on the engagement of temporary workers, employers will resort to other solutions, which do not contribute to employment creation. Alternatively, employers will be encouraged to resort to less labour intensive methods of production.

# Abuses should be addressed through the existing legislative framework, which is adequate to protect the interests of those engaged in atypical employment.

# Busa strongly rejects the proposal that temporary workers should become the employees of the client company after the expiry of a defined period.

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IN-COMPANY WORKSHOP: EMPLOYMENT EQUITY COMMITTEE TRAINING

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An Intensive 2-Day In-Company programme For ELECTED EMPLOYMENT EQUITY (EE) MEMBERS & CHAIRPERSON To Competently & Confidently Represent Co-Workers.

Contact Jeff Sacht to request a workshop flyer and to arrange an in-company workshop customised to your requirements. Facilitation is charged on a realistic daily rate and not a per person cost.

Also available as a web download for self-delivery/in-house use under license agreement. Contact jeffs@worldonline.co.za

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5. Case-Law & Legislation Review: Dismissals - operational requirements

By Gary Watkins who can be contacted at

www.caselaw.co.za ; www.workinfo.com 

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Case: NUM & others v Anglo American Research Laboratories (Pty) Ltd

Case No: J1413/00

Judgment Date: 30 November 2004

Jurisdiction: Labour Court, Braamfontein

Judge: Murphy AJ

SUBJECT: Dismissals - operational requirements

ISSUE: The employees sought an order declaring their dismissals to be procedurally unfair as well as reinstatement and an award of compensation. Found that the possibility of an element of subjectivity having crept into the selection process merits consideration. The selection of the employees was made according to fair and objective selection criteria. Application dismissed.

SUMMARY OF FACTS: The employee in question had been employed as a laboratory assistant for just over 13 years. The employer claimed that in 1999, it became clear that it had too many employees and was under threat from structural changes within the industry. The restructuring of Anglo American' gold interests into Anglogold Ltd had resulted in a significant reduction of development work on gold projects, and a consequent major reduction in project funding for the employer. In the light of these developments, the employer foresaw the need to downscale the routine analytical section of the laboratory, because of the lower demand for these services, and a growth in the extractive metallurgy capability of the laboratory to enable the respondent to compete effectively for new gold and base metal project work.

New facilities were envisaged offering a wide range of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy options. On 6 September 1999 the employer issued a detailed, nine-page communiqué addressed to all staff regarding the continued viability of the employer company. The document was to serve as a formal notification to staff of the perceived need by the company to contemplate a rightsizing exercise. The process of consultation that followed consisted of eleven meetings between 8 September and 1 November 1999 involving the management of the respondent and officials from the union. The union never concurred in management's proposal for selection criteria. The employer decided to use both LIFO and key skills retention as criteria. Applying these criteria the employees in this matter were selected for retrenchment, even though they had respectively 12 and 13 years service and two other employees in the same division had only 7 years service each. These other two employees however, possessed "key" skills, which the employees in this matter did not.

SUMMARY OF JUDGEMENT: The court found that while the selection criteria had not been agreed upon, it was fair. The court further found that on the evidence, the two employees who had shorter terms of service did indeed possess some key skills that the other two who were retrenched, did not. However, the court did consider whether the skills assessments were done in subjective way. In this regard, the finding was that the skills were tested against an objective standard, which had never been challenged by the union. Therefore the selection process was fair and the application was dismissed.

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6: Downloads: Guidebook To Online Recruiting

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Whether you're looking for one new employee or a dozen, a topnotch salesperson, a new administrative assistant or an IT specialist, this Guidebook provides insights to help you make the most of your online recruiting investment.

Online recruiting can help you fill part time and full time openings for hourly, professional and managerial employees. There are many alternative approaches to online recruiting, so it's important to know which tools work best and how to use them. That's what The Guidebook to Online Recruiting is all about. It covers everything from the cost of online ads and results businesses should expect, to tips for writing a job posting that will sell top flight candidates on your employment opportunities. The Guidebook to Online Recruiting provides you with useful information, and helps you implement a more successful total recruiting strategy.

