Imagine owning a business and being told who you can and cannot employ because this is the reality bigger companies face. What happened to employing the best candidate and not worrying about race or gender?
The Department of Employment and Labor in SA has published their latest transformation laws which is kind of crazy since the government has been in power since 1994. It is not like it was last year or 5 year ago as that is 31 years and we are still having to deal with this nonsense.
Having read through the key points this only affects companies who have 50 or more employees so I guess the trick is to stay under that number and split the business into 2 separate businesses if required. Having government dictating who you can and cannot hire is not only insulting, but holds back business growth.
The punishment for not complying is fairly severe with a R1.5 million fine or 2% of turnover depending on which one is larger. I see this as anti business and will impact the economy negatively. If you had a company with 60 employees you would be thinking along the lines of retrenching 11 workers and replacing those with agency workers or not replacing them at all.
These days once you hire someone you have to make doubly sure they are the right person because you cannot just fire them. I agree workers should have rights, but if you are not doing your job it can take a company up to 18 months to get rid of you. I had one worker who knew the labor laws and the only way to get rid of them was to pay the fine which was the equivalent of 6 months salary. This is why many companies outsource their work force because employing your own staff is just too costly having to hire extra staff fighting legal battles.
I mentioned before that I had seen a chart stipulating the hiring process by race and this new regulation is no different. You earn "bonus" points for hiring disabled black male and female employees.
These employees include black (African, Coloured and Indian), female and diabled workers.
Our business has 20 people working for us so we are legally good for now and only hire people that add to the business for all the right reasons. If I was forced to hire differently using a quota and not selecting the best candidates I would rather shut the doors and walk away. Many companies have found work arounds, but it gets to the point when you start to wonder if it is all worthwhile or not.
The Department of Labor should be helping business grow and not putting restrictions on who they can and cannot employ. A growing business will employ all races and that is surely what they should be trying to promote. his is nothing short of placing quotas at work and this is never healthy and has to be seen as another own goal because companies will employ less and less people.
You have to wonder if these government officials have heard of AI and the impact this will have on the work place. South Africa has a 33% unemployment rate with 60% of the under 30's unemployed and these regulations will only make these numbers rise. Many businesses owners are registering their companies off shore in places like Mauritius using trust funds to by pass local regulations.