A Systematic Approach Towards ERM in South Africa

A Systematic Approach Towards Employment Relations Management [ERM] in South Africa.

Management is an “action” – it requires effort, commitment, and involvement. It doesn’t just magically happen. Responsible Management also requires a degree of forward planning and risk management.

Because employment legislation inserts certain levels of employee protection into the employment relationship and holds employers accountable for the way in which staff issues are managed, it makes sense for employers to become systematic about their methods of dealing with ERM issues. 

An employment relationship is both formal and informal – both aspects exist together, side by side.

A healthy employment relationship works mostly because both employer and employee mutually respect each other and generally put the required effort into the relationship. That isn’t always the case and even good employment relationships have their “ups and downs”, like any human relationship.

One significant difference of an employment relationship is that legislation inserts itself into the relationship, often from a socio-economic protective level – recognizing that the power-play is not evenly balanced. In other words, without legislative protection, employers can easily exploit employees. 

When things go badly in an employment relationship, or there is a clash of outlook, or expectations, or if the “needs and wants” of the employer don’t align with the “needs and wants” of the employee, there is a real risk of a dispute, that could potentially end up being decided by a third-party official. This potential in any employment relationship makes it unwise for any employer to ignore the formal side of the relationship. 

Realistically, it is necessary for employers to recognize and accept that there is always a formal side to the following three stages of any employment relationship:

  1. The beginning stage – when appointing an employee to a position/post; and
  2. During the relationship – when certain dynamics of the relationship come into play; and
  3. The end of the relationship – when something or someone triggers its termination.

Before we look at the formal aspects that apply to each stage of the employment relationship, let’s pause to consider the informal side to an employment relationship, and try to identify what sort of actions inject positivity into the relationship. In essence, there appear to be four age-old relationship facets that seem to enhance a human relationship, which are:

  1. Honesty;
  2. Communication;
  3. Commitment; and
  4. Respect 

These four facets generally seem to underpin a healthy relationship, depending on the context and personal dynamics of the parties to the relationship. 

However, let’s consider how these four facets translate within the 3 stages of an employment relationship.

  1. When appointing a new employee:
  • Job role & expectations should be clearly & openly communicated upfront to the employee [Communication & Honesty].
  • Workplace rules & organizational policies & procedures should be openly communicated upfront to the employee [Communication & Honesty]
  • Management should be open and honest about how employee performance will be measured [Communication & Honesty] 
  1. During the relationship, Management should be committed towards:
  • Giving the employee open and honest feedback on the employee’s performance levels [Communication & Honesty]
  • Treating the employee fairly & respectfully [Commitment & Respect]
  • Maintaining open communication channels [Communication & Commitment]
  1. The same principles apply to the termination of an employment relationship:
  • Transparent & fair procedures [Communication & Respect]
  • Making objective assessments [Honesty & Respect]
  • Compliance with legal processes [Commitment & Respect]

Bearing these informal principles in mind, let’s consider the formal side to each stage of an employment relationship and identify where these informal aspects overlap with the formal aspects:

