The South African delegation at COP17 received high praise from President Jacob Zuma for their “outstanding achievement” at the recently concluded climate change conference in Durban.

For many businesses December is the busiest period and it’s important for employees to plan at least six-to-12 months ahead of time, and engage with employers on the optimum time to enjoy the mandatory leave periods offered.

The idea of storytelling is growing in popularity and becoming a widely used tool to communicate thoughts, present ideas and influence others. How does it work? Nancy Duarte talks about the power of storytelling and how it can be used to convey information in a way that people will remember.

The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Amendment Bill (B-BBEE), which aims to align the B-BBEE Act with other legislations impacting on black economic empowerment, has been gazetted by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.

2012 will prove to be the starting year for a number of major new employment legislation initiatives says Rob Cooper, a Payroll tax expert at Softline VIP, part of the Sage Group plc.

COP17 President Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has congratulated all the delegations at the United Nations climate talks for “their leadership and rising to the occasion when it was most required”.

A staggering 60% of South Africa's youth has never been employed. This disconcerting statistic emphasises the need to educate and equip young people particularly in the engineering sector in order to boost job creation, said Minister Trevor Manuel at the 4th International Conference on Engineering and Business Education.

Funds should be used to create jobs for people with disabilities instead of distributing money through government grants according to Sekgalo Lethloo chairperson of the Disabled People of South Africa. People with disabilities want to be recognised for their skills.

Media reports indicate that there are a large number of migrants within South African borders. Many come with skills that are in short supply among SA citizens. The temptation then is to employ these migrant. But what are the requirements, and what are the dangers of employing someone illegally? Ivan Israelstam provides cautionary advice.

As part of the plan towards improving the lives of people with disabilities the Department of Higher Education and Training has established a bursary fund to the value of R77-million for students at university level who have disabilities.

Human resource management (HRM) has been a misunderstood and underutilised business resource for many years, but modern organisations are waking up to the potential and competitive advantage that a strong HR team can offer.

Where do private ETD providers fit into the QCTO? In order to answer this question we need to dissect the QCTO system.

The Setas are pushing providers to offer full qualifications, or at least registered skills programmes as opposed to stand-alone Unit Standards. To offer full qualifications, we have to be registered with a Council for Quality Assurance - ours being UMALUSI.

Much has been said recently relating to the position of women in business and the need for education as a means of unlocking businesswomen’s self belief. None of us know what the future holds in store. What we do know is that whatever the future - change is inevitable.

Many members find great difficulty with all the terms used on the site. The following simple description gives you a start to distinguishing between Leanerships, Internships, and In-service training.

You can imagine the boss arriving at the HR Manager’s office asking for a policy on social media. Have HR fallen into the trap of relying on 'dumb' policies?

Counselling can alleviate stress or pain caused by difficult situations and people when it is done right, but too many think counselling is about making the appropriate noises at the appropriate times. Nicolene Rose-Innes talks about the real role of a counsellor.

Poverty continues to soar and it is clear that simply giving people 'stuff' does not work. Warren Te Brugge, the founder of My Arms Wide Open, explains why this albeit well-meaning approach to aid is clearly wrong. He explains that there is a better way to create opportunities, develop businesses, sustain growth and rebuild communities.

More access to female condoms, protection of commercial sex workers and access to HIV information for rural women were some of the requests given to Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe as the country marks World Aids Day.

During a side event at the COP17 climate change conference South African high school learners presented a youth protocol to Minster Lulu Xingwana, concluding a year-long programme which culminated on the opening day of COP17 at a simulated youth climate negotiation.

Domestic workers are in store for an early Chistmas present this year as the wage increase implemented by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant takes effect as of the 1 December. Employers have been urged to 'be fair" to staff by adhering to the new legislation.

Social media may offer new channels for communicating with stakeholders but online social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace can also act as a platform for negative publicity. Do you, as the employer have any control over what is said about your business?