 The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about the most flexible period in terms of employment and remuneration practices ever experienced.
Companies reacted swiftly to the impact of the pandemic on the workplace and their ability to pay and retain staff. This has never happened in the past, says Yolanda Sedlmaier, Chartered Reward Specialist and executive committee member of the South African Reward Association (SARA). Companies who were already struggling pre-pandemic, paid lower incentive bonuses to their executive and pay increases across board ranged between 0% and 5%. Moral approach However, Covid-19 brought about a far greater moral approach to executive pay and incentives. For many companies, bonus payments for past performance (pre-Covid-19) were put on hold, delayed, cut or reallocated from May last year. “Many companies opted to reallocate some of the money into a company fund to assist staff who ran out of leave and were not able to return to work because of the hard lockdown during the initial stages of the pandemic.” Sedlmaier says the same happened in terms of leave. Companies requested employees who had a lot of leave to sacrifice it in order to allocate it to people who ran out of leave during the hard lockdown. Some companies actually benefited financially due to the pandemic, such as telecommunication and pharmaceutical companies. The demand for computers, data and airtime soared as people shifted from the company office to the home office. Several tech companies were in the position to continue paying their staff as usual, including bonuses. “However, several were circumspective in terms of paying bonuses or giving increases, as they felt a moral obligation not to do so while thousands of people were losing their jobs,” says Sedlmaier. “We are seeing more of that this year. Companies who were still paying bonuses in March last year were more circumspect this year. Covid-19 has certainly impacted on the morality of paying large bonuses in difficult times,” she notes. Retention measures Company executives were “expected” to take pay cuts for a period of at least three months last year, and in some cases the period was extended. Other companies offered all staff a three-month unpaid sabbatical or offered them reduced pay for reduced output. Many companies are quite wary about the possible impact of the third wave. Some have started increasing the number of people working on-site again, but with the third wave they experienced an increase in Covid-19 cases and are re-evaluating these arrangements further. Although there has been a slight pick-up in economic activity recently, the third wave is affecting everyone. “There is a possibility for more job losses,” says Sedlmaier. Future trends
ENDS MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@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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 Authored by: Dr Mark Bussin and Laurence Grubb, Executive Committee Members of the South African Reward Association (SARA)
While there is a need for greater transparency around executive pay, attempts to regulate the remuneration of corporate leaders will do more harm to the economy than good. It has become accepted as unquestioned fact that CEOs and their executive teams the world over enjoy exorbitant, unregulated remuneration at the expense of lower paid workers. However, reality suggests this is not a pervasive phenomenon and more work must be done to determine the best course of action. Defining excessive pay The first imperative is the need to develop a reasonable language for describing the problem as well as agreed upon metrics to measure its extent. What is meant by excessive? Who exactly is being paid excessively? All executives or a minority who take advantage of their position? One concept is that if, over time, the difference between executive income in an organisation and that of its lowest paid worker increases, excess has occurred. A popular formula for determining this state is the Palma Ratio, which compares the income of the top ten percent highest paid to the bottom 40 percent lowest paid employees. With globalisation, the complexity of doing business is increasing exponentially and the sizes of companies are growing, placing enormous pressure on CEOs and their executive teams. It is only right that they be fairly compensated for their extended responsibilities. In contrast, performance requirements for lowest level workers remain fairly constant while the percentage increase in their pay has been higher than the rest of the staff in a company. Is it not then rational to assume that the difference in earnings between these two levels of responsibility may consequently widen? This is not to deny that there is opportunity for excess and that there are those who will make good use of it. However, sufficient mechanisms already exist to deter this behaviour. The remuneration committee Locally, JSE-listed companies are required to appoint a remuneration committee, comprising only non-executive directors and chaired by an independent non-executive director, that regulates executive pay through a remuneration policy and implementation report. Further, shareholders may cast a non-binding vote either for or against the remuneration policy and implementation report at an organisation’s annual general meeting. While this vote cannot force a company’s management to abandon unsupported executive rewards, we’ve observed that remuneration committees take this indicator seriously and factor the result into their decision making. In addition, shareholders do have a decisive vote on who is appointed as non-executives and what their fees should be. This creates sufficient tension to balance the concerns of the executive team, the remuneration committee and the shareholders themselves. It has been suggested that shareholders should have a binding vote on the remuneration of executives but this is not recommended. Such leverage could allow more powerful shareholders to effectively capture control of the company to their own ends. Their alternative goals need not be insidious to distract the executive team from its obligations to the company and related stakeholders. In a free market, executives must maintain autonomy to make critical decisions that can propel their organisations ahead of competitors. If the shareholders can change the remuneration policy and / or implementation through their votes, then who becomes accountable for the performance of the company? Transparency There is no doubt, though, that transparency on executive remuneration would go a long way to allaying public concerns. Proposed changes