Check out Measuredability’s General Articles Section

Social media has impacted society, industry, and work as we know it, with platforms like LinkedIn allowing professionals to connect, communicate, and collaborate in previously impossible ways.

To put things into perspective, 49 million people use LinkedIn to search for jobs weekly, while six people are hired through LinkedIn every minute. These numbers highlight the importance of LinkedIn in the modern world, which is why so many entrepreneurs, executives, and freelancers alike have made it their platform of choice.

Companies are also turning to LinkedIn to attract the right talent, build their organisations, and stay tapped into talent opportunities. Read on to learn more about recruiting through LinkedIn and tips for effectively using the platform in your recruitment strategy. 

LinkedIn for recruitment

LinkedIn is a business and employment service launched on May 5, 2003. With more than 850 million members, and 58 million listed companies, it has become one of the world’s largest business and employment networks on the Internet, bringing together professionals to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. 

Companies can use LinkedIn as a competitive advantage by leveraging extensive features such as job postings, profile searching, organic content, and more. This allows them to connect with qualified candidates, enhance their brand through professional content, and create a robust recruitment channel to attract top talent. 

The top LinkedIn features:

LinkedIn’s most valuable tool for recruitment is, undoubtedly, LinkedIn Recruiter—a robust, efficient recruiting tool to help companies proactively find and reach suitable candidates, using:

Candidate search: Recruiters can tailor their LinkedIn searches to find candidates at various stages of the hiring process, sorting by skills, current company, and more. The feature also comes with custom recommendations based on profile information. 

InMail messaging: Once candidates are identified, recruiters can send them tailored messages through LinkedIn InMail to follow up with them and schedule interviews. Recruiters can also get notifications on the go through the mobile app, so they don’t miss an opportunity to move a candidate along the recruitment process.

Recruiter projects: Recruiters can organise their work, track candidates throughout the recruitment process, and create team projects to manage hiring effectively.

These are all tools and features that function natively within LinkedIn, opening up exciting possibilities for a world where new technology helps recruiters to make better use of their time and resources. 

Tips for leveraging LinkedIn for recruitment

Update your LinkedIn company profile

How do you want your business to appear to prospective new employees? Most people would agree that you wish to present a professional page that clearly communicates your company’s values, interests, and information, though it varies by industry. 

It’s a good idea to regularly check your company page to ensure it’s still conveying your desired message. It’s time to update your LinkedIn Page to see if anything significant has changed or if the business has undergone significant changes. The recruitment process is aided by having a fully completed profile, especially if you’re using the network to forge new connections. 

Tweak your LinkedIn marketing for recruitment

You should have an active company profile to maximise LinkedIn’s recruitment opportunities. You can enhance your LinkedIn marketing by publishing relevant company and industry updates. Recruits and potential employees want to feel like they are entering meaningful work, so businesses need to establish themselves as authorities in their field.

Recruitment and marketing go together. You want to develop a brand image that resonates with your ideal candidate, especially in the current environment where top talent cares deeply about the company culture. Sharing relevant content will help you solidify your reputation as a forward-thinking business in today’s job market.

Establish and maintain valuable connections

Connections are essential on LinkedIn. The more connections you have, the more likely you are to find a candidate who is a good fit. Finding alums in your field or former and present employees is simple on LinkedIn, especially when user profiles are filled out with information about previous employers, skills, educational institutions, and associations. 

Having said that, you shouldn’t be the one to reach out to everyone in your field. Personalise each connection by mentioning how you met or why you want to connect. Look at the profile for 30 seconds to ensure your message is appropriate for the recipient.

Maintaining connections is an integral part of using LinkedIn. A new relationship is beneficial, but one that has been nurtured is superior. Share helpful articles in your area of expertise and interact with other people’s and businesses’ posts.

Encourage employee engagement

Once you’ve connected with former and present coworkers, it’s time to promote engagement through their profiles. Recruiters don’t have to be the only ones talking about job openings on the platform. The more employees mention their successes and experiences working for a company, the more brand awareness spreads to potential candidates.

Use an internal bulletin or newsletter with shareable nuggets of information to make it simple for staff to spread the news. This can include everything from significant business achievements to employee spotlights. Include links, graphics, and sample copy, and tell staff to tell their networks about it. 

When luring potential candidates, it’s important to remember the persuasive power of personal narratives through employee advocacy. 

