By Nicol Mullins, chartered reward specialist and executive committee member of the South African Reward Association (SARA)

For most organisations, the importance of keeping their employees productive has never been more critical. For some, their very survival may depend on it.

The way in which they structure rewards, that is, employee remuneration, benefits and incentives as a total package, has a significant influence on how well they will achieve that objective.

Yet, life has changed beyond recognition, affecting workers and their perception of which rewards are most meaningful to them now.

To maintain productivity, employers need to look at rewards from a completely different angle, one that considers the personal and individual needs of each employee.

The value of rewards
Rewards generally take the form of monetary and non-monetary compensation. In South Africa, in addition to basic pay, monetary compensation traditionally includes a retirement fund, medical cover and risk insurance, which form the basis of the total reward package.

With corporate finances becoming stretched, greater emphasis on non-monetary rewards may give organisations the edge they are looking for. Specifically, this means better psychological support for employees and greater flexibility in employment conditions.

Incidentally, this class of reward is exactly what many employees desire right now. For example, the ability to work from home allows exployees to save on travel while being more available to their families during these unprecedented times.

However, this approach requires a change in attitude in two main areas.

Firstly, employers need to think of rewards not as a cost to the company but as an enabler of productivity. It is therefore better to focus on developing rewards that encourage productivity in a given context rather than taking an approach of cutting costs across the board.

Secondly, the reward offering needs to create an environment of trust.

An environment of trust
Giving employees greater flexibility in how they carry out their duties means trusting that they will do so to the best of their abilities. After all, if their organisation doesn’t trust them, why did they hire them in the first place?

At the same time, employers can win their trust by understanding that their personal lives are severely affected by the pandemic, both emotionally and financially, and providing support where possible and appropriate.

An environment of trust is one of psychological safety where employees feel cared for, trusted and valued. Without this foundation, employers will find it difficult to implement new benefits offerings simply because they will not expect them to succeed and therefore will not achieve their desired results or potential.

Flexible conditions
Allowing employees to work from home is one way of displaying trust.

Organisations can also consider more flexible working times. Employees are undoubtedly working longer hours, so they need more frequent breaks. A quarter-day or half-day leave offering would allow them to take care of personal priorities and needs. This is also a good opportunity to experiment with shorter work weeks.

Parents may need to drop their children at school, so scheduling meetings after 9 am and before 2 pm would respect that constraint.

On the more practical side, a canteen on premises ensures that employees do not need to leave the building to eat. Complementing this with a play room or relaxation room will ensure they are more comfortable being at work.

Communication
However, the best way to develop new rewards is for employers to leverage the trust environment they creat. Instead of designing one-size-fits-all reward packages, they should realise that workers have different needs based on their specific life stage.

By communicating with each staff member, they can individualise rewards that will evoke the best performance from their people. For example, should a retirement fund be mandatory or should they have the option to contribute to benefits that best suit their immediate needs?

Whatever the final outcome, leaders must motivate their employees to perform like never before, and this will require them to try new, innovative and creative approaches to keep rewards relevant.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 

For more information on SARA please visit:
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Twitter: @SA_reward
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At the recently held 2020 Reward Awards ceremony hosted by the South African Reward Association (SARA), FNB won the Reward Project of the Year award while ABSA won the Remuneration Report award.

Yolanda Sedlmaier won the prestigious President’s Award.

The annual rewards celebrate the companies and professionals who design total reward solutions that attract, retain, motivate, and engage employees in a way that makes a difference to their organisations.

Reward Project Award
The 2020 SARA Reward Project award recognised the team from FNB that developed an Annual Salary Review (ASR) conversation guide for managers on the FNB App.

Research from Gartner (Corporate Leadership Council) shows that 70% of employees want information about reward from their managers, and that communication by managers is three times more likely to positively impact loyalty to both the manager and the organisation than if it were to come from HR.  The ASR conversation guide for managers is built into a section of the FNB Banking App that is only visible to employees, and offers an innovative way to provide personalised, contextual support for managers to have effective reward conversations.

In an environment where the majority of the workforce is working off-campus/off-site, the ASR Guide has been essential to provide managers with as much support as possible through the annual salary review process. ASR has enabled virtual management of the annual increase process, and resulted in an increase of 100% in active App users.
The other placed nominees of the 2020 SARA Reward Project of the Year award were Anglo Platinum in second place for their Team+ Performance Management and Reward project, and Standard Bank in third place for their COVID-19 Employee Support and Relief project.

