Tag: retrenchment

Many South African businesses have been struggling since the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. While the economy has seen slight improvements from last year, conditions remain uncertain and unstable. Many businesses are struggling to balance the need to stay afloat with the desire not to retrench any further staff.

A while ago, I received a panic phone call from an employer who had received an unfavourable arbitration award in respect of a CCMA case they never knew existed. That is, the employer had never received a summons to appear at the CCMA but the award required the employer to pay tens of thousands of rand to an ex-employee.

New research highlights that now, more than ever, employee mindsets really matter. As COVID-19 continues to reshape our world, business leaders are asking themselves how they can protect  their organisations against future crises and remain sustainably successful amid unrelenting change and uncertainty in a post-pandemic world.

Downsizing, remote working and interacting with customers online have become part of the daily grind. And with the Third Wave of infections upon us, those organisations who have not yet modernised their technology environments will find it increasingly difficult to survive.

The weaknesses inherent in franchised businesses and the health of relationships between franchisor and franchisees are being revealed as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds. Excessive reliance on retail infrastructure, insufficient investment in digitisation and poor delivery capability is severely impacting franchised networks. 

The current COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown implemented by the South African government, has had a significantly negative impact on businesses. Some have only recently been able to commence operations with the start of the current alert level 1 status.

With the daily COVID-19 infection rate in South Africa increasing rapidly, many employees are having second thoughts on whether they should be returning to an office environment. This may occur when circumstances may arise where refusing to work is believed to be the only safe option available.

Retrenchment is a word that can strike fear into the hearts of even the most seasoned veterans of the corporate world. In fact, the longer you’ve been with a company, the more daunting retrenchment can seem. Will you ever be able to find another job as good as, or better than, this one? Will you end up in a job you hate, through no fault of your own? And during a global pandemic and economic downturn, prospects look even bleaker.

With the easing of the nationwide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the Government's 'Risk Adjusted Strategy' (comprising of five lockdown levels), more and more business can lawfully operate again. As a result, employees will be returning to work and employers will be obliged to remunerate them again.

As South Africa braces itself to reach the peak in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Government statistics have shown that the country could reach 400,000 infections by mid-July. While lockdown conditions may have been eased to level 3 for now, South Africa, and much of the world, is nowhere near the end of the pandemic, and the economic and health repercussions of COVID-19 are going to persist for months to come.