Final thoughts

Global talent shortages and the emergence of innovative technologies and data-driven approaches are all part of the new world of recruiting. Strategies like LinkedIn recruitment can help companies explore new avenues, target non-traditional audiences, and reach out to candidates who may not even be looking for a job. 

Despite these benefits, using a social media platform for recruitment does have its limits, especially for employers that want to source highly skilled talent in their industries and at scale. Most companies investing in quality recruitment today require more than a one-time, skill-specific offering, so it’s wise to seek a more comprehensive approach that service providers can tailor to your needs. 

Connect with recruitment specialists

By collaborating with Greys Recruitment Agency, your company can access a larger pool of qualified target candidates than if you searched on your own. We specialise in sourcing the best candidates online by implementing cutting-edge digital channels, SEO practices, and push and retrieval technology.

As an experienced recruitment specialist in the country, we commit to conducting a thorough needs analysis with each client and working with you through every step of the recruitment process, guiding you to a successful hire.

Greys offers more than just recruitment. With services such as internal administration, developing workflow processes, training and onboarding new hires, and legal compliance management, we reduce the risks that come with recruitment while reducing your workload with cost-effective and efficient staffing. 

We are the agency to connect with if you’re looking for a holistic recruitment solution that covers every single step of the process, from contract to ongoing management, evaluation, and client satisfaction. Contact us to learn more about our solutions and how they can boost your recruitment game!

Outsourcing is nothing new in South Africa, and many businesses outsource in one form or another. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding which form of outsourcing is better between onshore and nearshore. We say it depends on your company’s needs. 

The South African business process outsourcing market is projected to reach USD 3.6 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 13.2% during the forecast period. These statistics make you wonder why outsourcing offshore to South Africa is a choice for many businesses abroad. 

In this article, we will dive into the critical details and forms of outsourcing, why companies abroad choose Offshore staffing, and finally, the benefits of doing so. Let’s look at the different types of outsourcing you may encounter.

What Is Onshore Outsourcing?

Onshoring means outsourcing your project or work to a company in your own country. This transfer is usually reserved for non-metropolitan areas where the cost of living and wages are lower than in metropolitan areas.

Cutting down expenses and costs is not necessarily the priority of companies that use an onshore outsourcing approach. US companies, for instance, use onshore outsourcing when they want to maintain high-quality output.

Onshore outsourcing doesn’t come with risks such as foreign labor taxing policies or cultural differences that are often a factor with offshore and even nearshore outsourcing. However, it is a little-used practice, especially in tech industries like IT, because there is not a lot of financial benefit for the business that outsources the jobs.

What Is Nearshore Outsourcing?

Nearshoring means outsourcing your project or work to a company from a nearby country. For instance, if a business based in the US outsources its processes to Mexico or Columbia.

Potential travels and face-to-face meetings come at a lower cost than offshore outsourcing to faraway regions. Nearshore outsourcing also enables more control and facilitates cooperation between the outsourcing business and the outsourcing partner that does the work.

Also, significant cultural and linguistic compatibility reduces the chances of misunderstanding and facilitates the coordination of work. Nearshoring potentially maximizes business efficiency and reduces the barriers of traditional offshoring.

What Is Offshore Outsourcing?

Offshore outsourcing or offshoring is the most budget-friendly outsourcing approach. Offshoring is outsourcing business and work processes to companies, vendors, or individuals in distant countries with low expenses and a great talent pool.

Usually, these destinations include countries in Eastern Europe, East, and South Asia, including China, India, and the Philippines, or from Africa to countries like South Africa. Offshoring is similar to nearshoring in many regards, only without proximity restrictions – however, this method comes with a more extensive degree of cultural and linguistic differences. 

Also, time zone differences play a significant role in the functioning of the work. With offshore outsourcing, you can build a business team of full-time employees that function relatively independently but with a specific control established via video calls and regular communication via email and messenger services.

Offshoring allows businesses that outsource their processes to handpick their employees with no geographical limits that will collaborate with the in-house team on projects and keep the work results consistent.

So, how do you pick the right outsourcing strategy?

As mentioned earlier, everything depends on your business’s needs and vision. There is no one size fits all approach. We will focus more on offshore outsourcing/ staffing and what the benefits are and what it may entail.

What are your options when looking to outsource offshore?

Offshore staffing is a process through which companies can hire and build a team of provisional workers overseas. In other words, organizations engage in offshore team hiring when they build a development center abroad and hire a team of employees from the same country. 

