Chapter 12

Human resource management and the SA

labour legislation framework
Learning outcomes

•To understand the role HR management in an

organisation
•To gain insights on the key elements of the HR
function in organisations
•To understand the main Labour legislation and its
impact on the HR function in organisations and
employees the South African workplace
Attributes of HR management
Research shows that successful companies have the following HR
management attributes:
• Primary benefits (monetary benefits: pay, pension, medical)
• Secondary benefits and working conditions (non-monetary
benefits: leave, working conditions, recognition)
• Training and development (allowing employees to grow)
• Career development (performance management, succession
planning)
• Company culture and diversity (cultural diversity programmes,
employee input)
The role of human resource management
• Recruiting, selecting, training, developing, rewarding,
assisting and motivating employees
• People employed in organisations are critical for the
achievement of organisational goals and prosperity.
• Improving the skills base of employees therefore can
contribute directly to the profitability of the organisation
• HR needs to function as a strategic partner – towards
realization of the organizational strategy:
• Vision, Mission, Long-term goals and Organisational
structure.
Human resource management &
Organisational effectiveness
• Assisting everyone in the organisation to reach stated goals
• Efficient use of skills & abilities of human resources
• Training and development
• Assisting the attainment of employees’ job satisfaction & self-
actualisation
• Developing quality of work life
• Maintenance of ethical policies & socially responsible behaviour
• Managing mutually beneficial change for all stakeholders
• Professionalism
• Participation in strategic decision making & strategy formulation
Human resource planning (HRP)

• The process of using an organisation’s goals and strategy to

forecast the HR needs in terms of finding, developing & retaining
qualified human resources
• Phase 1: Identifying the work being done or expected to be done
• Job analysis => systematically investigating the tasks, duties &
responsibilities of a job within the organisation
• Job description=>states the job title, purpose of the job, role
responsibilities, how the job must be done & under what
conditions
• Job specification=>details the knowledge, skills & abilities
relevant to the job (education, experience, personal traits &
manual skills
• Phase 2: Human resource forecasting
• To assess the quantity & quality of employees required in the
future
• To balance human resource demand and human resource
supply
• Forecasting focuses on economic growth, new developments in
the business & the labour market
• Phase 3: The Human Resource Plan (HRP)
• Provides concrete guidelines & steps that indicate how the short,
medium & long-term human resource requirements can be
provided
Recruiting- Finding qualified talent

• The purpose is to ensure that a sufficient number of & competent

applicants apply for the jobs: Sources
• Internal sources=> seeking to fill vacant positions from exiting
staff members except at the lowest levels
• Recruitment from outside=>
• Advantages (i) pool for most suitable candidates (ii) new ideas,
perspectives & innovation
• Disadvantages (a) high advertising costs (b) risky of failure to
perform by candidates (c) may demotivate existing staff
• Recruitment procedure=> Computerised Human Resource
Information system (HRIS) contains each employees’
qualifications, training & experience, assessments
Recruiting methods
•Advertisements=> should be neutral & avoid
discrimination
•Private employment/recruitment agencies
•Word of mouth –>existing employees
•Head-hunting-> personal approach
•Radio, TV & Internet (e-recruitment)
Internal recruiting: Advantages &
disadvantages
Filling vacant positions from existing employees.
• Advantages:
1. Supports staff retention: Facilitates career planning and succession
management
2. Less risk of employing the wrong person: Assessment of job applications easier
because organisation has an accurate track record of individual.
3. Costs of recruitment: Low compared to recruiting from outside the organisation
• Disadvantages:
1. Danger of organisational stagnation / lack of new, innovative thinking
2. Do existing staff have the potential to fill higher positions? High potential
employees may not be prepared to wait for promotion while at lower levels
within the organisation
3. Competition for promotion among existing employees may become destructive
External recruiting : Advantages &
disadvantages
Filling vacant positions with applicants from outside the organisation.
• Advantages:
1. Allows the opportunity to get the right person for the job: someone with
suitable qualifications and experience
2. Opportunity to bring in new ideas, new approaches, the possibility of
innovation in the organisation
• Disadvantages:
1. Risks of employing the wrong person for the job (post probationary
period)
2. Morale of internal staff that did not get the job can be undermined
– may lead to the loss of good employees who become frustrated
3. Higher costs of recruitment (eg. employment agency fees, travel for
candidate interviews, moving costs for new employee)
Methods of external recruitment
• Recruitment through advertisements
• Specify job responsibilities
• Specify minimum requirements eg. educational qualifications
• Indicate remuneration range offered
• Correct wording in terms of labour legislation
• Recruitment through private employment/recruitment agencies
• Fees: Percentage applicant’s first-year salary
• Screen unsuitable applicants – online platforms can generate many applicants
• Recruitment through existing employees
• Existing employees may have their own networks of contacts.
• Recruitment though personal approach
• Head-hunting by agencies – often used for top management appointments
• E-Recruitment (Web-based recruitment: Job websites, social media platforms)
• Global coverage (not only local candidates)
• Broadens the selection pool (but can also be more targeted)
• Lower hiring costs for organisation
• Disadvantage: Attracts a large volume of unqualified candidates
• Sundry recruiting strategies
• Bursaries
• Career expos
 Selection
• The process of determining the individuals best suited to
fill positions in organisations
• Selection phases include:
• Preliminary screening
• Intensive assessment eg psychological testing &
diagnostic interviewing
• Final section-> reference checks & final offer
• On-boarding=> induction, orientation/socialisation
Human resource development (HRD) –
Developing talent
• Training=> providing employees with the knowledge & skills need to do a
particular tasks or job
• Developmental activities=> focus on a long-term preparation for future
work responsibilities & capacity improvement for current jobs
Development methods
• On-the-job training & development=> job rotation, job shadowing,
enlarged & enriched responsibilities, job instruction training,
mentoring, coaching & apprenticeship (learnership) & internships
• Away-from-the job training & development=> conferences,
seminars, simulations, e-learning, role playing, case studies & in-
basket & assessment centre
Performance appraisal
• The purpose is to determine aspects the employee has
• Performed exceptionally well (surpassed requirements)
• Complied with the requirements for the job; or
• Not complied with the requirements of the job
• The appraisal needs to be based on objective criteria against which
the performance can be measured
• Impression method=> based on supervisors’ comparison of employee’s
performance against one another- risk of prejudice
• 360 degree system=> multi-sources rating eg customers, peers, superior
• Purpose of performance appraisal results=> basis for financial
rewards, promotion & feedback on how well they are doing
Compensation of employees
• Compensation refers to extrinsic rewards ( eg salary & benefits)
and intrinsic rewards (eg achieving personal goals & challenging job
opportunities
Types of compensation
• Direct compensation => basics salary or wages received by
employees
• Indirect compensation=> fringe benefits such as leave benefits for
holidays, illness & studies. Medical aid & pension scheme, housing
& car benefits
• Reward => recognition of good work, eg salary increases, paid
holidays, financial bonuses etc
The amount of compensation
•Organisations constantly review the
compensation of employees to avoid losing
them to competitors

