Under the new Employment Equity Amendment Act which was recently approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa, new BEE targets have been set by the Employment and Labour Minister.
In terms of these new laws, the Employment Minister has been given the go-ahead to set sector-specific numerical targets which must be achieved over a five year period in terms of the racial and gender composition of designated businesses. As such, designated businesses are those that are deemed to employ more than 50 people.
Those companies that seek to do business with Government are also required to obtain a Certificate of Compliance from the Department of Employment and Labour.
In meeting and gauging progress towards achieving these targtets, the Employment Equity Act also requires that employers submit employment equity plans and annual reports. Hence, the laws apply to all designated businesses, irrespective of whether they intend to do business with the State and failure to comply with these laws will lead to penalties such as fines.
Why succession planning is important under the new BEE laws
When it comes to meeting Employment Equity targets, for a smooth transition, the need for appropriate succession planning cannot be overemphasised. Since succession planning is a multi-faceted task that demands constant attention and requires ongoing resources, this inevitably means that organisations must allocate a substantial amount of time and resources to determining competencies and drawing up skills development plans so that they can hire people and appropriately train them. Under the BEE umbrella, this means that organisations need to view succession planning as a continuous process since skills development is a priority element of the B-BBEE scorecard.
To allow for effective succession planning that includes designated group members, it is vital that organisations have a dedicated plan to develop their talent pool using a Workplace Skills Plan that identifies skills gaps with a view to carrying out appropriate training interventions over a period of time. This is where BOTI steps in and steps up to the plate to address this critical need.
Leadership and Influence Training – addresses how to achieve specific transformation goals for those individuals in critical leadership roles.
Coaching and Mentoring Training – aims to help people to grow, develop and achieve their full potential. While coaching is focussed on skills development and the achievement of goals, mentoring is relationship-driven and focussed on giving advice.
Business Succession Planning Training – Succession planning is one of the most vital functions of any organisation. This is the process that pinpoints the critical and core roles of the organisation and identifies suitable candidates to fulfil those roles.
What to anticipate
The main purpose of the amendments to the laws is to enable the Employment and Labour Minister to regulate criteria for compliance in order to issue EE Compliance Certificates and to set sector-specific Employment Equity targets.
What this essentially means is that businesses, and in particular those that seek to do business with the State, will need to be in good standing in terms of EE compliance.
Depending on the sector in question, a ‘designated employer’ was deemed under the previous act to be one that employs 50 or more people or an employer that employs less than 50 people but has an annual turnover that is equal to or above the limit as set out in the EE Act.
What constitutes a ‘designated employer’ has now been amended in that employers that employ less than 50 people, regardless of their annual turnover, no longer form part of the designated employer category and are therefore exempt from compliance under the new Act. This is a significantly important change in that these businesses are no longer required to implement processes to ensure that individuals from designated groups with the required qualifications are given equal employment opportunities.
Notwithstanding, for those large organisations that fall within the scope of what constitutes a designated employer, the most significant change is that the Employment and Labour Minister is authorised to regulate sectorial Employment Equity targets and compliance criteria.
Reference sources: Business Tech