There are essentially two ways of hiring remote staff. You can either do it yourself or approach an offshore staffing agency that offers offshore staffing solutions to various businesses, irrespective of their size. Some common offshore outsourced services are creative tasks, data processing, IT software and development, customer care services, accounting, etc.

Here are 8 ways offshore staffing can boost your business

Offshore staffing can result in numerous benefits for a business. Some of them are:

1. Cost Efficiency:

The most common reason why companies opt for offshore staffing is that it results in cost savings. Since the world has become a global village, hiring remote staff is no longer difficult and costly. The cost of hiring an employee with a particular set of skills varies globally depending on the strength of the host country’s economy, international business regulations, workforce availability, etc. 

Offshore staffing companies usually offer highly qualified professionals at a lower cost. For example, an American company will likely pay USD 25 per hour to hire a local entry-level employee. On the other hand, it can employ the same skill set at a mere cost of USD 4 per hour in the Philippines. Therefore, offshore staffing results in high operational and labor costs.

2. Release resources and time:

Offshore team hiring can help free up your internal resources and invest your valuable time in strategic areas of the business. For instance, if you hire an offshore staffing agency, you will receive services like recruitment, training, managing, payroll, accounting, technical support, etc.

In short, they will take care of most human resource functions in their home country. Hence, you will get more time to focus your resources and energy on the core areas of your business rather than getting engaged in hiring, managing, and housing your employees. This helps in increasing the efficiency of your in-house activities.

3. Get access to the most talented professionals:

It is possible that you can’t find candidates with the required skill set in your own country. That should not stop you from building your ideal team. You can quickly access highly qualified professionals in different countries through offshore staffing. These people will act as a cost-effective extension to your internal team and provide services that will help grow the business further.

4. Retain control:

Unlike outsourcing, offshore team hiring allows you to remain the boss of your team. Thanks to technological developments, you can effectively manage and communicate with your remote team workers despite the distance involved. You will still be responsible for assigning tasks to the remote workers and getting regular reports for them.

5. Continuous operations:

Another advantage of offshore staffing is that your business operations would not be affected by any crisis in your home country. For instance, a natural disaster in Canada will surely hamper regular business activities for some time. But if the company has overseas staff unaffected by the disaster, business continuity will remain intact. In fact, you will get trained and highly skilled individuals who can also manage the workload of the affected employees. Offshore staffing thus, helps you ensure sustainable growth for your company without overspending.

6. Work 24/7:

Remote staffing allows companies to operate 24 hours due to the difference in time zones. While your employees in the home country sleep, staff members in other countries work. A large number of companies in the US use offshore staffing to leverage this particular benefit. They hire workers in countries like South Africa, the Philippines, India, China, and Australia that have a time gap of a minimum of 12 hours.

7. Business expansion:

Since offshoring helps free up internal resources such as infrastructure, you can use the released assets to expand your business. Offshore hiring also reduces the chances of losing potential clients because of the heavy workload as the work is distributed among many across time zones. While offshore hiring supports business expansion, the opposite is also true. When your business grows, you will need access to more professionals to control the demand and manage the piling work. 

8. Earn higher profits:

Offshore hiring reduces costs, releases strategic resources, and helps businesses establish a global presence. It also enables them to access a highly skilled talent pool and work for longer durations. Companies not only earn high returns due to low labor costs, but also the cost of technologies is lower in the offshore countries. All these factors result in low cost of production, higher productivity, and thus, higher profitability. 

That’s a wrap

The decision to offshore depends on your operations’ size, complexity, and scope of work. But looking at the massive expansion of companies that are looking for professional staffing solutions, offshoring will be one of the most compelling strategies for business development for many years to come.

Stay ahead of your competition and outsource the right way with the right staffing solutions partner. At MASA, we aim to bridge the gap between our customers’ needs and talent shortages. Our growing team of in-house experts can partner with you for any project and help achieve your business goals. With over 40 years of industry experience, we are ready to support and empower your company with temporary and permanent staffing solutions.

If interested, you can reach out to us for more info about how we can help you.

Did you know that employing temporary workers can significantly benefit your business?

Temp workers can boost productivity and efficiency, unburden any potentially overworked staff, help bring in specialised skills, and fill in any temporary vacancies during expected and unexpected absences.  

Whilst there are plenty of benefits to hiring temporary workers, there’s also a right and wrong way to go about it! From not doing due diligence during the screening process to treating temporary workers differently than your full-time staff, many mistakes can lead to a less-than-ideal experience for all. 