Remuneration Report Award
The winner of the 2020 SARA Remuneration Report of the Year award is ABSA. Goldfields received 2nd Place and Vodacom received 3rd place for their submissions.

This award recognises organisations for the alignment of their remuneration reporting and disclosure, against the key principles of the King IVTM governance guidelines which exemplify fair, responsible and transparent policy and practice.  Submissions were evaluated by a panel of independent and expert judges across all spheres of stakeholders.

President’s Award
A special President's Award that honours outstanding achievement in the field of total reward was awarded to Yolanda Sedlmaier (Chartered Reward Specialist).

Yolanda has been involved in SARA’s Internship Programme since its inception in 2006, and she has been the Chair of the programme since 2010. Over the past 14 years, the programme has delivered an impressive 55 new total reward professionals into the industry through the active involvement of the committee and superb support from Sponsor and Host companies. Yolanda has worked tirelessly with her team of passionate and dedicated volunteers to enhance and improve the programme, on top of her demanding roles at Deloitte and more recently Mercer.

Yolanda has been described as a selfless leader who is passionate about talent development and thrives on seeing young graduates of the programme go on to lead successful, fulfilling careers. Her no-nonsense style, combined with her love and passion for mentoring graduates, has made her a highly respected total reward professional and deserving recipient of the 2020 award.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za  

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za  
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
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In the current business environment companies are either surviving, or thriving.

Those who are thriving have had “strategic timing coupled with intentionality” on their side, says Nicol Mullins, Chartered Reward Specialist and executive committee member of the South African Reward Association (SARA).

Their business model has been aligned to current market conditions. Their portfolio agility meant they were able to adapt to change. The ones that are now thriving disrupted their own business models when it was critical to do so.

Portfolio agility
A company that has nailed the concept of portfolio agility is Uber. Mullins says they have two legs to their “transport business”.  Uber transports people and Uber Eats transports food.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the country experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. The transport of people declined dramatically, but the transport of food increased.

Uber entered the business of transporting food, even before the outbreak of the coronavirus. The pandemic simply accelerated their new business.

“The Uber business model illustrates the importance of having a service offering that has breadth and depth,” says Mullins.  This oversimplified example serves as an indicator of how companies may want to pivot around their core business.

The restaurant industry has been severely disrupted by the lockdown. Many were forced to repurpose their traditional sit-down business model. They used technology to engage with their clients.

They used Facebook and WhatsApp to tell their clients they are ready to continue serving them. They started offering either take-away food or deliveries. They used the resources already available to them. Their waiters became their delivery business. That is being innovative.

Companies need to remember what kept them alive during this period.

Incentivise the right performance
Once they recognise what is driving their performance in a positive direction they need to do more of that, faster. “That is behaviour and performance you want to incentivise,” says Mullins.

Most companies are currently not in any position to offer large monetary incentives. However, it is often not the monetary incentive that add the biggest value to an employee/employer relationship.

It is rather the ability of leadership to understand the employee’s current “context”. Nicol suggests that leaders look at their workforce in segments, for example as single parents, single people or older people. That will assist in assessing their real needs better, rather than following a “blanket approach”.

“The best incentive to offer is often simply to ask what you can do for them.”
In many instances it is simply data for their phone, or more flexible working hours. Don’t make any assumption to the level of access employees have to water, wi-fi, food, safety or security. 

Ask.  Even more so when referring to vulnerable populations within the workforce.

Create hope
As business leaders acknowledge the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, they should at the same time have a clear plan of what it is that they want to achieve.

“Define reality and then create hope,” says Mullins.

It was the famous Black Panther actor, Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer at the end of August, who said: “He who has watered, be watered.”

The role of a business leader is to take responsibility for those who are in their care. If you take care of employees, they in return, will take care of the business, he notes.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za  

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za  
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association

​

The rapid shift to working from home (WFH) was an essential strategy for keeping businesses and people working when the COVID-19 emergency hit.

But many companies are now looking at a future in which WFH becomes part of a next-generation workplace strategy designed to improve productivity while “humanising” work life and particularly performance management, says Lindiwe Sebesho, Master Reward Specialist and Exco Member at the South African Reward Association (SARA).