  1. Appointing a new employee:
  • Subject to POPI (Protection of Personal Information) legislative compliance, onboarding new staff requires a degree of personal information to be openly and transparently obtained – cell number, home address, etc.
  • At the very least, BCEA legislation requires “written particulars of employment” to be communicated to new employees, outlining upfront, applicable wage rate, hours, leave, job position, etc. 
  • New appointments often include outlining specific expectations, job duties, or responsibilities that require a formal employment contract, especially if employment is subject to an initial probation period, or is temporary, etc.
  • This often includes a crucial prerequisite to measuring employee performance by way of job description formulation.
  • Generally, onboarding often requires ensuring employee awareness of the applicable rules, policies & procedures (incl. standard operating procedures, if any). This is commonly known as “induction” and may also involve orientation into the employer’s corporate culture and/or workplace practices. 
  1. During the individual employment relationship, there are potentially 5 situations that draw on certain applicable formalities:
  1. Grievances (formal complaints) from staff.
  2. Misconduct (disciplinary) issues.
  3. Work performance issues.
  4. Health/Medical related issues.
  5. Restructuring (operational requirements) issues. 
  1. Employment legislation (such as the LRA) generally imposes the following overall obligations and expectations on employers, in relation to the above 5 potential situations:
  • To treat staff fairly, when providing training and/or employee benefits, when applying discipline measures, when promoting or demoting staff, including avoiding unfairly discriminatory workplace practices – all of which can be referred (as a dispute) by employees (or their trade unions) to an external tribunal for deliberation and in many instances, for a decision to be imposed.
  • To only terminate employment for a fair or valid reason.
  • To follow and comply with a fair procedure, before terminating employment. 
  1. From a formal perspective, depending on the type of situation or issue being dealt with, the legislation requires and expects employers to take the following procedural steps in relation to each scenario:
  1. Adopt and apply “corrective discipline” measures towards misconduct issues and to sufficiently allow employees to supply their full response towards disciplinary allegations, before deciding to dismiss employees for serious or repeated misconduct.
  2. Assess & evaluate employee performance. Where required, instruct & train, and allow employees a reasonable opportunity to improve and to adequately investigate all alternatives, before dismissing employees for poor performance.
  3. Sufficiently determine if a health issue or medical condition is temporary or permanent and to investigate all possible alternatives, other than dismissal, and if applicable, propose methods of reasonably accommodating an employee’s health or medical incapacity, prior to dismissal.
  4. Adequately and meaningfully consult affected employees (and/or their trade unions), in circumstances where certain contemplated restructuring or cost-cutting measures or other economic factors might cause staff to be retrenched or made redundant and to select such staff according to fair and objective selection criteria. 
  5. Effectively receive & engage on staff complaints or grievances, in an effort to resolve such issues, before an issue is referred as a dispute to external dispute resolution bodies.
  1. Taking a systematic approach means embracing the use of entrenched formal procedures towards each of these 5 potential scenarios, by making use of the following support tools:
  1. Adopting & implementing a Disciplinary Code of Conduct, coupled with a standard process of applying corrective discipline & pre-dismissal steps towards managing discipline.
  2. Adopting & implementing a Probationary & Non-Probationary performance assessment & evaluation process, coupled with improvement support & pre-termination consultation steps.
  3. Adopting & implementing Poor Health investigation processes, coupled with pre-termination consultation steps.
  4. Adopting & implementing Restructuring consultation processes, coupled with fair selection assessment steps. 
  5. Adopting & implementing a Grievance policy and procedure resolution process. 
  1. Pre-formal steps have an important place within any employment relationship – it doesn’t have to always be formal, but to be effective, it requires the following commitments from Management:
  • Enabling staff feedback through convenient communication channels.
  • Holding meaningful counselling sessions – interactively engaging with staff.
  • Addressing staff members as a group, without singling out individuals, where appropriate.
  • Mentoring and guiding staff on workplace practices and related aspects.
  • Giving general feedback on staff performance.
  • Promoting inclusivity and anti-discriminatory practices in general.
  • Fostering a culture of accommodating diversity in the workplace.

  • A Systematic Approach Towards ERM in South Africa

    A Systematic Approach Towards Employment Relations Management [ERM] in South Africa.

    Management is an “action” – it requires effort, commitment, and involvement. It doesn’t just magically happen. Responsible Management also requires a degree of forward planning and risk management.

    Because employment legislation inserts certain levels of employee protection into the employment relationship and holds employers accountable for the way in which staff issues are managed, it makes sense for employers to become systematic about their methods of dealing with ERM issues. 

    An employment relationship is both formal and informal – both aspects exist together, side by side.

    A healthy employment relationship works mostly because both employer and employee mutually respect each other and generally put the required effort into the relationship. That isn’t always the case and even good employment relationships have their “ups and downs”, like any human relationship.

    One significant difference of an employment relationship is that legislation inserts itself into the relationship, often from a socio-economic protective level – recognizing that the power-play is not evenly balanced. In other words, without legislative protection, employers can easily exploit employees. 

    When things go badly in an employment relationship, or there is a clash of outlook, or expectations, or if the “needs and wants” of the employer don’t align with the “needs and wants” of the employee, there is a real risk of a dispute, that could potentially end up being decided by a third-party official. This potential in any employment relationship makes it unwise for any employer to ignore the formal side of the relationship. 

    Realistically, it is necessary for employers to recognize and accept that there is always a formal side to the following three stages of any employment relationship:

    1. The beginning stage – when appointing an employee to a position/post; and
    2. During the relationship – when certain dynamics of the relationship come into play; and
    3. The end of the relationship – when something or someone triggers its termination.

    Before we look at the formal aspects that apply to each stage of the employment relationship, let’s pause to consider the informal side to an employment relationship, and try to identify what sort of actions inject positivity into the relationship. In essence, there appear to be four age-old relationship facets that seem to enhance a human relationship, which are:

    1. Honesty;
    2. Communication;
    3. Commitment; and
    4. Respect 

    These four facets generally seem to underpin a healthy relationship, depending on the context and personal dynamics of the parties to the relationship. 

    However, let’s consider how these four facets translate within the 3 stages of an employment relationship.

