While no significant changes in all kinds of jobs – formal, informal, permanent and temporary – were seen during October, South Africa’s labour productivity fell to its lowest level in 40 years.

Adcorp’s monthly Employment Index for October 2011, released in Johannesburg this morning, reveals that throughout 2011 labour productivity growth has been negative, with an all time low reached last month.
Labour productivity is a leading indicator of job creation.

Meanwhile, this month’s Index also shows that employment dropped slightly in the mining (-7.8%), construction (-7.0%) and manufacturing (-4.5%) sectors on an annualized basis. Adcorp labour market analyst Loane Sharp says these losses were offset by job increases in wholesale and retail trade (+4.4%) and financial services (+3.0%). (more…)

Business has changed – it started with the ‘war for talent’, and continued with the ongoing skills shortage and our younger generations’ new expectations. So as leaders we need to involve ourselves continuously in creating a company culture in which our people are happy and want to stay with us.

People who are happy at work are naturally more productive, which impacts positively on individual and company success.

I am a firm believer in a happy culture, and I have seen five main drivers, both at DAV and at many of our client companies:

1. Contribution

All people have a desire to know they contribute to their colleagues and leaders as well as to their company’s success. Let’s communicate on an ongoing basis about how our people contribute to larger company goals. When people see that what they do makes a difference, and that their views and opinions matter, they feel valued and appreciated. At DAV,
we create an environment where we consistently appreciate what our people bring to the table.

2. Conviction

When people keep going even when things get tough they develop a sense of resilience, efficiency and effectiveness. It’s challenging, however, to stay motivated which is how we can help: Let’s keep reminding our people of the ultimate goal and looking for different ways to motivate them. When we can convince people of the value of staying strong, believing in themselves (and their company) and working towards victory, their level of pride and resilience is amazing.

In 37 years DAV has seen difficult times and recessions. I believe what made the difference every time was our conviction we would not only get through it, but emerge better people and better professionals. (more…)

Growth in economic activity in the informal sector is rising in South Africa while official employment is under pressure.

This trend in South Africa’s labour market environment is highlighted in the latest monthly Adcorp Employment Index, released in Johannesburg this morning, which has tracked employment trends for the month of September 2011.

Loane Sharp, Adcorp Labour Market Analyst, says: “The size of the informal job sector has peaked at almost half that of officially recorded employment in South Africa. In September alone, this sector grew at an annual rate of 7.7%.” (more…)

There are few worse feelings for a manager than when a valued employee announces he or she is leaving. Last month we chatted about how to spot signs of discontent, now what can we do if they are there?

Luckily – in most cases – employee resignation is a process, not an event, so we have time to address the situation. The best news for anyone charged with leading people: we can interrupt the disengagement process and salvage key talent at critical, predictable points along the decision path to departure. (more…)

If you are CA and have been actively seeking employment in the recent job market you may have been feeling somewhat frustrated with the shortage of opportunities available to you. Have you found this? I would love to hear about your latest experiences in the job market especially over this past year or so.

For us, as recruiters, we have definitely experienced a shortage of opportunities for new CA’s and ones with 1 to 2 years post qualifying experience. This shortage has been emphasized by the definite increase of CA’s in the market place. We have found the market to be saturated with recently qualified CA’s – largely due to a limited number of international opportunities coupled with many of the audit firms decision not to retain as many CA’s as previous years. This has left us with an over-supply of recently qualified CA and a limited number of positions, which I am sure you agree has caused much frustration for all. This has also caused a bigger demand for the positions that do become available and a levelling out of salary. For example – the starting salary for a new CA in Cape Town is around R360K however some candidates have been accepting R300K – R340K to get the position – and get their foot in the door. (more…)