“For some time now, HR professionals have been moving towards a less rigid, structured and uniform way of managing employees’ performance—one that incorporates team performance and tries to understand better what motivates discretionary effort,” she says.

“The wholesale adoption of WFH is accelerating this trend because managers are realizing the importance of managing people by the outcomes. We can’t manage—or measure—employees now by their presence at work. “Work has to be designed to protect employees’ safety and wellbeing without compromising on the importance of achieving the desired results.”

Whilst most managers have always understood that the key to success is defining  clear outcomes for their teams, the current environment has put emphasis on the need to trust that employees will do what is required to deliver the right outcomes.

Preliminary reports show that whilst many employees have found working from home beneficial, they have also worked harder and for much longer hours, meaning that there have been notable improvements in productivity.

A survey by Deloitte shows that 70% of workers in financial services have found it a positive experience.

The survey showed that the top reason for this was no commuting (76%), with more flexibility (43%), more time with family (39%) and more time to exercise (28%) also contributing.

Those who reported a negative experience cited lack of personal interaction as the main reason (51%), followed by the challenges of achieving a work/life balance (41%) as the boundaries between work and home can soon be blurred when both are done in the same physical space.  The majority (76%) felt they were more productive at home.

Lindiwe notes the importance of building on these studies to sustain the benefits that confirm the link between increased productivity and WFH.

More mature outcomes-based performance management should also drive a renewed focus on performance-based remuneration and, if productivity is indeed rising, should lead to the levels of performance required for the recovery of most businesses and the economy. At the same time, says Ms Sebesho, performance based rewards will have to be re-structured to sustain the motivation that remote workers may need.

This should also lead to a review of benefits that will enhance the support that employees who work from home should receive from their employers. As a suggestion, Lindiwe advises employers to consider providing connectivity allowances (as opposed to the traditional cellphone allowance) to enable employees to access the data solutions required for the increased use of digital platforms.”

“Companies will have to begin looking at compensation structures that meet the needs of WFH employees by considering broader factors such as the cost of physical office infrastructure.

Whilst WFH employees who have a dedicated office can claim these expenses as a tax deduction, it seems likely that firms who want to enhance their employee value proposition may come to the party sooner rather than later,” she says.

Recently, a Swiss court ordered an employer to pay part of the rent of a former employee who had worked from home, even though there had been no agreement to do so.

“Corporates look set to reap significant benefits from WFH: increased productivity and greater employee retention are two, but over the longer term they could reduce the money spent on office space and the extra costs that come with real estate,” she concludes.

“They need to share these benefits with employees, and SARA will have a role to play in helping them to get the balance right.”

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za  

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za  
Twitter: @SA_reward
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With the sudden emergence of COVID-19, companies once hesitant to embrace remote working arrangements have been forced to allow employees to operate from home.

“The results have been surprisingly positive, leaving some organisations to wonder why they didn’t do it sooner,” says Deon Smit, Chartered Reward Specialist and Committee Member at the South African Reward Association (SARA).

Yet, there are several obstacles associated with working from home effectively and, according to Smit, reward strategies to help employers overcome them.

Obstacles
Firstly, many jobs still require workers to be present at their place of business, like cashiers or store assistants. Yet, even some knowledge worker positions require employees to be in the office and employers must identify those for which remote work is not feasible.

The size of an employer also makes a difference. Smaller employers can adapt easier and are more agile in regards to remote work. Large employers, on the other hand, have 1000s of employees interacting across a range of complex business processes and it becomes all the more difficult when they are remotely located.

This makes measuring and managing performance incredibly tough as well. Even with an abundance of online work management systems, many unusual factors impact employee performance when working from home. 

Further, working on remote systems or communicating on video software may prove challenging for those who are used to constant contact with their managers and team. They may need specialised training and support to get up to speed before settling back into their normal performance profile.

Lastly, there’s now the inevitable requirement to deal with family affairs, children’s interruptions and a myriad of other distractions that distract employees’ attention away from their daily work tasks. Employees will often find themselves working abnormal hours to stay abreast of demands on their time between work and home.

Strategies
To overcome these obstacles, employers can try a number of reward interventions to address this issue.

The first is to maintain a strong sense of company culture, combined with a flexible approach to working hours. Employees need to know that deadlines still exist but that the employer is sympathetic to their situation.

