“The poor availability of talent is constraining the execution of business strategy,” say South African HR practitioners. Ninety six percent of South African operating companies agree that it is extremely difficult to fill senior and executive management positions with top quality people. This is according to BEST Employers™2008/9 survey, which CRF conducts annually to establish whether companies’ HR policies are in line with South African average.
This outcome is not surprising considering the situation of skill shortage in the country, which not only applies within the scientific and engineering fields. However, fields such as Media, Advertising, Publishing, Print and Package (MAPPP) are experiencing the same condition (of skill shortage). This is according to the research that Human Science Research Council conducted recently to provide a qualitative picture of scarcity and critical skills by occupation in the Publishing and Print Media sub-sectors.
Poor availability of talent results to companies employing people that are unknowledgeable and incapable within either a senior level or junior, which leads to less productivity and performance within organisations that eventually impacts negatively on the overall production. A significant number of re¬advertisement of positions highlights this factor as well as the importance of retaining staff. Some companies revert to freezing positions and leaving them unfilled, which reflects the importance of attracting the “right” talent. This presents an option to headhunt skilled professionals.
Peter Schmitt, Managing Director of tribalfish, an employer brand agency, believes that the apparent shortage of talent is less the cause of not delivering on business strategy than it is a symptom of an unattractive business strategy. He suggests what the problem could be: “Is the problem really the poor availability of talent? Or is it more the poor availability of great companies with great leaders, which attract talent? Such as leaders who shape their companies, even their strategies to appeal to great people, leaders who know that their first responsibility as leader is to strengthen their gene pool”.
The strength of the organisational strategy depends on the type of human capital the company encompasses. Ishmael Siziba, HR Generalist at Rio Tinto in Zimbabwe confirms that the situation of poor availability of talent applies in this country as well.
“We are currently running our businesses in a very unstable labour market. We have suffered a huge brain drain as a country. It is also difficult to replace those who left and still leaving because the education system, which is also been hard hit by brain drain. The job training (apprenticeship) is equally a challenge because the experience of trainers is low”.
He continues, “real talent and creative minds have left for countries and continents with stable economies. The human resources side of any business strategy is a hustle. As organizations we may do with young engineers and artisans straight from college and universities. They join our local companies only as a platform to help them find jobs outside Africa. It is a great challenge for HR to be an effective business partner with employees who do not identify with the organization’s plans, objectives and vision”.
About the company: CRF International is an independent research publishing company currently active in three continents. The countries include United Kingdom, China, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium, Spain, Italy and France. We survey the most excellent organizations to work for in South Africa then accredit them in BEST Employers™ publication. Other similar research projects we run within the country include Leading Managers™, Top ICT Companies and Careers SA.
For more information contact: Rose Setshoge rose.setshoge@crf.co.za
021 425 0320.
Join the social network for HR leaders: www.bestemployers.ning.com.