City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
My career in the ‘business of people’ stretches back over twenty years. Following completion of my B. Soc Sci (Hons) degree (University of KZN) in 1987, I started my Industrial Relations journey in the tough field of mining. Working at various West Rand and Northern Cape mines gave me invaluable experience in dealing with industrial conflict on a large scale. Relocating to Cape Town, I changed focus to become HR Manager for a clothing manufacturer, and finally National HR Manager for a company supplying the meat and wine industries. My vision to do things differently and develop corporate capacity to deal with industrial conflict led to me establishing Future People in 1995. At Future People we provide consulting, staff training/coaching and organizational change intervention to both the public and private sectors, with a particular focus on large-scale projects involving mass semi-skilled workforces. Key to my approach at Future People is providing our clients with measurable outcomes that can be directly translated into the real hard numbers that underpin a business. Our focus is also increasingly on delivering sustainable outcomes to our clients. To this end I completed my MPhil in Sustainable Development Planning and Management (University of Stellenbosch) in 2015 and am currently a doctoral student in workplace education through Rhodes University.
- IR: a) Chaired difficult appeal hearings for clients e.g. largest theft case at a national fishing company; mutiny on the high sea of a full vessel crew; large-scale theft at a whiskey company. c) Asked for input on difficult cases in client companies e.g. reviewing contracts - Change and Mentorship Programmes: Made strategic contribution to promote long-term IR stability and improved performance which resulted in large-scale change management projects. I originated, designed and facilitated these multi-year projects to improve the relationship between employer and employees. Projects measured in hard indices e.g. production rates, number of dismissals, man-days lost to industrial action, tonnes processed, savings. - Training and Development: a) Varsity College: Developed and lectured on IR, HR and Business Administration courses b) I&J: Developed and conducted extensive IR training for staff from warnings to appeal hearings, both land and sea. c) FSA Contact: Conducted various IR training courses e.g. IR training for all Yardley staff and executives. d) Developed and facilitated outdoor team building 1-day session e) Brunequil and Associates: Conducted a 3-day public course on leadership f) Wits Enterprises: Developed and facilitated a 2-day workshop for BP Southern Africa HR Managers on HR, Resilience and Sustainability - Staff retention: Worked on strategies with clients for key staff using profiling and personality profiling (Thomas International) - Performance Management: Assisted organisations to detect and manage poor performance: a) Auditor General’s Office (all offices country-wide; also included training staff) b) IDC: all divisions c) I&J: all sea-going positions; all shore-based and engineering; various head-office positions; and all positions at the abalone operations - Academic research projects Active participation in 3 research teams involving research in education and business strategy.
- Talent Manager: Held full responsibility for employment life-cycle: a) Recruitment b) Induction c) Organisational design and job profiles d) Training and development e) Succession planning f) Rewards and retention strategy g) Employment law h) IR In addition to the above, was Project Lead on two company-wide initiatives: a) Move to a four-day week to support employee-centric company values, commissioned on 1 May b) Build a 59 video on-line learning academy for Fuel employees to support both on-boarding and training - Education and content Responsible for the operationalisation of ed-con strategy in 2016. Worked closely with the MD to build this new division in the company, which included: a) Generation of strategy b) Partnerships with clients c) Partnerships with 3rd party suppliers d) Client surveys e) Academic research f) Conference attendance g) Content curation Responsible for the design, build and launch of a 59 video online learning academy. Successfully launched in November 2015. Reasons for leaving: Better prospects in Future People (Pty) Ltd
- IR: (as above) - Change and Mentorship Programmes: (as above) - Training and Development: (as above) - Staff retention: (as above) - Performance Management: (as above)
- IR: full responsibility for discipline and grievance hearings; dismissals; strikes; negotiations for all branches. Conducted a large retrenchment exercise. Turbulent IR with as company moved from a sweetheart union to FAWU; and underwent financial difficulties. Also worked with consultants and - Training and Development: Nine branches. Responsible for ensuring all staff had required technical and soft skills. - Induction: this training was my responsibility - Recruitment and staff retention: Responsible for all recruitment; and retention of key staff e.g. sales staff and industry specialists. Did recruitment directly and worked with agents. - HR Administration: Responsible for submitting correct information to Finance for the payment of wages and salaries. Personally responsible for all other HR-related administration e.g. contracts of employment. Managed an HR Administrator who did the day-to-day work. - Performance Management: Responsible for the drawing up and grading (peromnes) of all job profiles; plus the annual performance management review process. Assisted line managers to deal with poor performers. Management Team: Held the HR/IR portfolio on the executive management team. Reason for leaving: I left because I believed that there must be another way of dealing with IR that was more positive. I had a vision to create a company that could help businesses to build corporate capacity to manage work-place conflict effectively.
- IR: full responsibility for discipline and grievance hearings; dismissals; strikes; negotiations. Turbulent IR with trade union SACTWU. Also worked with consultants and labour attorneys - Training and Development: 170 staff on 24/7 shifts Responsible all technical and soft skill skills - Recruitment and staff retention: Responsible for all recruitment; and retention of key staff with rare skills e.g. embroidery machine operators - HR Administration: Terminal responsibility for payment of wages and salaries and all related administration. Managed an HR Administrator who did the day-to-day work. - Performance Management: Responsible for the drawing up and grading of all job profiles; plus the annual performance management review process. Assisted line managers to deal with poor performers. - Management Team: Held the HR/IR portfolio on the management team. - Induction: this training was my responsibility Reason for leaving: I was offered the position of Nation HR Manager at Columbit