What should you be thinking about when hiring temporary staff? 

Your process of hiring

When hiring temporary workers, it’s essential to carefully prepare a job description and person specification for the job role carefully; making sure you think about the roles that need filling and the main tasks and responsibilities.  

Think about the experience, knowledge, skills and qualifications you require from the temp that will be stepping in, while also considering which are desirable and essential.

What are the benefits of hiring temporary staff?

Suppose you are looking to hire temps for long or short-term work. In that case, there are plenty of strategic advantages worth considering if you’re considering before jumping on board with temporary recruitment. 

Efficiency 

Temporary staff are familiar with being in a mix of working environments, so short-term employees can quickly adapt their skills to learn their designated role and the business etiquette without needing too much of a nudge in the right direction! 

Perspectives

It’s always encouraging to see new faces to connect with, and sometimes it takes just one fresh perspective to change how a business operates positively. Having worked in many companies amongst a contrast of people, temps can bring new knowledge and positive attitudes into a workplace and may even introduce broader perspectives and ideas your team might have not yet considered. 

Flexibility 

A widely acknowledged quality of employing temps is that they’re flexible. Having a temp or two on speed dial means you can respond quickly to any issues, meaning you’re never left short of staff or business. 

Cost Effectiveness 

Temporary employees are, by definition, a temporary solution. Typically paid at an hourly rate, short-term workers don’t require an annual salary or the benefits and perks of a job, so hiring a temporary employee can be massively cost-effective for both you and your business.

The Do’s for your business when hiring temps!

Engage a Temporary Staffing Agency

Working with a temporary staffing agency can make the process more accessible than ever when employing temporary workers. There are many advantages of going through an agency. You’ll save time because its recruiters will do all the legwork. You’ll save on advertising, testing, and screening costs because the agency will shoulder these expenses. You’ll enjoy faster hiring because the firm will already have pre-screened and pre-approved candidates for you to choose from. You’ll also save on administrative time and costs because the agency will also take care of this.

Consider cultural fit  

Culture at work can be defined as a blend of the values, beliefs, taboos, symbols and rituals that all companies develop over time, but what is a ‘cultural fit?’  

Cultural fit means employees’ beliefs and behaviours align with their employer’s core values and company culture. You may think that cultural fit doesn’t need to be considered when employing temporary workers, as they won’t be around long enough for it to matter, but nothing could be further from the truth! 

Considering company culture can help retain talented full-time employees and attract and keep part-time, temporary and seasonal hires. By creating a positive place of work that is enjoyable for all, strong work standards will be kept steady and consistent! 

Consider temps’ qualities.  

It is important to remember that not all temps will possess the same skills or personal attributes. When employing temporary workers, you face the same hiring risks as permanent, full-time workers. Whether long or short-term, hire the wrong candidate, and you’ll face the consequences!   

Great temps are punctual, self-starters, and independent. They’re quick learners, and there’s usually little to no time for training. Whether you’re recruiting or receiving assistance from a recruitment agency, make sure to look for these characteristics in your candidates. This will increase your chances of hiring top temp talent and avoiding unreliable temporary staff. 

The Don’ts for your business when hiring temps!

Don’t wait until the last minute  

Whether you’re handling the recruitment process alone or with the help of a staffing agency, it’s essential to try and anticipate your staffing needs ahead of time, so don’t wait until the last minute to find replacements!  

Getting ahead of the game will ensure you have enough time to screen and test candidates to narrow down your search and find the perfect long- or short-term fit for the position. At MASA, we carefully assess and analyse which candidates are best suited to different roles. Our dedicated staff are also always around to help every one of our clients find exactly the kind of people they seek to best suit their business needs!

Don’t treat temps as expendables   

Although temporary workers might only be at your workplace for a short time, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be treated any differently from the rest of your team.   

Do your best to create a welcoming and positive working environment to help temps feel needed and respected while demonstrating your appreciation for their hard work.    

Don’t offer a full-time role you can’t guarantee  

It might be tempting to offer a full-time role to a temp that performs well and fits in well with your business culture, but don’t get too ahead of yourself and offer a permanent position if it’s something you can’t guarantee.   

Though many temps enjoy flexible, temporary work and aren’t necessarily interested in full-time positions – some may be actively looking for permanent employment, so making false promises will only cause disappointment later down the line and could possibly harm you and your business.

Need help employing temporary workers? With over 40 years of industry experience placing the best-fit candidates to companies across South Africa, why not contact MASA and let us help solve your temporary staffing needs?