It is also critical to implement a work management and performance tracking system that is fair and not overly intrusive.  Employees working remotely should never feel over-policed or micromanaged.

To enhance performance, employers should ensure their remote employees have all the resources required to complete assignments. This may include providing equipment and services that the company would otherwise have supplied in the workplace, such as a suitable office chair and desk, a suitable computer, printer or smartphone, a fast internet connection and monthly data allowances.

Further, they should identify critical training their remote workers will need to work productively from home. While technical competencies like software or video conferencing may be required, the employer must look deeper. Time management, emotional intelligence, stress or anger management, mental health and even entrepreneurship may all assist employees to better manage their work time and output.

With the right remuneration strategies in place, remote working becomes its own reward.

“It’s exactly what younger generations of workers are looking for, their main concerns being a good work-life balance and independent decision-making. They are also often willing to sacrifice income for this type of job and may see an organisation that offers this benefit as an employer of choice,” concludes Smit.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za 
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association
​

Authored by: Muhammed Goolab, Exco Member at the South African Reward Association (SARA)
​
Right now, organisations are focusing on streamlining their businesses, lowering costs, becoming more agile and responsive, and offering the same or better quality of service in a post COVID-19 world. So we will find that the way companies and employees engage will change, as will the value proposition offered to the latter.

A changing approach to employment
Many employers have already determined that they can function with large complements of their staff working from home, and employees are gaining increasing independence over how and where they work.

COVID-19 has forced many organisations to focus on core operations in the short term, and they will inevitably turn to streamlining structures and processes. In the longer term, we may find that they prefer to employ more generalist skills inside the organisation while outsourcing specialist skills.

Depending on their needs, however, they might take the opposite stance.

They could increasingly tap into the gig economy as a cost-effective way of providing goods and services in instances where work is seasonal, that is, there are peaks and troughs in demand. Although giggers may have to work on multiple projects to maximise their income, the result would be a reduced permanent cost to employers.

Managing organisational culture
Organisations would also need to grapple with managing organisational culture in what will become an increasingly flexible working environment.

Organisational culture determines what the acceptable standards are and is the glue that binds the way people function and their expected behaviour within their organisation. In a sense, the culture is about the experience of working in an organisation.

So the challenge going forward will be how to develop, manage and maintain an organisational culture where large numbers of employees are working from home or under other flexible arrangements that minimise daily personal contact in a common physical environment.

Rethinking pay
How employees are rewarded will play a significant role within this new paradigm.

The current imperatives for companies are cost reduction and job preservation. Many are cutting back on salaries and benefits by either enforcing reductions or freezing increases or bonuses. Employees may be affected for an extended period before their pay returns to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Such pay interventions will also drive deeper discussions around issues of a living wage and pay equity.  An unusual response may be that some employees realise that they can manage on a lower salary, and could even consider adjusting their work week to 4 days to free up 1 day for other commitments and initiatives.

Remuneration policies will therefore be revised to support business recovery as the COVID crisis winds down. They will emphasise variable pay elements, both to manage costs and as a tool to increase productivity that is aligned to the organisation’s objectives.

As the structures of companies evolve with the changing ways of working and possible technology solutions, many lower skilled jobs will start to fall away and those employees will need to repurpose themselves. This will lead to organisations embarking on a reskilling drive to better position themselves for a post COVID-19 economy.

In summary
Employees will increasingly seek longevity and sustainability in their employers, and companies will need to review and adjust their employee value proposition. This includes reevaluating traditional benefits and implementing those more easily adapted to a flexible working world.

What has become apparent in the short term is that employees are looking for greater holistic health benefits that focus both on their physical and mental wellbeing. These will, however, evolve into lifestyle benefits that support flexible working.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
​
For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za 
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association

By Nicol Mullins, Chartered Reward Specialist and Exco Member, South African Reward Association(SARA)

COVID-19’s most lasting effect may be prompting us to think differently. For me, this global crisis provides a heaven-sent opportunity to rethink the way we look at remuneration and, more broadly, work.

Some companies are already thinking differently, as shown in a dipstick survey recently conducted by SARA (our COVID-19 Remuneration Actions Survey). It shows that 41% of respondents have implemented senior staff pay cuts, and some companies are cutting short-term (27%) and long-term incentives (23%).