    1. When appointing a new employee:
    • Job role & expectations should be clearly & openly communicated upfront to the employee [Communication & Honesty].
    • Workplace rules & organizational policies & procedures should be openly communicated upfront to the employee [Communication & Honesty]
    • Management should be open and honest about how employee performance will be measured [Communication & Honesty] 
    1. During the relationship, Management should be committed towards:
    • Giving the employee open and honest feedback on the employee’s performance levels [Communication & Honesty]
    • Treating the employee fairly & respectfully [Commitment & Respect]
    • Maintaining open communication channels [Communication & Commitment]
    1. The same principles apply to the termination of an employment relationship:
    • Transparent & fair procedures [Communication & Respect]
    • Making objective assessments [Honesty & Respect]
    • Compliance with legal processes [Commitment & Respect]

    Bearing these informal principles in mind, let’s consider the formal side to each stage of an employment relationship and identify where these informal aspects overlap with the formal aspects:

    1. Appointing a new employee:
    • Subject to POPI (Protection of Personal Information) legislative compliance, onboarding new staff requires a degree of personal information to be openly and transparently obtained – cell number, home address, etc.
    • At the very least, BCEA legislation requires “written particulars of employment” to be communicated to new employees, outlining upfront, applicable wage rate, hours, leave, job position, etc. 
    • New appointments often include outlining specific expectations, job duties, or responsibilities that require a formal employment contract, especially if employment is subject to an initial probation period, or is temporary, etc.
    • This often includes a crucial prerequisite to measuring employee performance by way of job description formulation.
    • Generally, onboarding often requires ensuring employee awareness of the applicable rules, policies & procedures (incl. standard operating procedures, if any). This is commonly known as “induction” and may also involve orientation into the employer’s corporate culture and/or workplace practices. 
    1. During the individual employment relationship, there are potentially 5 situations that draw on certain applicable formalities:
    1. Grievances (formal complaints) from staff.
    2. Misconduct (disciplinary) issues.
    3. Work performance issues.
    4. Health/Medical related issues.
    5. Restructuring (operational requirements) issues. 
    1. Employment legislation (such as the LRA) generally imposes the following overall obligations and expectations on employers, in relation to the above 5 potential situations:
    • To treat staff fairly, when providing training and/or employee benefits, when applying discipline measures, when promoting or demoting staff, including avoiding unfairly discriminatory workplace practices – all of which can be referred (as a dispute) by employees (or their trade unions) to an external tribunal for deliberation and in many instances, for a decision to be imposed.
    • To only terminate employment for a fair or valid reason.
    • To follow and comply with a fair procedure, before terminating employment. 
    1. From a formal perspective, depending on the type of situation or issue being dealt with, the legislation requires and expects employers to take the following procedural steps in relation to each scenario:
    1. Adopt and apply “corrective discipline” measures towards misconduct issues and to sufficiently allow employees to supply their full response towards disciplinary allegations, before deciding to dismiss employees for serious or repeated misconduct.
    2. Assess & evaluate employee performance. Where required, instruct & train, and allow employees a reasonable opportunity to improve and to adequately investigate all alternatives, before dismissing employees for poor performance.
    3. Sufficiently determine if a health issue or medical condition is temporary or permanent and to investigate all possible alternatives, other than dismissal, and if applicable, propose methods of reasonably accommodating an employee’s health or medical incapacity, prior to dismissal.
    4. Adequately and meaningfully consult affected employees (and/or their trade unions), in circumstances where certain contemplated restructuring or cost-cutting measures or other economic factors might cause staff to be retrenched or made redundant and to select such staff according to fair and objective selection criteria. 
    5. Effectively receive & engage on staff complaints or grievances, in an effort to resolve such issues, before an issue is referred as a dispute to external dispute resolution bodies.
    1. Taking a systematic approach means embracing the use of entrenched formal procedures towards each of these 5 potential scenarios, by making use of the following support tools:
    1. Adopting & implementing a Disciplinary Code of Conduct, coupled with a standard process of applying corrective discipline & pre-dismissal steps towards managing discipline.
    2. Adopting & implementing a Probationary & Non-Probationary performance assessment & evaluation process, coupled with improvement support & pre-termination consultation steps.
    3. Adopting & implementing Poor Health investigation processes, coupled with pre-termination consultation steps.
    4. Adopting & implementing Restructuring consultation processes, coupled with fair selection assessment steps. 
    5. Adopting & implementing a Grievance policy and procedure resolution process. 
    1. Pre-formal steps have an important place within any employment relationship – it doesn’t have to always be formal, but to be effective, it requires the following commitments from Management:
    • Enabling staff feedback through convenient communication channels.
    • Holding meaningful counselling sessions – interactively engaging with staff.
    • Addressing staff members as a group, without singling out individuals, where appropriate.
    • Mentoring and guiding staff on workplace practices and related aspects.
    • Giving general feedback on staff performance.
    • Promoting inclusivity and anti-discriminatory practices in general.
    • Fostering a culture of accommodating diversity in the workplace.