Fleet managers have always had to contend with erratic pricing on fuel in South Africa. With the increase in natural disasters and geopolitics creating even more disruption, the need to aggressively manage rising fuel prices and fleet operating costs is greater than ever. 

The significant increases in the fuel price over the past months have left businesses and consumers reeling. Companies in the transportation industry which is a critical link in South Africa’s supply chain, are under more pressure than ever before. With fuel prices as of writing this sitting at just under R27 a litre for 95 petrol and 20 cents shy of R26 a litre for diesel, the chance of respite looks slim for these businesses. 

This article explores fleet managers’ current challenges with the fuel price increase and how they can overcome these challenges. If you are looking for a hands-on solution to your truck driver and transportation needs, MASA is here to help. You can get in touch with our specialist drivers division to learn more about our services.

Fuel price variation is a fact of life for fleet managers

As a fleet manager, one has to accept that a lot is out of your control.  Driver behaviour, fuel prices, the microeconomics of supply and demand, the geopolitics of global oil production, currency fluctuation, and extreme weather – all these factors impact the productivity and profitability of your fleet yet are impossible to predict or command.

Your fuel cost can swing widely due to an ever-changing concoction of these and other ingredients. It’s a high visibility risk factor because, after depreciation, fuel is the second-largest total cost of ownership expense for most businesses. Fuel can represent up to 60% of operating costs in a company’s entire fleet budget. It’s a serious concern for any small business or a large fleet manager looking to save money and control costs.

At the same time, despite the lack of control over the situation, your CFO, owner, or bank doesn’t like unpredictable costs. The fleet manager is inevitably in a tricky, high-pressure, and essential role. 

Clearly, it’s imperative to be agile in your practices to stabilise your spending over time.  But what can fleet managers do to influence all these unpredictable factors that contribute to fuel price fluctuation?  We’ve identified four practices that we think might help your business.

What can transportation businesses do to lighten the load?

1. Stay flexible in your approach to fuel price management

Since the factors influencing fuel prices are out of your control, building flexibility into your operating model is vital. You should be able to adapt quickly to fluctuating gas price movements, natural disasters, or even global pandemics. All these events can cause total overnight disruption of the entire business model. A flexible approach will allow you to stay level-headed, make the right call, and help your employees and drivers cope with change.

While fuel price is impossible to control, fleet managers can impact fuel consumption, which helps reduce overall costs. This is where data and reporting come into play, especially when combined with your vehicle telematics.  The way to mitigate overall cost is to focus on vehicle fuel efficiency, operating parameters, driver behaviour, and incentivising drivers to fill up at low-cost fuel providers. 

Since companies often report the overall fuel cost as one line in the budget, and it’s a significant number, it’s not uncommon for the fleet manager to be given a directive from the CFO to reduce fuel costs by a certain percentage in the coming year.  Fleet managers must then employ a combination of lowering price-per-litre (PPL) and limiting instances where drivers spend more than they should or need to. 

2. Utilise fuel card savings programmes

An excellent example of this in South Africa is a fuel card offering from Standard Bank. Through partnerships with leading oil companies, Standard Bank’s diesel savings programmes save their client base millions of rands by enabling them to procure diesel at preferential prices across the country.

A fleet of 10 vehicles using 20,000 litres a month typically saves about R15,000 per month or R180,000 yearly on a Standard Bank diesel savings programme. Standard Bank also recently launched Visa Fleet Card, South Africa’s first chip and PIN fleet card. In addition to the heightened security, they have the added benefits of reduced fees.

Another area where businesses often miss savings opportunities is by not managing and controlling risk. This comes down to information on daily fuel consumption and driver behaviour.

When introducing a fleet card to a fleet, real-time analytics reports are made available to identify if a vehicle or driver is moving uneconomically. Fleet managers can then determine the causes, respond appropriately and initiate savings to dampen the impact of increases in fuel costs, among others, on the business.

3. Right-size your fleet

It is common for an organisation to select too many or too few vehicles for the job. Taking time to analyse business needs and your expected growth trajectory and carefully matching the fleet specs to each job will make a difference to fleet spending in the long run. Getting vehicle selection right can have a significant impact on overall costs, as well as fuel efficiency. 

The day-to-day fuel efficiency and driver choices about where to buy gas and vehicle maintenance repairs are often more visible than vehicle selection because they require daily management. Fleet managers must take a holistic view of operating costs to become most efficient.