Twenty-five percent of respondents have still not made a decision about short-term incentives, and 43% are pondering long-term incentive cuts, so presumably some of these might also elect to cut executive pay or put incentives on hold.
These are prudent measures designed to preserve cash against an uncertain future, but they also send a powerful message to the whole organisation: We are in this together, and we will make sacrifices to keep everybody’s job safe for as long as we are sustainably able to.

But there’s also plenty of increased news report frequency around organisations considering, or implementing retrenchments. Bizarrely, this approach is often welcomed by the market, and stocks often rise when retrenchments are announced.

I would argue that this is simply indicative of the short-term thinking that bedevils our economic system, a finite mind-set opposed to an infinite mind-set.

If you think about it, retrenchments are negative because they result in a catastrophic loss of institutional memory and valuable skills, amongst several other negative knock-on effects. The company is weakened, and ill-placed to take advantage of more favourable economic conditions when they come.

We are always hearing about the war for talent and how long it takes to get people trained and productive. Getting rid of the people so laboriously acquired and trained can never be positive if one takes a long term view, as any board and exco must. It also sends a highly negative message that people are expendable in the quest for short-term gain.

What if, rather, the approach evident in our survey was taken further? What if the company’s leaders levelled with staff and said, “We need to cut still more costs”? Retrenchment and employment are not alternatives, they are the ends of a long continuum. Most people would take a pay cut of some kind to retain their job, and the sense that the company is a family that looks out for its members would be enhanced. Such a company would come out of the lean times with the skills it needs to grow—and, more important still, a workforce with the right attitude.

This question of attitude is crucial. Companies spend millions surveying “employee engagement” and trying to improve it because an engaged employee is a productive employee and one who will willingly volunteer additional discretionary time and effort towards company success. The way companies approach this crisis—retrenchment or coming up with a shared solution—will play a large part in driving better employee engagement and ultimately long-term sustainability and success.

Playing the long game
In fact, wouldn’t it make sense to rethink our whole approach to remuneration? One thing that’s struck me forcibly over the past months is the role of medical and nursing staff in fighting COVID-19. They are performing an essential role at great personal cost with a high risk of infection and stressful working conditions.

In terms of the conventional approach to remuneration, assumed to be governed by supply and demand, they should be commanding higher pay. But those working on the COVID-19 frontline are not being paid extra (Cuban doctors excepted, perhaps) because, at base, they and their employers have a shared purpose: saving lives.

Compare the conventional, friction-filled remuneration negotiation in which employees negotiate the highest possible pay, while companies seek to get the skills they need to fulfil their strategic objectives at the best possible price.

But when there’s a shared purpose between employees and their employers, the remuneration discussion takes place on a different level.

In fact, if people feel that their purpose in life is aligned with what their employer wants them to do, or that their job gives them a purpose, their primary focus will not be the size of their salary but rather the satisfaction they get from doing their jobs.

Such employees will “go the extra mile”, will apply their minds to improving the business and, yes, will take pay cuts when necessary to preserve the company—and the jobs of themselves and their colleagues.

Organisations and employees that align themselves around a shared purpose rather than financial targets are in a better position to adapt to what everybody agrees is a highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business environment.

They have resilience built into their DNAs because their people are united in pursuit of a common goal. Such companies will survive COVID-19 and prosper again; for the rest, the future is not so certain.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 

For more information on SARA please visit:
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Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association

Internationally, there is a growing trend to reduce executive pay in response to the current COVID-19 crisis.

South Africa is following the trend, with several private sector companies voluntarily announcing reductions and donations in executive pay, among them Woolworths, EOH, FirstRand, Vodacom and Sibanye.   

The South African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority, the banking sector regulator, has asked banks to avoid paying ordinary dividends or executive bonuses this year and of course, our President announced in his more recent addresses to the Nation that cabinet members will take a 1/3 pay cut and contribute this to the Solidarity Fund.

Martin Hopkins, President of the South African Reward Association (SARA) and Master Reward Specialist, says getting executives to lead by voluntary example by accepting pay reduction at this time is the appropriate thing to do from several viewpoints.

“As a gesture of solidarity at this time, executive pay sacrifice can be a powerful morale booster and could provide a way to repair some of the damage caused by the perception that executives are over-rewarded” he says.

