South Africa has come a long way since the first democratic elections in 1994, but in the field of education, many inequalities still remain. As the late Nelson Mandela once said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. In order to achieve this, however, access to good, affordable education is essential – and […]
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT; A COMPLIANCE ISSUE THAT’S FAILING
The amendments to the Skills Development Act have had far reaching consequences for training institutions, employees that seek to develop their skills, and the companies that employ them. Factor in Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) point requirements, and training once again becomes a compliance issue instead of the correct reaction to skills gaps that would increase productivity. While this may […]
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CUTTING SKILLS DEVELOPMENT BUDGETS; BEHEADING THE FUTURE
The first quarter of 2016 is complete. The finance speech has been delivered, and most companies have begun re-evaluating their budgets for the next financial year. Understandably, most will be searching for cost-cutting avenues, contemplating what constitutes essential spend, and what they can do without. Unfortunately, in many instances, the choice is made to cut skills development budgets. A mistake […]
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SURVIVAL TIPS FOR SOUTH AFRICAN MANAGERS
A global survey of more than 1 300 CEOs revealed that the availability of key skills is the second-biggest threat to business growth, close behind the increasing tax burden. A report issued in Business Day showed that this comes as South Africa’s government cuts mandatory grants, or reimbursements, that are paid back to companies that engage in sector education and […]
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2016 – THE YEAR FOR INNOVATION IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
No matter how or why money is being spent, the outlay of funds is always accompanied by an expectation of return on investment (ROI). In the realm of skills development, innovation leads to greater ROI, while the effective management of people impacts on the holistic performance of the organisation – offering elevated ROI in terms of productivity and profitability. At […]
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THE NEVER ENDING JOURNEY OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Henry Ford, American industrialist, the founder of Ford Motor Company emphatically believed in the continuous journey of learning. “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or at eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” At The Institute of People Development’s (IPD) 2015 Graduation Ceremony held in November, Chief Executive Officer, Mark Orpen, opened the proceedings and welcomed guests, […]
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CAREER PROFILING FOR GUIDANCE AND GROWTH
Career Profiling is an effective tool in the development of staff, career development of individuals and the overall talent management of an organisation. For career profiling to be effective, the first step should, however, always be a gap analysis. This is essential in creating a profile that showcases the skills and attributes that a candidate already has, while indicating possible […]
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DOES SKILLS DEVELOPMENT TRANSLATE INTO WORK READINESS?
PIVOTAL grant funding and the trend of most companies building graduate programme intotheir recruitment processes has increased awareness, but perhaps not understanding of orbuy-in to, work readiness. The critical skills lacking in today’s graduates costs South Africanbusiness dearly, and leads to frustration experienced both by the business and by the newemployee. The new employee often finds it difficult to fit […]
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