4. Encourage safe driving to control fuel and fleet operating costs

A safe driving training and recognition program can reduce fuel consumption and decrease emissions. Most company drivers average 40,000.00 kilometres a year. Your company’s reputation and bottom line ride with them for every one of those kilometres. As is true in any situation, people do what they are rewarded for doing.  

Recognising success and educating drivers regularly on safe driving habits and practices will impact operating and fuel costs and build a stronger connection between drivers and the company itself. You may also reduce liability exposure by lowering the incidence of preventable accidents.

You have got to do what you can to save!

With the right technology and ample planning and preparation, all facets of your business, from back-end operations to drivers, can streamline efficiency and stretch the boundaries of fuel cost savings in 2022. 

Find the correct drivers and employees for your company’s journey through tried and tested staffing solutions companies like MASA. We at MASA have over 40 years of industry experience in finding the best personal fits for your business to help it grow and succeed. Get in touch with us today!

8 Recruitment Best Practices for Diversity and Inclusion

Companies of all sizes realise that diversity and inclusion are no longer just moral imperatives. Employees favour diverse organisations over their homogenous competitors; innovation depends on the viewpoints of many, and higher profit follows when companies diversify their leadership teams. This is why in 2022, you need recruitment best practices that elevate diversity and inclusion.

Diversity and Inclusion will become more of a priority for businesses in 2022. Here’s what that means and how your organisation can start positively impacting hiring underrepresented groups and building a culture of inclusivity.

What is diversity hiring?

Diversity hiring refers to a recruitment and hiring process that is unencumbered by biases related to a candidate’s age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other characteristics that have no bearing on their talent or job performance. 

Hiring for diversity and inclusion sets out to overcome the unconscious biases and learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional, and deeply ingrained within our beliefs. These stereotypes cause us to form an opinion about a candidate based exclusively on first impressions. 

Unconscious bias can be found in all aspects of the recruitment process and prevents companies from realising the many benefits of building a diverse workforce. 

Diversity is a broad term and encompasses a more comprehensive range of traits beyond race or gender. A diverse workforce has a range of origins, education, experience, personalities, physical abilities, lifestyles, and skills. When we talk about diversity hiring, we’re referring to a recruiting process that values merit and offers a fair assessment of all candidates.

What is inclusive hiring?

Inclusive hiring is a process that recognises the importance of diversity and embraces the needs of diverse candidates with hiring practices that aim to level the playing field for all. Inclusive hiring practices work to overcome unconscious biases that can impact hiring teams; not only does inclusive hiring combat discrimination, but it also makes candidates feel valued and empowered throughout the recruitment process.

Inclusive hiring considers more than seeking candidates of different races or genders. Inclusive hiring considers the needs of candidates with cognitive differences, abilities, educational backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and more. By broadening your hiring practices to be inclusive of all, your company can attract a wider pool of candidates and increase your chances of finding the right fit — someone who can do the job well and help the company grow. 

What is the difference between diversity and inclusion?

‘Diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ often appear together but are not the same. Diversity refers to the “what”, and inclusion is the “how.” Diversity is all about creating a workforce of employees from different backgrounds. Inclusion is a measure of culture that empowers this workforce to be successful.

Diversity and inclusion work hand-in-hand to ensure your business grows sustainably and profitably, which starts with your hiring process. 

8 of the best hiring and recruitment practices 

Inclusive hiring and recruitment don’t just happen overnight. It takes investing in specific parts of the process to ensure all candidates can participate and put forth their strongest case for joining your company. 

1. Get commitment from leadership

Steadfast leadership is one of the most essential factors in building an enduring culture of diversity and inclusion. Leadership ensures diverse candidates join an organisation but stay for years to come. A survey by Deloitte found that 23% of employees had left their job for companies with more inclusive work cultures. 

2. Revamp your candidate sourcing

To find diverse candidates, you must look beyond the traditional sourcing methods your company typically utilises. This means sourcing candidates from places outside your careers site and LinkedIn. Try collaborating with recruitment companies like MASA to shape your job search.

3. Check your job descriptions

The way you write a job description sends specific signals that can unintentionally discourage diverse candidates from applying. For example, words like “strong” and “competitive” may deter female candidates from applying. These words are perceived as male-specific. Terms like “sensitive” prevent male candidates from applying. 

Make your job descriptions gender-neutral to ensure you are recruiting a diverse candidate pool of talented applicants.