Download a copy of the Guidebook To Online Recruiting at: http://www.workinfo.com/free/downloads/180.htm 

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7. Book Reviews

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# The Workforce Scorecard

By Richard W. Beatty, Mark A. Huselid and Brian E. Becker,

Harvard Business School Press, 2005

To purchase this book click on http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=293&sku=27915545 

In a marketplace fueled by intangible assets, anything less than optimal workforce success can threaten a firm's survival. Yet in most organizations, employee performance is both poorly managed and underutilized.

The Workforce Scorecard argues that current management and human resource practices hinder employees' ability to contribute to strategic goals. To maximize the power of their workforce, organizations must meet three challenges: view their workforce in terms of contribution rather than cost; replace benchmarking metrics with measures that differentiate levels of strategic impact; and make line managers and HR professionals jointly responsible for executing workforce initiatives.

Building on the proven model outlined in their best selling book The HR Scorecard, Mark Huselid, Brian Becker, and coauthor Richard Beatty show how to create a Workforce Scorecard that identifies and measures the behaviors, competencies, mind-set, and culture required for workforce success and reveals how each dimension impacts the bottom line.

Practical and timely, The Workforce Scorecard offers crucial lessons for leveraging human capital to achieve strategic success.

# The Diversity Scorecard: Evaluating the Impact of Diversity on Organizational Performance

By Edward E. Hubbard, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004

To purchase this book click on http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=293&sku=27771482 

'The Diversity Scorecard' is designed to provide step-by-step instructions, worksheets and examples to help diversity executives and managers analyze and track the impact of their diversity initiatives to mobilize the organization for strategic culture change. Diversity is not a program; it is a systemic process of organizational change that requires measurement for organizational improvement and success. Measuring the progress and results of diversity initiatives is a key strategic requirement to demonstrate its contribution to organizational performance. Diversity executives, professionals and managers know they must begin to show how diversity is linked to the bottom-line in hard numbers or they will have difficulty maintaining funds, gaining support, and obtaining resources to generate progress.

Many organizations collect some type of diversity-related data today, even if it focuses only on Affirmative Action statistics. "The Diversity Scorecard" focuses on tools and techniques to make sure diversity professionals are collecting and measuring the right type of data that will help ensure the organization"s success both now and in the future.

Part I of "The Diversity Scorecard" identifies the need for diversity measurement highlighting a business case for diversity and providing an introduction to diversity measurement. Part II of the book outlines the diversity return on investment (DROI) process taking you through step-by-step processes and techniques. Part III teaches you how to use measures in six key categories - Diversity Leadership Commitment, Workforce Profile Representation, Workplace Climate, Learning & Growth, Diverse Customer / Community Partnerships, and Financial Impact - to build a diversity scorecard that is aligned and linked with the business strategy of the organization. Finally, in Part IV, Dr. Hubbard discusses implementation issues involving strategic change procedures and techniques to avoid the pitfalls inherent in a diversity-based cultural transition process.

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8. Web Reviews

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# Working With Pay Pals: Creating Incentive Pay Programs: Why individual performance may suffer under "relative" incentive packages.

So-called relative incentive packages-those that determine an individual's pay by comparing his or her performance with others-are among the most popular systems in the United States. But recent research coauthored by Imran Rasul of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business suggests that workers may not be as productive under this scheme as they would be under another incentive plan.

This story in Chicago GSB's publication Capital Ideas looks at research conducted with fruit pickers and how they were incented to be more productive. An interesting subplot arose from studying how the production of workers increased or decreased when they were paired with friends. Under the piece rate plan, there was no loss in productivity among friends working side by side, but productivity decreased by an average of 21 percent when friends worked together in a relative incentive program. Why? In a relative program, one worker's gain is another worker's loss. "The things that the workers care about go beyond their own pay," Rasul is quoted as saying. "The workers also care about the pay of other people."

The best compensation plan might be one that rewards team results over individual performance. Also, organizations that use a team-based approach would be wise to sponsor social outings outside the office to establish and reinforce the bond between people on the team.

Visit the site: http://gsbwww.uchicago.edu/news/capideas/feb05/paypals.html 

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