Human Resource

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.

South Africa’s working women have made progress in achieving equal pay for equal work, but the financial scales are tipped against them by the country’s tax system that treats women and men equally, but with unequal results.

The law considers absenteeism over short periods (a day or two) without leave or without good reason as minor misconduct. However, when even short periods of absence become the norm amongst a workforce this can constitute an extremely serious problem for the employer.

Business leaders and managers are under sustained pressure as they steer their teams through the unrelenting turbulence of the current times.  They are grappling with the unfolding of hybrid work against the backdrop of a global economic downturn, while there’s no relief from the tech-driven disruptions happening day-to-day in every 21st Century workplace.

Calls for a four-day work week in the South African context may be premature. Employers have so far been quietly cautious about the subject, but as with most examples of radical change, implementation will be the ultimate test.

Remote working from foreign jurisdictions has become increasingly popular during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the lockdown rules being relaxed in most jurisdictions, it appears that employers should not expect the workplace to return to the way it was before the pandemic.

South African youth are disproportionately represented amongst the country’s unemployed, and even graduates of tertiary education are not immune to this struggle to enter and make their way in the modern world of work. 

Artisan Training Institute (ATI), one of South Africa’s most prominent engineering training providers has launched their e-learning platform which is a first of its kind.

The new Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Harassment in the Workplace (Code), which became effective on 18 March 2022, seeks to address the elimination and prevention of all forms of harassment (and not only sexual harassment) that pervade the workplace.

It may be very difficult for some to save money in the current economic climate as they barely have enough money to cover their monthly expenses. However, it's crucial to plan for the time when you may not be able to work.

Cape Town is one of the world's fastest-growing regions in terms of foreign investment, according to a report from foreign direct investment data platform, fDi Intelligence.

Personal Branding is a continuous process where you discover, evaluate, grow and showcase "what you bring to the table".  It involves creating a personal brand and image, that represents your best qualities, skills, and experience.  It is the combination of what values and principles are important to you and how you showcase those values in your actions and behaviours.

Early in 2022 the Daily Maverick reported on a case where an employee was dismissed for refusing to be vaccinated against Covid.

The Covid-19 working challenge continues as companies and employees face a new challenge – office working without vaccination.

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.

On the heels of the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs terminating the national state of disaster and in doing so repealing all regulations and directions made in terms of section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act No. 57 2002 ("old Regulations"), on 15 March 2022 the Minister of Employment and Labour ("Minister") published the Code of Practice: Managing Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the Workplace, Government Notice No. 46043 ("old Code"), after consideration by NEDLAC in terms of section 203(2A) of the Labour Relations Act No. 66 of 1995 ("LRA").

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.