4. Integrate merit-based skill-testing 

Instead of hiring for “culture fit” – a nebulous term that often feeds into inherent bias in recruiting. Focus your process on uncovering a candidate’s capabilities. Customise each skill test with questions and assessments that mimic the tasks required from the new hire. This assessment style allows candidates to perform tasks relevant to the job they’ve applied for and showcase their abilities. 

5. Be inclusive in your interviewing

As you shift the focus from a list of qualifications to a proper assessment of a candidate’s skills, should you reconsider who oversees the subsequent phases of the hiring process? Be sure to include more than one person in the interview process to allow for input and considerations and not a narrow-minded approach and judgment.

6. Provide bias awareness training for hiring teams

One of the most challenging parts of combating unconscious biases is that they’re…unconscious. Few recruiters know that they are operating using heuristics (mental shortcuts) that benefit some candidates more than others. Unconscious bias training, as well as training on fair hiring practices, can help shed light on hiring practices that may be unfair. 

7. Use tools that keep candidates engaged

Technology can play a significant role in inclusive hiring. First, it can help even the playing field by standardising essential parts of the hiring process. Second, it can help recruiters keep candidates engaged throughout the experience. 

8. Invest in inclusive benefits and compensation

Lastly, inclusive hiring is only as good as the following culture: how inclusive is the employee experience?

“The key to inclusion is understanding who your employees are,” reported Harvard Business Review. Building an inclusive culture may mean offering compensation that levels the playing field for men and women, offering mentorship programs for minorities, investing in employee resource groups, or instituting gender-neutral parental leave policies. Think about what benefits and compensation can make employees feel supported and maximise the contribution of diverse employees.

Showing your commitment to diversity and inclusion will help enhance your company culture and attract top talent in your industry. Use the steps above to evaluate your current hiring practices and refine them to attract more clients.

Improving the diversity of your team won’t happen overnight. But, uncovering and remedying them in your hiring process is a great place to start. If you need help with your staff, MASA is here for you. Our team of experts have years of experience in the recruitment industry, and we leverage this expertise to deliver top-quality staffing solutions that bring real value to businesses. Contact us to learn more

Did you know that less than half of employees surveyed by the World Happiness Report said they are happy with their jobs? So, are your workers part of this demographic? It would be difficult to answer this if you haven’t invested in a strategy to manage employee relations.

As an employer, the last thing that you want is to run a business where your employees are unsatisfied with their positions in your company and are driven to unionise. Organisations with an effective industrial relations (IR) strategy run like a smooth, well-oiled machine, whereas those who don’t are constantly breaking down and needing an external fix.

One of the biggest problems is how most companies solve internal disputes. Management will usually settle for temporary resolutions instead of one that lasts. We are human and will butt heads because this is in our nature. However, by investing the necessary time, energy and resources into an IR strategy, companies can keep conflict to a minimum and maintain positive employer-employee relations.

Let’s look deeper into industrial relations and the factors that promote healthy relationships within an organisation. We will also break down IR strategies you can integrate within your company for long-term success.

If you’re looking for a more direct approach to human resources (HR) and industrial relations, MASA is here for you. We have a specialist HR and IR division providing tailored solutions to fit your unique needs in this department. Contact us now to learn more.

IR and Employee Relations

When it comes to the health of an organisation, one cannot overlook the significance of employer-employee relations. Industrial Relations (IR) is concerned with the connection between employers, employees and the external parties involved in regulating this relationship, such as labour unions.

The goal of any IR system is to ensure this relationship remains fair, transparent and mutually beneficial and to resolve disputes effectively when they arise. The more harmony and cooperation between employers and employees, the easier it will be to resolve conflict and maintain a productive work environment.

The role of the state and unions in IR

While organisations work to minimise issues between management and the workers, regulatory bodies from the state are there to step in and enforce labour legislation whenever necessary.

Industrial relations in South Africa are managed within the framework of labour contracts, following the rules and regulations outlined in the Labour Relations Act (LRA), Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), bargaining council agreements, and other relevant laws.

Labour legislation has evolved over the years to protect workers from discrimination, exploitation and unfair labour practices. It is a fundamental part of IR that organisations must know and understand to survive and thrive in SA’s labour industry. Despite the importance of this legislation, issues often still arise in the workplace that require external parties to step in.

Unions and employer organisations play a vital role in the IR system. Together, they can apply to form bargaining councils that deal with collective agreements, solve labour disputes, establish various schemes and comment on labour policies and laws.