“Executive pay cuts, along with dividend freezes, also make sound business sense because, in uncharted waters like these, conserving cash is going to be key to survival - and thus to keeping as many jobs as possible.”

Dr. Mark Bussin, SARA executive committee member and Master Reward Specialist, says: “If there is one thing that the Corona Virus crisis has done, it has united us against a common enemy. I have seen so much goodwill between communities. I almost want to be thankful that we got this wake-up call. Perhaps we can explore this comradery further by each organisation seeing all employees in the same boat and showing more sympathy and empathy towards each other. This should include a deliberate effort to narrow the wage gap. Let’s not waste a perfect crisis”.

As Mr Hopkins points out, executives are likely to be able to better weather a significant reduction in their income than low earners who subsist from pay-check to pay-check.

He expects that most variable pay, which makes up a significant portion of the remuneration of top executives, would be curtailed—although most performance targets are in any event unlikely to be met if the economic fallout is as bad as predicted.

He suggests that executives could be incentivised to lead their business to survive the crisis and thrive in the future by means of restricted share awards rather than cash incentives, even though these would have the effect of diluting the assets of existing shareholders.

​Any such awards should be granted prudently to mitigate the perception that executives are taking undue advantage of currently depressed share prices.

Looking beyond the short to medium term, Mr Hopkins says he does not foresee that these emergency executive pay cuts will necessarily translate into a permanent reduction in the wage gap between a company’s executives and its lowest paid employees.

He believes that ultimately pay is governed by supply and demand, as well as the imbalance in negotiating skills between executives, company remuneration committees and shareholders.

These factors will not disappear, and shareholder activists will continue to have limited room for manoeuvre given that shareholder votes on remuneration are typically non-binding.

He speculates that if enough companies close down, there might be a glut of top executives looking for jobs, and this could bring down executive salaries.

Mr Hopkins also comments that the issues of poverty and unemployment may be more pressing issues and drivers of fundamental inequality and suffering than the corporate wage gap.  “At the end of the day, human dignity and well-being is highly dependent on the ability to earn a living wage. We should be focusing our efforts on ensuring the maximum number of people have a job and are earning a living wage,” he says.

Nicol Mullins, SARA executive committee member and Master Reward Specialist says: “There is an incredible opportunity for organisations to unite and build trust.  The call to reduce compensation and contribute to assist others in need is not only answerable by executives, but by all to the level of where it makes sense.  Nothing stops the rest of a workforce to contribute voluntarily.  What we need right now is not the money of a few, but the collective action of many – meaning financial, and through other means.”

“The recent proposal by 65 economists, academics and business analysts for a universal basic income grant of R1 000 for four months also has merit to protect the vulnerable whilst we reboot the economy”.

The work that organisations have done is admirable, specifically around the sacrifices executives are making, but this can be short lived once the crisis is abated if the focus falls away.  The result could mean that the after-effects of COVID-19 is that the wage gap will not shrink because some segments of the population will be affected disproportionately. “Many lower skilled jobs may start to fall away as time progresses and ways of work evolve”, says Muhammed Goolab, SARA executive committee member.

ENDS
 
MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za  
For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za 
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association
​

Successful business leaders know they need a solutions-driven mindset to overcome business challenges and to strategically solve problems, but individuals in South African along with the Private Sector are not optimally using their skills collectively to help solve the country’s problems, says Nicol Mullins, Chartered Reward Specialist and Executive Committee member of the South African Reward Association (SARA).

“It’s easy to complain about fraud and corruption – and thereby contribute to the wave of negative messaging that makes people so despondent – but it takes critical thinking, creative problem-solving and innovation to overcome many of the challenges we face. South Africa already has these skills centred in its people. SARA is calling on the private sector to start pooling its intellectual resources and collaborate to solve issues of national importance,” says Mullins.

Don’t look for safety. Create it.
Mullins quotes author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, who famously said that instead of looking for the perfect place to work, you should create the perfect place to work.

When it comes to politics and government, says Mullins, contributions made to the solutions in South Africa have – for the most part – been lacking, with many individuals sitting on the fence and taking an outside-in view on the country’s problems.

He says this approach isn’t going to contribute to a better South Africa, and that instead of looking for safety, we need to start creating a space of safety in South Africa. We can all do so, and through our action create pockets of excellence.

