annual report 2009
Employment Equity
The group remains compliant with all aspects of the Employment Equity Act, No. 55 of 1998. This requires timeous submission of an annual employment equity report and plan to the Department of Labour, consultation with employees, communication of the report and plan to employees, and regular policy and facility audits to ensure that no barriers to employment equity exist.
An employment equity audit was undertaken by the Department of Labour, comprising a detailed analysis of all employment equity reports and plans, the group’s HIV/AIDS policy and minutes of employment equity forum meetings. An action plan arising from their findings has been implemented.
At store level, regular inspections by the Department of Labour’s inspectorate have confirmed compliance.
There is currently an industry-wide initiative in the Western Cape headed by Business Unity South Africa to fully explore the reasons for the difficulty in attracting and retaining black talent at senior management levels within the region. The group is a participant in this initiative via the Retailers Association. The research should be completed by the end of this year, which will provide us with valuable insight and guidance in achieving our targets at this level.
Our areas of strategic focus
Recruitment
The group continues to strive to improve sourcing and recruitment techniques in order to attract top talent, and more specifically top black African talent. In this regard, the group has become a corporate member of the Black Management Forum.
All vacancies are placed on our internet and intranet sites, simplifying the advertising and application process. A computerised recruitment tool for the storage and data mining of employment applications has simplified the process of matching applicants to available positions. There are currently 22 826 active applications on record.
The annual graduate recruitment campaign continues to be a priority area and of the 35 trainees who commenced employment in January 2009, 80% were from previously disadvantaged groups.
The majority of our head office and field management appointments last year were aimed at previously disadvantaged groups.
The percentage of employees recruited from previously disadvantaged groups is as follows:
| October 2003: | 75% | |
| October 2004: | 80% | |
| October 2005: | 81% | |
| October 2006: | 83% | |
| October 2007: | 87% | |
| October 2008: | 89% |
A breakdown of recruitment by ethnic group as given in our most recent employment equity progress report is depicted below:
Recruitment |
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Consultation and communication
The Employment Equity Consultative fora, bringing together employee representatives from all occupational levels, genders and race groups, and which incorporate the Skills Fora, have met on a quarterly basis. Their role is to assist management in ensuring that no barriers exist in terms of skills development and employment equity policy. These fora are actively involved in the formulation of the employment equity plans at departmental, divisional and group levels.
Physically disabled
A number of agencies and NGOs were consulted during the course of the year in order to gain access to potential employees from this sector. Although our head office facilities are suitable for and accessible to disabled employees, this remains an area of challenge for our employment strategies.
Workforce profile
In our employment equity submission of October 2008, previously disadvantaged employees comprised 85% of our workforce compared to 83,7% in October 2007 and 80,7% in October 2006. The current target of 90% for October 2010 appears to be achievable if current progress is maintained.
The table below depicts a summary of our employment equity report as at the end of February 2009, as required by Section 22 of the Employment Equity Act.
| Male | Female | Foreign Nationals | Total | ||||||||
| Occupational Levels | A | C | I | W | A | C | I | W | Male | Female | |
| Top Management | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | 10 |
| Senior Management | 1 | 5 | 1 | 59 | – | 2 | – | 53 | 4 | 2 | 127 |
| Prof. Middle Management | 17 | 58 | 12 | 140 | 23 | 76 | 17 | 284 | 8 | 5 | 640 |
| Skilled, Jnr Mgt, Sup. | 156 | 168 | 34 | 90 | 424 | 648 | 158 | 567 | 6 | 14 | 2 265 |
| Semi-skilled | 1 155 | 622 | 99 | 98 | 3 894 | 2 479 | 486 | 528 | 9 | 21 | 9 391 |
| Unskilled | 40 | 66 | – | – | 20 | 83 | – | – | 1 | – | 210 |
| Total permanent | 1 369 | 919 | 146 | 395 | 4 361 | 3 288 | 662 | 1 433 | 28 | 42 | 12 643 |
Evidence of our overall progress in remedying imbalances in the ethnic composition of the group’s workforce over the past eight years is depicted below.
Workforce Profile Changes |
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This chart excludes employees of RCS Group as the target date of that division’s plan differs by three years from that of the rest of the group, and is thus not comparable. Those employees total 6,7% of headcount and thus do not significantly affect the statistics.
The chart below depicts our current employee status compared to our 2010 target.
Actual Employee Status vs October 2010 Target |
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A table indicating the change in representation of previously disadvantaged groups amongst permanent employees is provided below.
| October | October | October | October | |
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
| % | % | % | % | |
| Senior management | 7,1 | 5,3 | 6,3 | 4,6 |
| Specialists and middle management | 31,7 | 29,2 | 29,8 | 30,0 |
| Skilled technical and junior management | 70,1 | 66,9 | 63,0 | 59,3 |
| Semi-and unskilled employees | 93,0 | 91,1 | 88,6 | 86,6 |
A table indicating the change in representation of women amongst permanent employees is provided below.
| October | October | October | October | |
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
| % | % | % | % | |
| Senior management | 44,9 | 38,2 | 38,4 | 39,9 |
| Specialists and middle management | 63,3 | 63,3 | 63,7 | 63,4 |
| Skilled technical and junior management | 80,0 | 79,5 | 79,3 | 80,1 |
| Semi- and unskilled employees | 78,9 | 79,0 | 79,4 | 79,1 |
Namibian employees: The Affirmative Action (Employment) Act of 1998 required that as from 2001 an annual report and plan be submitted to the Employment Equity Commissioner. We have complied with this requirement each year.
The group’s workplace profile in Namibia continues to be well representative of the demographics of the country, with 92,3% of employees from the previously disadvantaged groups. A continued effort is being made to obtain full gender representation.
Training and development remain a matter of priority in ensuring that progress is made to obtain sustainability of our operations and balanced growth in our staff complement. Of the training delivered, 98% was to people of previously disadvantaged groups.