to the Companies Act could eventually require a declaration by companies on the income of their executives against the income of their lowest paid workers. Unfortunately, this continues to focus on the size of the pay gap which, as already noted, could result from other factors. The best approach is to link pay back to performance, and remuneration reporting should follow this trend. If the public knows how many jobs were created, what market share was won, or which performance milestones were achieved by a management team, their reward packages become easier to justify. Losing executive talent Most South African executives are in fact paid fairly, in proportion to their achievement of agreed on performance milestones. If lawmakers were to become overly prescriptive of executive pay, they may face losing the very talent that can help reboot the economy. Internationally, South Africans are known as hard, dedicated workers and business leaders are regularly targeted by international executive head-hunters. Faced with restricted earning potential locally, they may easily be tempted to seek their rewards elsewhere. The real pay gap is between the employed and unemployed. It might pay the government to focus more on job creation than limiting the job creators. Because that is what a good executive does. They grow businesses, hire employees, engage suppliers and create an economic effect that ripples all the way down to small businesses and the unemployed. This is more often the reason they earn so well.  Authored by: Dr Mark Bussin (Master Reward Specialist) and Yolanda Sedlmaier (Chartered Reward Specialist), Executive Committee Members of the South African Reward Association (SARA)
Before COVID-19 hit the world, the approach to reward was well defined. Organisations paid their employees a fixed basic salary, plus a set of additional benefits that effectively sweetened the pot. The fixed portion served to ensure workers received an equitable market-related income. The variable portion, on the other hand, extended into performance related rewards such as sales commissions and annual bonuses. Variable pay itself is categorised into two components. Short-term incentives (STIs) are attached to annual performance. Long-term incentives (LTIs), like company shares, are often contingent on employees meeting negotiated performance criteria. At the same time, employers were embracing experiential rewards, like wellness programmes, workplace comfort, flexitime, outstanding performance recognition and other non-financial benefits. The pandemic has turned this model on its head, forcing employers to consider different ways to attract, retain and motivate talented workers, and this without the resources previously at their disposal due to the wide ranging economic impact of the pandemic. How fixed pay has changed There have been no permanent changes in fixed pay policy itself. However, with so many staff being retrenched and businesses closing down, employees are more willing to accept the pay cuts their employers are forced to implement. It is obviously better to have less income than no income at all. What has changed is that employers are offering more options. These could include flexible working hours, paid or unpaid sabbaticals, or reduced hours for reduced pay. Something we are seeing, however, is a global trend towards lower variable pay in exchange for a small increase in monthly fixed pay. This is to provide the security employees need in the short term, although its adoption is not as prevalent in South African boardrooms, although we expect it will be in the near future. How variable pay has changed Variable pay is generally accepted to be that part of the reward package more readily tweaked to motivate employees and encourage better performance from them. Now, with almost all employers struggling to save jobs and keep their doors open, they face limited options. Most have managed to retain basic benefits, like medical aid and retirement funding. What has been more affected is incentives, such as sales commissions, overtime, annual bonuses, and even executive performance bonuses. With the global business slowdown, workers are unable to reach previously achievable targets, so employers aren’t earning the profits needed to reward them. To date, most organisations have been unable to innovate their reward programmes. They’ve been too busy trying to cut costs and negotiating with employees to choose between retrenchments or pay cuts. Unsurprisingly, workers generally opted for a lower salary over the uncertainty that they might be the ones left without a job. Productivity In spite of these dramatic events, many companies report an increase in productivity. This is due to flexible working arrangements allowing employees to save time and money not travelling to the office. It’s also an indicator that employees who are allowed to schedule their own time will do so responsibly. They can start working immediately and will often put in additional hours to make up for time spent on personal tasks. These might include caring for children, home schooling and homecare duties, or transporting them to school and back. Stay-at-home employees also insist they are working longer and harder than ever before. The effect of vaccination on rewards As vaccinations start rolling out in South Africa, we don’t expect this to have a direct or immediate effect on rewards. However, the more South Africans are vaccinated as a society, the quicker employees can return to work full time, and the sooner secondary effects will be realised, like the return of tourists to our shores. As this happens, we can expect a gradual economic recovery that should have a positive effect on employee reward packages. Two main trends In terms of their workforce, employers are focusing on two main concerns. The first is a complete review of their HR policies in relation to dealing effectively with and setting pay for workers who are not located on premises. These new policies are no longer founded on inputs and time spent at the place of business. Instead, they consider the outputs, outcomes and impact of these workers, and how to prepare managers to lead them remotely. The second is that we’re witnessing a major shift towards protecting employees’ mental health and well-being, and assisting them with professional loneliness. As the pandemic drags on, this will doubtless become a key element of every organisation’s reward strategy. 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  Whether or not executives earn too much and, if so, how to address executive remuneration practices, are two questions that continue to nag at global society.
