Telkom — employer of 32 358 people — is planning to reduce its staff numbers by 7% to 10% annually, the company said on Monday.
This is largely for financial reasons, said chief executive Sizwe Nxasana in a statement: ”Automated solutions enhance revenue and reduce costs.”
Spokesperson Andrew Weldrick said staff reductions are not something to worry about because Telkom has a ”socially responsible” approach and actively works to ensure that redundant staff are retrained and re-employed.
In the past year Telkom decreased its number of employees by 8,5%, but only 3,6% were involuntary retrenchments, said Weldrick.
He said Telkom has created an Agency for Career Opportunities within the organisation, which helps people to find new jobs.
Weldrick did not believe the former parastatal’s employment strategy is contradictory to the South African government’s goal of creating one million jobs in the next five years: ”This is a process that Telkom has been engaged with over a period of time, fully consultative with organised labour.”
Currently Telkom operates 149 lines per employee, and Weldrick said this is still quite low compared with other countries. He said the global average is about 179 to 200 lines per employee, but agreed that this figure includes more developed countries with less of a labour pool.
Nxasana punted Telkom’s investment in its human capital, saying: ”People are Telkom’s most important competitive asset and key to being an efficient and cost-effective group.”
On Monday he announced funding of R7,7-million to address HIV/Aids in the workplace.
At present Telkom employees have access to voluntary HIV testing and counselling, and there are future plans to provide them with treatment, said Weldrick. — Sapa