Affirmative action appointees are job-hopping for ever-higher salaries, reports Mapula Sibanda
A new affirmative action trend is taking root in South Africa’s job market as skilled black recruits find themselves in short supply, and hop from one management post to another — sometimes changing positions for as little as R100.
These moves would not have been possible six years ago, when young black professionals automatically put down roots in their companies to ‘gain experience’.
Dubbed the “pinball” syndrome, personnel agencies say this trend is detrimental to both employee and employer, and has long term negative implications for the job market.
They say it also takes its toll on recruits, who are catapulted into senior positions without real experience and, as a result, often suffer feelings of
Companies suffer by having a high turnover of inadequately trained managers, and by losing money when trained staff defect.
The equilibrium of a healthy, open job market is upset, as factors like tokenism and head-hunting, rather than qualifications and ability, are believed to be behind these appointments. And the stereotypical belief that black people are not business minded is perpetuated.
According to Jobnet representative, Laurinda Seabra- Jooste, a consultant with a knowledge of more than 2000 companies, headhunters are pinching qualified black executives from companies with the promise of higher salaries and better prospects. The highest risk is in the finance and computer fields, she adds.
“For young black recruits, the environment is full of rich companies vying for them. Sadly, some of them end up in token positions, the most common being an affirmative action manager, a post with very limited responsibility and authority,” she says.
Seabra-Jooste predicts that if the trend is allowed to continue, there is going to be a time when the market can no longer maintain people who hop from job to job, seeking high salaries.
Head-hunter for Emmanuels Personnel, Tracy Pelser, confirms the problems, and compares affirmative action pinballs to a child in a sweet factory.
“Affirmative action recruits who have been denied opportunities in the past find themselves suddenly flooded with a lot of job offers. They are enticed by high salaries and positions without thinking through the ramifications,” she says.
Pelser says the trend is more dominant in middle management, and maintains that a candidate will eventually be priced out of the market without the necessary skills to find another job.
Jenny McGrath, consultant with financial recruiting agency Peak, says the trend is evident in 70 percent of cases she deals with: “In the end, companies will not hire applicants whose previous positions do not guarantee their skills due to their unimpressive, job- hopping track record” she concurred.
The trend is due to individuals trying to better themselves, and companies looking to fill affirmative action positions but, as Seabra-Jooste points out, it is also fuelled by a hostile work environment — particularly evident in Afrikaner dominated
‘Affirmative action recruits will always move out of a company if racial tensions persist,” she says.
But Wendy Shilowa, president of Bridging The Gap — a leading black consultany in strategic human resources – – blames both the black professional and the employer, whom she says are acting irresponsibly.
“The employer is avoiding a long-term investment of the development of people by poaching staff, and the employees are the ones who will be short-changed in the long run as they cannot be the captains of the economy through job hopping,” she explains.
Agencies agree that the pinball syndrome will continue for the next few years, until the playing fields are levelled and people are comfortably settled into their