•External comparison => salary surveys

•Internal comparison=> job evaluation

 Impact of labour legislation on the HR
function
• As an important component of an organisation’s macro-environment,
government legislation has a direct effect on organisations
eg. Companies Act (No. 71 of 2008)
• Four of the most important pieces of legislation that affect how
employees are managed in the South African workplace are:
1. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act (No. 108 of 1996)
2. Labour Relations Act (No. 66 of 1995)
3. Basic Conditions of Employment Act (No. 75 of 1997)
4. Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998)
1. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa
Act (No. 108 of 1996)
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is the most
important overarching piece of legislation in South Africa
• Supreme law of the Republic of SA – all other laws must be
consistent with it. Sets out the structure of the state
• Bill of Rights (Chapter II)
• The Bill of Rights protects fundamental rights
• Section 9: No one may be unfairly discriminated against
• Section 23 relates specifically to labour rights. For example:
•Right to join a trade union
•Right to bargain collectively
•Right to strike
•Right to fair labour practices
2. Labour Relations Act (No. 66 of 1995)

• The purpose of this Act is to:

• Give effect to and regulate the fundamental rights contained in the
Bill of Rights
• Provide the framework in which employees, their trade unions,
employers and employer’s organisations can engage in collective
bargaining and formulate industrial policy
• The LRA is the most important piece of legislation affecting day-to-
day HR decisions in organisations. For example, it covers rules
relating to:
• Dismissal of employees (unfair dismissals)
• Collective bargaining – dispute resolution processes
• Formation and rights of trade unions
• Commission for Conciliation, Mediation & Arbitration (CCMA)
3. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act
(No. 75 of 1997)
• The overall purpose of this Act is to advance economic development and social
justice in South Africa
• It gives effect to and regulates the right to fair labour practices conferred by
section 23 of the Constitution of 1996
• Furthermore, it establishes and enforces the basic conditions of employment and
regulates basic conditions of employment. For example, it covers rules relating to:
• Working hours (maximum 45 hours a week)
• Overtime (maximum 10 hours a week)
• Annual leave (minimum 21 days paid leave per annum)
• Maternity & paternity leave
• Notice of termination (written)
• 1 week – first 6 months
• 2 weeks – second 6 months
• 4 weeks – after 1 year
4. The Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of
1998)
• The main aim of this Act is to do away with all forms of
discrimination in employment in South Africa by promoting equity
and non-discrimination in the employment sector. The overall
purpose is to achieve equity in the workplace.
• Discrimination against employees or job applicants on the grounds
of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility,
ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, HIV
status, religion, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture,
language, birth or any other arbitrary ground is prohibited.
• Any employer who intends to contract with the state must comply
with its employment-equity obligations.
Other important legislation affecting the HR
function in organisations and employees in the
SA workplace
• The Skills Development Act (No. 97 of 1998)
• The Skills Development Levies Act (No. 9 of 1999)
• The Occupational Health & Safety Act (No. 85 of 1993)
• The Compensation for Occupational Injuries & Diseases Act (No. 130 of 1993)
• The Unemployment Insurance Act (No. 63 of 2001)
• The Protection of Personal Information Act (No. 4 of 2013)
• Sets out the minimum standards regarding accessing and 'processing' of any personal
information
• Personal information should be processed only with the knowledge of the employee.
Permission is needed to store someone’s personal information
• Information cannot be supplied to 3rd parties without the person’s consent
• The act came into force on 1 July 2020, with a one-year grace period during which all
South African organisations were expected to become compliant. The grace period
ended 30 June 2021, with the commencement of the act on the 1 July 2021.
 Summary
• HR management attributes of successful companies include primary benefits
(monetary benefits: pay, pension, medical); secondary benefits and working
conditions (non-monetary benefits: leave, working conditions, recognition); Training
and development (allowing employees to grow); Career development (performance
management, succession planning); Company culture and diversity (cultural
diversity programmes, employee input)
• HR function responsible for recruiting, selecting, training, developing, rewarding,
assisting and motivating employees
• Government legislation has a direct effect on organisations eg. Companies Act (No.
71 of 2008)
• Four of the most important pieces of legislation that affect how employees are
managed in the South African workplace are: Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa Act (No. 108 of 1996); Labour Relations Act (No. 66 of 1995); Basic Conditions
of Employment Act (No. 75 of 1997); Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998)