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the current condition of the South African economy. According to
Statistics SA, mining and manufacturing figures for July indicate a decisive slowdown in production levels,
suggesting that global economic weakness continues to affect South African producers adversely.
However, Investec’s Hard Numbers Index produced by Prof Brian Kantor suggests that the consumer – as
measured by domestic vehicle sales and the demand for bank notes – is generally buoyant, while
liquidations and insolvencies continue to improve suggesting that consumer indebtedness and small
business earnings are improving. (more…)

Flattered, guilty, doubtful, fear of change – these are probably some of the emotions you will feel during your resignation. Sometimes just one, or maybe the whole lot, depending on how your manager reacts. Resigning isn’t meant to be easy, but what we must remember and what should make us feel more confident is that it is very often the only thing that belongs to us. It does not need to be accepted, negotiated or signed. We own it. Another glimpse of optimism is that your resignation should mean that you are that much closer to realizing your wish list – the 5 things you said you would like to change about your current company/position when you began your search. But very often this is all forgotten by the craftiness of the counteroffer.

Did you know it can cost your company up to 5 times more to replace you than to keep you on board? So your manager’s initial reaction will probably be to ask you to stay because he/she will be under enormous pressure to keep you. With this in mind it might be a good idea for us to expect a counter offer because on almost every occasion it is easier and more economical for companies to keep us than to go through the rigmarole of replacing us. (more…)

Engineering News asked top recruitment consultant Diane Gotthardt about the future of engineering recruitment and DAV’s future therein:

1. What are the current trends in South Africa in terms of sourcing key staff in the engineering/technical/mining sectors and for sectors like renewable energy?
We are still in a skills short market. Excellent Engineers are being fought for globally and being paid high international salaries. Specifically in industries like Mining and Power Generation. It’s a global playing field and employers in SA need to come a long way to attract and retain key players in Engineering. In sectors like renewable energy we are starting to see some movement there but it’s early days. Some companies are progressive and have started looking for “green experts” but reports indicate that the massive boom for companies in the wind turbine manufacturing will come closer to 2015

DAV is listed with the Adcorp group and their Employment index for June indicates the following:
• Employment dropped sharply at an annual rate of 8.3% during June, the second consecutive monthly
decline. This represents a loss of 127,100 permanent positions and 5,712 temporary positions.

• Employment grew substantially in the high-skilled management and professional services categories
(21.9%), whereas employment declined sharply in the unskilled and semi-skilled categories (20.3%).

• Based on our monitoring of trade union activities so far this year, we estimate that South Africa will
lose 24.9 million days due to strikes and work stoppages in 2011 – an increase of 22% over 2010.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) – an international grouping of the world’s largest multinational corporations, South Africa’s labour laws and regulations rank 133rd among 139 countries in the world i.e. the 7th-lowest internationally.

“As the WEF notes in its 2010 Global Competitiveness Report, South Africa has the 8th-highest level of industrial conflict in the world (more…)

I did an experiment this evening. I asked my six year old daughter to hold her hand against mine. She looked a bit puzzled but was curious as this was something mommy usually does not ask her to do, out of the blue. She cautiously put her hand against mine. I applied pressure to push her hand back and she pushed mine back.

Of course this was a load of fun for her and we spent the next 10 minutes with the hand pushing exercise eventually enrolling dad in the fun as well! I wanted to try this exercise because Richard Pike, CEO of Adcorp, delivered a tremendously heartwarming and poignant recollection of his life story at our offices in Sandton. He demonstrated this hand push back example, to illustrate that as human beings, if we are pushed, we push back. (more…)

We all know that it is important to focus on Employment Equity and the reasons these policies, procedures and the measurements have been put into place. Hopefully this is accompanied with a sense of pride, reason and backed with knowledge. But what about the other (previously) disadvantaged minorities? Focus is concentrated on legalities whereas the softer side, may I say the humanity, seems to falter. Certainly a notion as strong as empowerment is filled with meaning and sentiment, a collective strive for a splendid integrated nation. Although the minorities I refer to, stretch further than females, this article has its focus on this group. (more…)