“The pressure is even greater in South Africa, where inequality, poverty and unemployment are more pronounced,” says Martin Hopkins, Master Reward Specialist and past president of the South African Reward Association (SARA). The King IV Report on Corporate GovernanceTM recommends several approaches to governing executive reward. One is to give investors a greater say through remuneration voting. But what is it and what material effect does such a vote offer? What remuneration voting means King IV calls for executive remuneration in each company to be disclosed to investors through a remuneration report that has three parts: a background statement, an overview of the remuneration policy, and an implementation report. Further, shareholders are given the opportunity to pass a separate non-binding advisory vote on the policy and the implementation report. If 25% or more of the voting rights exercised by shareholders are against the remuneration policy or the implementation report, or both, the remuneration policy should specify the measures committed to by the board to respond to this voting outcome. These measures should include investor engagement and addressing objections and concerns, although King IV does not specify what format they should take or how they should be implemented. King IV is not enforceable by law; it is simply presented as a framework for good corporate governance. However, its influence is “given teeth” when its recommendations are adopted by regulators with the power to enforce them. This is true of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Listing Requirements, which makes certain of its practices mandatory for publicly traded companies. So, within the JSE's purview, remuneration voting is compulsory, not optional. Even so, a non-binding advisory vote by shareholders has no legal effect on the adoption of the remuneration policy or the implementation report. It simply allows the organisation's management and remuneration committee to gauge sentiment towards their provisions. That said, the vote serves as a powerful barometer of the company’s governance quality and of investor confidence. Should shareholders have more power? The effect of giving shareholders more say in how much executives earn is widely debated. They have a strong economic interest in good governance as well as a moral obligation towards equitable pay. At the same time, giving investors too much power may unduly affect the ability of the Board to govern and management to operate the company effectively. Investor activism can be a powerful force for good, but ultimately the directors need to balance the needs of many stakeholders and make balanced decisions that are overly influenced by any single voice. Measures to provide for increased shareholder power are currently being debated by various interest groups, with measures such as a binding vote on the remuneration policy and/or the implementation report and the so-called “two strike” rule being considered. The binding vote means that the directors must adhere to the provisions of the approved policy and may not apply their discretion to vary the policy terms without shareholder approval. The “two-strike” rule would mean that in the case of two successive votes of more than 25% against the remuneration policy or implementation report the members of the Remuneration Committee would have to step down from the committee for at least two years, and be replaced by other members of the Board. There is diverse practice on remuneration voting in developed and developing countries, with a binding vote on the remuneration policy at a 50% threshold in place in the UK, which is viewed as being reasonably effective, and non-binding voting practices in the US and Canada. Australia has adopted the “two-strike rule” with limited success. Reward perspective Hopkins notes that while there is a great deal of emotion regarding executive pay it's also important to recognise that it is not at all clear that executive pay can be dramatically reduced without damage to the ability of business to generate shareholder value and create jobs. Market forces mean that any one company within a country can’t dramatically reduce executive pay without immediate loss of skills and leadership. If regulations in a country systemically reduce all executive pay then mobile highly skilled executives may well move to other countries which have no such regulations. Many companies aspire to pay their executives in line with their contribution to business profitability and reward them against agreed performance milestones. King IV was developed to reign in excessive remuneration practices, not prevent companies from fairly rewarding employees for their contribution and performance. “Organisations should also look at the other end of the pay fairness equation, with increasing focus on the pay gap and how this should be measured and addressed”, says Hopkins. Together with caution in respect of executive pay, measures to increase the pay of the lowest paid staff, whilst remaining economically competitive is another important reward factor to consider. “This is a complex issue”, concludes Hopkins. Business leadership cannot disregard calls from many quarters to address these issues, but must also seek to balance the views of multiple stakeholders with the pressing need for economic growth and job creation. 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  COVID-19 has brought greater stress to the world of work.
