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| Employee report |
Our human resources (HR) activities are driven by answers
we obtain from constantly asking ourselves this question
"Are we spending most of our time in work that results in
employees being engaged and productive?". Engaged
employees are resourceful, they create solutions that add
value and improve the quality of the lives of our clients. They
make ABIL competitive.
Key to our employee engagement strategy is our well-defined
job profile that clearly sets out performance
expectations and the corresponding competencies required
to deliver the job outcomes. The job profile creates a firm
platform for both the manager and the job incumbent to
contract effectively and keep the employee engaged. It also
informs our comprehension of the inherent capabilities
required to deliver ABIL's strategy as well as influence our
talent
acquisition strategy.
At 30 September 2007, ABIL had 3 011 full-time employees
and 1 706 contracted mobile sales agents. Total employee
levels increased by 284 or 10,4% as a result of the additional
staff required for the 40 new branches opened during the
year, and the call centre headcount increasing to cope with
the introduction of African Bank's credit card product. From 1 October 2007, 307 mobile sales agents were transferred
into our full-time employee complement, and 359 became
candidate consultants (temporary staff), awaiting qualification
to transfer into
permanent employment.
Turnover in the semi-skilled and discretionary decision-making
category of our employees has decreased slightly by 1%. We
have introduced a recruitment instrument that has an inbuilt
assessment tool, which will continue to enhance our selection
process and improve our chances of acquiring talent that
matches our value systems, leading to better retention rates.
Employees are being assessed against competencies defined
in the job profile.
Tenure with ABIL in the 6-10 year category has increased,
indicating that our retention strategies are bearing fruit. We
continue to attract more female employees, currently
representing 68% of our staff complement.
Our management profile is also changing with the increased
representation of black managers at senior and middle
management categories. However, we are lagging behind in
attracting black females. Our employment equity forum will
be addressing representation by black females at senior
levels. |
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| Staff turnover analysis |
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| Year |
2007 |
2006 |
2005 |
2004 |
| Total full-time complement |
3 011 |
2 727 |
2 845 |
2 672 |
| New recruitments |
777 |
425 |
758 |
457 |
| Resignations |
341 |
346 |
317 |
320 |
| Retrenchments |
21 |
77 |
163 |
248 |
| Dismissals (misconduct) |
17 |
74 |
28 |
75 |
| Deaths (not work related) |
14 |
15 |
3 |
10 |
| Other* |
87 |
31 |
123 |
94 |
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| *Abscondments, emigrations, etc. |
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| HR transformation journey |
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| Feedback on HR priorities for 2007 |
| HR has, over the past few years, been challenged to take a
strategic perspective to the role it plays within ABIL. The call
to being a strategic business partner has forced HR to
enhance its architecture, which translated into focusing on
the achievement of the following goals: |
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Building a competent HR practice; |
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Creating an infrastructure that facilitated good people
management
processes; and |
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Upskilling line managers about the new HR function and
roles. |
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The delivery of these goals required HR to transform itself from
being a personnel management practice through different
phases towards being a real strategic partner as shown in the
diagram, entitled the HR transformation journey.
The map on the previous page gives a summary of our
journey, and depicts the impact that we have on the business
and the outcomes that we anticipate at each stage. This
journey is accompanied by detailed plans at individual, team
and functional levels and forms a basis of our business plan
within HR.
We continued to work on the six themes identified two years
ago and the following progress was achieved: |
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| Theme 1: Talent management |
| Our talent management strategy is premised on six pillars
namely: |
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Retention of high performers; |
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Leadership development; |
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Performance management; |
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High potential development; |
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Creation of succession pools; and |
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Employment equity. |
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Our performance management system is the process that feeds into these six pillars. Retention candidates have been identified and career discussions have been held with the majority of them, which includes agreeing on customised employee value propositions. Some of the retention and high potential candidates have been included in the international business practices benchmarking studies undertaken by the company. A leadership development forum has been established where employees that are in the different talent pools are put through an ABIL customised leadership development programme. We have also formed an HR forum whereby twice a year, "people discussions" are held with executives to assess effectiveness of some of these programmes and review the talent
pool performance. |
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| Theme 2: Communication |
HR’s communication function plays an important role in communicating all HR initiatives and change management programmes. The communication office played a critical role in ABIL’s brand change and values launch this year. The function is in the process of developing a values rollout programme as well as employment branding initiatives that are aimed at employee engagement.
To keep staff up to date, the group focuses on internal communication methods and platforms that encourage staff’s engagement, participation and commitment. The following communication methods are utilised at ABIL:
ABIL Talk: This programme creates a ‘talk show’ studio feel and the venue is transformed to depict a TV studio. Employees are invited as the audience with management (CEO, directors and executives) in the panel to address employees and respond to any concerns that employees might have in relation to the business. ABIL Talk has proven to be an effective platform to promote debate between management and staff.
The Gathering: An informal platform that exists to further encourage management and staff interaction. Employees are invited to participate and individual executives rotate to host the forum where discussions about the business are held.
News flashes: Electronic mail used to inform staff of important company information, announcements, events, activities, gatherings etc, are sent out daily.
Fundulwazi: An educational electronic weekly newsletter used to communicate the latest developments from different departments as well as educate staff members on the various aspects of the business, such as the NCA and
new products.
Abmag: a quarterly internal magazine used to disseminate information on the organisation. Articles published in this magazine include general company information, the company’s involvement in CSI initiatives, employees’ contribution on any issues affecting them in the workplace, employee personal issues – ranging from their involvement in the communities where they live to acknowledging those staff members who live the company values and a lot more.
The group is also mindful of the fact that its employees come from the country’s different communities and that the organisation is an extension of the diverse societal framework. As such African Bank supports national programmes that seek to build and advance social cohesion through celebrating symbolic days such as Diversity Day, World Consumer Rights Day and Women’s Day. |
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