“The electricity crisis, for example, isn’t an Eskom problem – it’s a South African problem. The sooner we face that it’s going to take more than a single organisation or the government to get the country back on track, the sooner the road to recovery can begin,” says Mullins.

Stretching resources will lead to innovation
Many companies currently have limited financial resources with which to compensate their staff. As a Total Reward Professional, Mullins says he knows how far and wide these resources need to be stretched to engage staff, but this is the sweet spot where innovation happens.

The effect that COVID-19 will have on the global economy will be long-lasting, South Africa is not insulated from this impact. This unprecedented time in South Africa will bring with it uncertainty but allow people to think out of the box.
Our future will be shaped by our ability to stand together in unity and our ability to solve problems with fewer resources, in a smarter manner.

“When you have limited resources, you are driven to innovate and think within the boundaries forced upon you. With unlimited resources, however, you tend to squander and drift from your strategy. South Africa’s current situation is an opportunity for all of us to be a part of the solution. Collectively, we can solve our country’s problems and make things work again,” says Mullins.

Mullins concludes by saying that enabling and mobilising the country’s skilled resources will unlock the collaboration that is needed to start acting locally instead of waiting for the situation to change.

“Many people are talking about immigrating, but my question to them is: where in the world are things going great at the moment? South Africa has its challenges, but also so many things going for it. The change needs to start with us on an individual level.

We need to shift our energy from criticism to collaboration. Instead of looking towards other people or government to solve South Africa’s problems, we need to start thinking about what we can do.

How can each one of us contribute meaningfully to an already incredible place? Let us work together to #LiftAsWeRise as a collective.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za  

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za 
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association
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Is it time to sit with your employee for a face-to-face discussion on how well (or poorly) they are performing?
Often, both managers and workers are not overly excited by the prospect of this sometimes awkward event.

“Dreading a performance conversation is generally a sign of a poorly designed performance management system or a manager who needs to be coached on delivering assessments,” says Muhammed Goolab, Exco Member at the South African Reward Association (SARA).

Performance and reward
According to Goolab, there is a strong link between performance and reward, and most organisations adopt a pay-for-performance approach.

So the performance conversation plays an important role in achieving corporate outcomes. It allows managers and workers to engage mutually on what results are expected of the latter and how they are to be achieved.

Typical mistakes
When hosting a performance conversation, managers often make several common mistakes.

The first is mixing the discussion around corporate objectives and career development with that of reward determination. These distinct topics should be dealt with separately to ensure the specific result of each type of conversation is achieved.

The second is approaching the conversation as a top-down evaluation, something that may be intimidating or come across as overly critical of the employee.

Engagement should be a two-way process to promote a mutual understanding between both participants.

Thirdly, managers may be too vague in their communication, using non-specific examples as feedback. This can create dissonance between their intended meaning and what the employee perceives they have achieved or must pursue.

Whether giving feedback, setting objectives or determining rewards, every conversation should follow the SMART principle, that is, outcomes must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Lastly, carrying out appraisals as an annual formality without a systematic performance development plan in place renders the exercise meaningless. Performance management is not a once-off event and performance conversations should be held regularly throughout the performance period, and should include informal feedback where necessary. 

Improving the conversation
Having established that the performance conversation is an ongoing dialogue between the manager and the employee, it follows that good communication and assessment skills are essential.

Companies can improve their managers’ capabilities through a rater training programme, where they receive instruction on rating employees and providing feedback in a professional and appropriate manner.

It’s also important to give the employee a voice by allowing them to first engage in a self-assessment of their performance. This will reduce defensiveness and serve as a basis for productive discussion.

While formal appraisals will still take place, informal feedback should be immediate, especially if it is in the form of correction. “If negative feedback has been ‘stockpiled’ for the formal performance conversation, it will only serve to break down the trust relationship between the manager and employee.” says Goolab.

A conversation culture
Handled correctly, a performance conversation can result in enhanced performance, based on shared respect and understanding of expectations between managers and their staff.

“Every organisation should foster a culture of performance among its employees, punctuated by regular frank but sensitive appraisals, as an integral part of their reward programme,” says Goolab.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Rosa-Mari Le Roux, 060 995 6277, rosa-mari@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 

For more information on SARA please visit:
Website: www.sara.co.za 
Twitter: @SA_reward
LinkedIn: South African Reward Association
Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association
​