Human Capital

Almost 80% of multinational and large corporations in South Africa experience ongoing difficulty recruiting critically skilled individuals. This highlights the severity of the talent shortage and its impact on business development. The situation underscores the persistent critical skills shortages affecting multiple sectors.

For many companies, transformation requirements such as Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), compliance still feel like an administrative burden. However, the Youth Employment Service (YES) initiative challenges that perception. It goes beyond compliance by offering a practical and cost-efficient tool for business growth and flexibility.

You’ve put in the hours, written the exams and now graduation is on the horizon. But when should you start applying for jobs? How early is too early? Whether you’re completing a diploma, higher certificate, degree or even a postgraduate programme like a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Doctor of Business Administration (DBA), timing matters.

In mining, the goals are clear: safety, productivity, profitability. Leadership spends countless hours developing strategies. They align KPIs and ensure plans are in place to keep the business moving forward. But on the ground, where boots hit rock, what’s planned often gets lost in translation.

Does solving business problems with creative ideas motivate you? Are you inspired by deadlines and accurate results? Do you like working with people as much as numbers? These questions paint a specific picture for a specific role: people who manage payroll.

When an employee has been unfairly dismissed, the Labour Relations Act (LRA) prescribes reinstatement as the remedy. The employer can depart from this only if it shows good reason. Full reinstatement requires the employer to pay the employee all remuneration accrued between the date of dismissal and the date of reinstatement.

If something strange seems to be happening in your payroll and HR department, and your company’s profits are vanishing into thin air, chances are you have ghost employees in payroll draining your bottom line. From my experience, the presence of ghost employees on a company’s payroll system ranks among the most difficult types of payroll fraud to detect.

A growing number of the youth are giving trade unions a pass - not out of disinterest, but disconnection. Traditional union structures feel increasingly out of step with the values, platforms and priorities of a new generation navigating digital workspaces, gig economies and fluid career paths.

In Mqikela vs Pristo Response Trading, the South African Labour Court found that a supposed retrenchment had masked the real reason for dismissal. The employee had referred an unfair labour practice (ULP) dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). This case exemplifies an automatic dismissal due to ULP.

The Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL) has published the Employment Equity Regulations, 2025 under the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 (EEA), as amended. This was published together with the notice identifying national economic sectors and determining the sectoral numerical targets, effective from 15 April 2025.