Human resource

With the staggering rise of social media scams globally, business executives find themselves increasingly targeted by cybercriminals seeking to exploit their personal and professional lives. WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram have become prime platforms for scammers to lure victims into their web of deception.
 

Businesses today are too preoccupied with measuring workplace productivity by managing people's time and evaluating their performance. However, this fixation often detracts from understanding customer needs and delivering quality outcomes.
 
 

South Africans are among the most indebted people in the world, with as much as 73% of disposable household income servicing debt repayments. We find ourselves in an environment of rising interest rates, high levels of unemployment, and escalating food and energy prices. Many people are facing extraordinary financial headwinds and struggling to service their debt on home loans, vehicle loans, credit cards and overdrafts.

‘Profit starts telling you a story in terms of what to do next – or what not to do’ and ‘With the odds against you, you need people who think they can take on those odds and win.’ These are just some of the pithy words of advice offered by South Africa’s entrepreneurs in Heavy Chef’s new book, Selling Products Online.

Father of modern management thinking, Peter Drucker famously said: "Culture eats strategy for breakfast". What is culture, though? For many business leaders, who deal in tangibles, this concept is an ethereal, unquantifiable notion. But culture, at its most rudimentary, is ‘how we do things around here’, i.e., how we behave together. To break it down into a simple formula: leadership equals culture equals performance. 

Taking risks is part of any good business. As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said, “In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking any risks.” But which risks should be taken and which ones are best avoided? That is a question for a well-trained risk manager.

For years, job descriptions have defined how organisations are structured. This method worked well when businesses changed slowly, and employees were considered cogs in the machine. However, smart HR teams are focused more on skills, empowering employees to be agile, autonomous and perform beyond their duties.

This Women’s Month, we sat down with Jessica Hawkey, Founder and Managing Director of redAcademy to discuss her journey as a Woman in business, what her advice is for fellow females in business and why she has a passion for empowering South Africa’s youth. 

Businesses today are too preoccupied with measuring workplace productivity by managing people's time and evaluating their performance. However, this fixation often detracts from understanding customer needs and delivering quality outcomes.
 

A safe workplace can increase staff morale, productivity and prevent injuries. Health and safety courses can go a long way in ensuring you enjoy the benefits of a safe workplace.

The food and beverage manufacturing sector turned over R185 billion for the third quarter of 2022, and it is one of the highest contributors to GDP in the manufacturing industry. It primarily consists of small companies (87%) and some large and medium well-known employers according to our 2022 levy-paying database.

As small businesses serve as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation - Anglo American’s enterprise and youth development arm, Zimele, launched a business incubator programme in Limpopo and the North West targeted at small-medium enterprises in the tourism sector.

People with disabilities (PwDs) can play an invaluable role in South Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) whilst carving out a rewarding career for themselves in the country’s thriving ICT sector.

As businesses try to manage the realities of the post-pandemic workplace, they are being forced to deal with issues such as tax and HR regulation of digital nomads.

Once considered bad luck on board a ship, a new generation of women are challenging superstition and prejudice and asserting themselves in senior positions in the fishing sector.

Workplaces don’t look the way they used to. But even as businesses have mostly adopted a hybrid approach where people juggle working remotely, many employers are eager to bring their staff back to the office on a permanent basis.

Recently appointed Managing Partner of Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lerisha Naidu, plans to implement a new way of working in the legal sector, ensuring that all contributors to the working environment are able to show up as their true selves.

Deloitte Africa announced that it would be bolstering its sustainability and climate capabilities as part of its continued commitment to its purpose of 'making an impact that matters' – for its employees, clients, and society.

Presenteeism, being physically present at work but mentally absent and unproductive due to illness, injury, stress or burnout, comes at a greater economic cost than absenteeism, and during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has not only increased but gone digital and virtual.

Change is daunting, but ultimately necessary and inevitable, especially in business. The businesses on the forefront of change are the ones that survive and prosper.And the employees who possess the skill of being highly adaptable to change, are the ones who get and stay employed as well as grow in their careers.