GLENDA DANIELS, Johannesburg | Friday
DOWNSIZING, rightsizing, cost-cutting, increased productivity, pruning dead wood are terms which strike terror into the hearts of employees – but need not necessarily result in retrenchment, as growing numbers of South African companies are finding.
Companies are successfully implementing turnaround strategies by organising Future Forums, a social plan devised by the National Productivity Institute (NPI). The NPI was set up by the Department of Labour to provide technical and other assistance for companies that are on the brink of ruin.
About 50 companies around South Africa have set up such forums, where management and labour representatives get together to discuss increased productivity while saving the company and jobs.
At Randfreight Circle, a transport freight company, jobs were saved, productivity increased, earnings of workers rose, workers took share ownership of 23%, and the possibilities of strikes have decreased since it launched its Future Forum.
Yes, this is a success story. Previous conflicts such as unreliability have gone, goods are now leaving on time, and all this because workers have a slice of the pie, says Thulani Dhlamini, collective bargaining secretary at the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union.
Nearly 100 jobs were saved, he says, and there is an enormous increase in productivity. There is commitment because workers have a role to play. Other companies should view this as an example to try something new. It will lessen the queues of unemployment and criminality in the country.
Randfreights marketing manager Bruce Thoresson says the company was running at loss last year until a service agreement was put in place after joint management and union talks. One of the incentives to workers, he says, was an owner-driver scheme.
The country is shedding jobs at an alarming rate, something has to be done. We have to engage companies and parastatals on how to save jobs, and to encourage retraining and reskilling, says NPI marketing manager Iggy Sathekge.
The institute has had successes in the clothing industry and there is now a task team for the public service restructuring process. The NPI has set up one social plan centre so far, in Johannesburg, and about 10 more will open across South Africa.
Its revolutionary in the South African context. The lesson from this company is to link productivity to empowerment, while adding value to the economy, said Matlala.