Conditions that lead to good industrial relations

Before we dive into specific strategies, let us lay a foundation that any organisation can examine for healthy industrial relations. You can look at these as the conditions or traits that make it easier for organisations to maintain good relationships between employees and employers:

Communication

Communication is fundamental to any relationship between people, and it’s even more relevant within organisations that seek to be as productive and harmonious as possible. By promoting open dialogue between employees and employers, organisations can quickly become aware of issues when they arise and prevent them before they happen since people are communicating with each other instead of the opposite.

Transparency

Transparency in business refers to being open and honest about business processes and strategies. This entails providing workers and their representatives with information about strategy and business planning openly and honestly. Transparency allows management, even in a small company, to work toward building a partnership with employees that will help the business be agile and grow.

Knowledge

The more knowledgeable a company’s management and HR team are about their rights and responsibilities, the better their chances of developing a solid labour relations strategy.

Understanding the Labor Relations Act and its application in non-union settings is essential in these environments. Understanding the law and being an expert in the collective bargaining agreement that covers the company’s work is critical in unionised environments.

Developing Your IR Strategy

Developing an effective industrial relations strategy requires organisations to focus on meeting the needs of employees and preventing issues before they even arise. Despite taking this proactive approach to managing employer-employee relations, conflict is inevitable. By investing in an IR strategy, organisations can promote the conditions necessary for sound industrial relations while having a clear framework to handle disputes as they arise.

Here are three elements of an IR Strategy that your organisation can take note of and implement in its own system:

1. Encouraging open dialogue & communication

Communication became one of the biggest challenges for managers and HR departments when millions of employees were abruptly sent home from work in March 2020 due to the pandemic. This drove home the need more many organisations to work on promoting open dialogue in the workplace.

Open dialogue doesn’t just refer to regular conversations between managers and staff. It is a setting where workers aren’t afraid to offer managers their honest opinions, where communication is transparent, productive and focused on resolving issues. Open communication lines can reduce employee confusion, unneeded stress, and conflict between workers and their coworkers, particularly between management and workers.

Organisations should give employees a way to voice complaints and productively settle disputes. Workers require a safe platform where they can speak openly without worrying about punishment, express their thoughts and ask questions.

2. Instil shared values, beliefs and goals

An organisation with strong values can foster enduring relationships and high levels of employee loyalty. Most people, especially millennials, want to feel like they are a part of something bigger. Integrate your company’s values into how you handle employees, and mention your company’s mission and values frequently. 

More importantly, ensure management embodies these values and leads by example with authenticity at the core. Operating from a ‘money over everything’ principle is an easily identifiable trait of most companies with toxic work cultures. On the other hand, the world’s most successful organisations have deeper aspirations behind what they do and fulfil their employees’ intrinsic desire to live purposeful lives. Employees can feel like they are a part of something important by living by core values like honesty, empathy, and producing high-quality work. 

Ultimately, these shared values and the company’s overall mission promote a level of harmony in the workplace that minimises industrial relations issues.

3. Motivate and reward your workers

Rewarding workers is a powerful component of your industrial relations strategy. Instead of just handing down goals, think about developing them with employees. Employee engagement is higher when performance management is a two-way process instead of a one-way street. Encourage workers to set challenging yet attainable goals that drive them to push harder and contribute to achieving the company’s shared goals and mission.

Throughout the process, ask for feedback from your workforce. The people working on the ground often have vital knowledge or suggestions that can significantly improve their efficiency or the success of the business.

Think about offering multiple levels of incentive for different accomplishments. However, ensure that these rewards are long-lasting and consistent with your company’s core principles so they won’t be overused or become meaningless gestures.

Career development

Most employees are happier when working towards a dream or a goal. You can motivate your workers by creating a career path map for each position within your company that accounts for the growth potential and untapped potential of your workers.

You can also improve employee skills by modifying their roles whenever possible, which drives them to gain new skills in a supportive environment. Your business and bottom line will benefit from this industrial strategy while fostering a positive work environment and healthy employer-employee relations.

Take a proactive approach to IR

Developing an effective IR strategy is one of the most impactful investments that a company can make to maintain healthy employer-employee relationships and a workplace free from unnecessary conflict and regulatory overreach.

However, managing industrial relations can be overwhelming, which is why specialist HR and IR teams like MASA are here to help. We have the experience and expertise to provide comprehensive industrial relations solutions tailored to your business’s specific needs. Contact us now to learn more about how we can improve your HR and industrial relations strategies.