Samantha Crous
Africa can hold its head high, as a record number of organisations achieved the prestigious Top Employers Africa Certification this year. Research has revealed one of the top factors contributing to driving HR best practice was effectively implementing a high level of transparency and open communication.
A record number of 11 organisations made up of 83 certified operations achieved the coveted Top Employers Africa 2017 Certification. In order to be eligible for this title, participating organisations must be certified in a minimum of 4 African countries. The 11 Top Employers Africa 2017 are: AbbVie, Becton Dickinson, DHL Express, Dow, EY, G4S, Old Mutual, Orange, Philip Morris International, Unilever and Vodacom.
“This year, we have certified more continental Top Employers than ever before,” said chief executiveof the Top Employers Institute, David Plink. “The certification of 83 companies in Africa shows that these multi-national employers are continuously working to optimise their employee conditions and lead the way in the development of their people. For their employees, clients, and other stakeholders, it is an accomplishment that they can be truly proud of.”
A recent study, entitled “The Power of the Top Employers Certification Seal Research Report”, found that among Top Employers – certified by the Top Employers Institute – are widely perceived as leaders, as well as being more innovative, personal, and honest. Open communications and transparency were some of the crucial ingredients that led to these positive observations.
Certification is no mean feat for Top Employers, who are evaluated across nine key areas: Talent Strategy, Workforce Planning, On-boarding, Learning & Development, Performance Management, Leadership Development, Career & Succession Management, Compensation & Benefits, and Culture. The Top Employers Institute found, furthermore, that transparency and open communication tied these nine key elements together.
“HR professionals spend numerous hours creating practices to develop staff strategically, so if employees are not aware of these practices or do not understand them, it negates the full value of what they are trying to achieve,” said Samantha Crous, Regional Director for Africa for the Top Employers Institute. “Transparency and thorough communication, therefore, is essential to implementation, as well as to engaging and retaining top talent.”
There’s no shortage of ways in which Top Employers use communication and other ‘soft’ skills to their advantage. Hennie Heymans, chief executive for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa, says leadership goes far beyond competence alone.“This focuses primarily on ensuring that our leaders have the correct balance between IQ and EQ, and have the right leadership and social skills to lead tomorrow’s workforce.” Central also are a range of employee recognition and engagement programmes, and the Employee Opinion Survey, which enables the company to listen to its employees and take note of individual feedback. “‘Motivated People’ forms part of our global FOCUS strategy pillars, ensuring that we provide great service quality which results in loyal customers and ultimately a profitable network. We therefore consider our employee engagement programmes to be critical to our business success,” Heymans says.
Creating a positive culture through blended communication channels can ensure that HR best practice is more impactful and firmly ingrained in the organisation. At Unilever, another Top Employer Africa, Talent Manager James Hu says the key to success is “driving an inclusive, high-performance culture”. ”We want all of our people to feel valued, to feel that they are able to bring their whole selves to work, and where they can be the best possible versions of themselves,” he explains.
“Overall,” says Hu, “our leadership development and learning policies take a holistic approach towards development, with a focus on building leading-edge capability in general skills, professional skills and leadership skills. By proactively identifying future capability requirements and linking that to present skills development, we can ensure that our employees are equipped to perform at the highest level.
“Our HR team is key in driving the capability and culture required for us to remain an agile and responsive organisation that can implement innovations with greater speed and discipline. This is key for us in driving greater innovation across our business, which directly impacts on our business success. We have been able to deliver strong business results around the world as our culture and capability have allowed us to be resilient in the face of challenging economic environments.”
Heymans relates a similar experience, saying: “Happy employees who feel valued are loyal, motivated and productive. This is not only good for the employees, but also for the company.”
For this reason, both Hu and Heymans argue that HR best practice is increasingly playing an instrumental strategic role in business. “The future of HR Best Practice is to be further integrated with internal business practice, in order to be more proactive and responsive to future needs,” says Hu. “As new technologies are developed and new ways of working established, HR needs to be able to integrate these changes seamlessly in the workplace. HR can have ever-greater social impact as well.”
“Employees should be encouraged to grow — both personally and professionally, and should be continuously motivated to broaden their horizons and fulfil their potential via a wide range of learning and development opportunities. We believe that there is a high calibre of talent available on the continent and it is critical to continually [this],” adds Heymans.
In this climate, it is significant that the Top Employers Institute found key guidelines, namely transparency and communication, to ensuring HR best practice became entrenched and had the desired impact on employees and contributing to an optimal working environment and higher levels of employee engagement. This is in line with recent research by Quantum, which found that “[a]cross all industries, transparency has never been more important to a successful business model, regardless of company size. When it comes to employee engagement, this particular business practice has been proven to be essential, at a global scale.”
Some 538 000 employees benefit from the HR practices of Top Employers in Africa, and this number is only set to grow in future.