According to Dr. Mark Bussin, Master Reward Specialist and Executive Committee Member of the South African Reward Association (SARA), employers need to realise that their workforce is under immense pressure. “Protecting mental wellness in the extended workplace is as important as other occupational health and safety measures,” he says. The “extended workplace” refers to the virtually integrated on-premises, remote and work-from-home locations over which employees now find themselves spread. Mental hazards The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” However, modern workers face a range of hazards that can severely impact their mental well-being and, by extension, their ability to do their best work. For those working from home, it may be dealing with professional pressures while caring for house-bound children. For those on-premises, it could be the risk of being in close proximity to potential COVID carriers and the threat of becoming infected. A stressful working environment, isolation, discrimination and inequality, domestic violence and many other factors can all contribute to employee distress. “Companies who do not focus on promoting mental wellness stand to lose not only profits but also their reputation as employers of choice,” says Dr. Bussin. Flexibility When the going gets tough, tough leaders get going. It’s in their nature to meet threats with tireless effort and unrelenting focus. Unfortunately, they often demand the same from a workforce not blessed with their mental fortitude. “Maintaining profits is important but driving stressed employees harder will only demoralise them and cripple their productivity,” says Dr. Bussin. Leaders need to slow down and consider how to motivate their workers intelligently. Education Organisations must educate themselves on the best approaches to creating a supportive extended workplace. First and foremost, they should institute an educational programme to help employees understand mental wellness, how to respond effectively to stress and how to develop personal resilience. “Use the same technologies that have kept companies running during lockdown to provide on-demand information and professional counselling to the remote and in-house team,” advises Dr. Bussin. Personalisation People are not equally affected by conditions and do not respond identically to pressures. So employers should avoid a blanket approach to preserving mental wellness. Instead, they need to consider the unique circumstances of individual employees and their personal capacity to cope with adversity in life. Single people working from home might benefit from being included more in virtual meetings whereas single mothers on-premises may be grateful for flexible working hours. “Creating a customised work experience around mental wellness may be the best thing employers can do right now for their workers,” says Dr. Bussin. Mental rewards Just as employers are judged by their support for equality, fairness and safety in the workplace, their reputation will now be determined by how sincerely they promote their workers’ mental wellness. Reward practitioners can help them devise a corporate mental wellness offering as a core benefit for attracting, retaining and motivating employees. “Employers unable to offer the same packages as before can make up for it by providing the peace of mind and coping mechanisms their staff earnestly need to keep going,” says Dr. Bussin. 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 National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) is a study tracking income, employment and welfare in South Africa. The report reveals that women have been hardest hit by the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Although survival and saving jobs is paramount, equal pay initiatives within organisations have not been forgotten,” says Dr Mark Bussin, Master Reward Specialists and Executive Committee Member of the South African Reward Association (SARA). “However, we need equity programmes that extend beyond the enterprise.” The current economic slump has affected women so badly, it has been dubbed the “shecession”. Job losses The NDIS-CRAM survey reports that, of the three million jobs lost between February and April 2020, two million had been held by women. Between April and June 2020, employment increased by 3.2% (220,000 jobs) for women and 3.5% (320,000 jobs) for men. Yet, in June 2020, women remained well behind men in returning to pre-COVID employment levels. Income support According to the study, 57% of those unemployed in June 2020 were women. However, they accounted for only 41% of TERS/UIF-TERS beneficiaries and only 34% of those were paid the Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRDG) in that month. Industries The report suggests a number of contributing factors to the high level of unemployment among women. For one, many industries with high female employee counts were forced to reduce staff during the lockdown. These include childcare, personal grooming and hospitality. Another is their being employed in jobs where working from home is not possible or not being able to work the same hours due to childcare needs. Childcare Women often bear the greater share of childcare and healthcare responsibilities in the family. After early childhood development services and schools closed under lockdown, many may have been unable to work effectively while caring for their family. Due to divorce, women are also more likely to live with children than men are. In the report, 67% of women and only 25% of men reported they were looking after children themselves. Lower earners With no chance of daycare, many families had to decide which parent would leave their job to take care of their children. Since women typically earn less than men, they are the obvious candidates. This situation is unfortunately a result of existing inequality in pay between genders. Within the enterprise Although the study acknowledged a large difference between male and female incomes before February 2020, it measured no significant increase in the gap between then and June 2020. “In my view, the pay gap has not worsened because of COVID. It is still around and still present at the same levels as before,” says Bussin. Conclusion The NDIS-CRAM study suggests that one possible solution is state-subsidised childcare at reopened schools. This will help women to increase their work hours and return to their previous earning potential. In addition, Bussin advises that organisations also need to do due diligence internally. “All organisations should conduct regular, thorough audits of all remuneration and HR practices to make sure that no poor practices or discrimination have crept in,” he says. 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  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: Website: www.sara.co.za Twitter: @SA_reward LinkedIn: South African Reward Association Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association  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 Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association  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 LinkedIn: South African Reward Association Facebook: SARA – South African Reward Association |
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