Every company needs policies and procedures in order to operate efficiently, to avoid employee confusion and to adhere to legal and regulatory guidelines. HR Policies familiarize new employees with company rules. It also helps answer the most basic questions about the workplace while making new employees aware of company expectations.

Policies and procedures need to be concise, clear and to the point so that it can be effectively implemented. Even the smallest organisations must have clear and concise HR polices to run efficiently.

Without policies, some employees will take advantage of the company, hurting morale and causing time-consuming problems. Poorly written policies can lead to serious legal implications.

The nature of the organisation will determine the specific need for policies and procedures (e.g. smaller organisations may require fewer policies).

Examples of policies that your organisation might need are listed below:

1. Absenteeism policy
2. Bursary policy
3. Code of conduct
4. Code of good practice
5. Company loans policy
6. Confidentiality policy
7. Company car policy
8. Corporate gifts policy
9. Disciplinary code
10. Dress code
11. Employment Equity and affirmative action policy
12. Exit interview policy
13. Fixed assets policy – cell phones, computers, lap tops
14. Grievance procedure
15. Health & safety policy
16. HIV/Aids policy
17. Induction policy
18. Leave policy
19. Performance management policy
20. Policy on bullying and sexual harassment
21. Policy on company benefits (e.g. medical aid, provident/pension fund, petrol card, company car etc.).
22. Policy on drug and substance abuse
23. Policy on entertainment expenses
24. Policy on filing and mailing of documents
25. Policy on long service recognition
26. Policy on the development of human resources policies
27. Policy on travel expenses
28. Promotion policy
29. Racial discrimination policy
30. Recruitment and selection policy
31. Remuneration and performance management policy
32. Retrenchment policy
33. Security policy
34. Smoking policy
35. Staff loan policy
36. Termination of employment policy
37. Training and development policy
38. Use of information technology (IT) and electronic media policy
39. Use of telephone policy

Contact us on info@beyondconsulting.co.za should you need assistance with updating your HR Manual or if you need to develop your HR policies & procedures from scratch.

Climate surveys can be tailored to the client’s specific requirements, but usually measure all aspects of an employee’s job.

Typical aspects that can be measured include:

• Work conditions, buildings/facilities;
• Remuneration and benefits;
• Relationship with management;
• Relationships with co-workers and quality of interpersonal relationships;
• Training and development;
• Social functions;
• Terms and conditions of employment (e.g. working hours, leave, etc.);
• Performance evaluations;
• Communication channels (upwards, downwards and sidewards communication);
• Management practices (i.e. vision and mission, authority, leadership and communication);
• Structure (i.e. organisation structure, sources of communication, technology, cooperation);
• Systems – policies and procedures (i.e. performance management; rewards and recognitions; co-ordination and decision making, change);
• Motivation (i.e. the desire people have to achieve both their own work goals and the goals of the organisation);
• Individual needs and values (i.e. what people believe to be important and what should guide the daily behaviour in organisations, e.g. job satisfaction and image of the organisation and values.
• Task requirements and individual skills/abilities (i.e. the specific skills and abilities that people need to do their work, and how well these skills match the requirements of the job (e.g. competencies and planning).
• Individual and organisational performance (i.e. the outcomes, results and indicators of individual and organisational achievement).

We typically follow the steps as outlined below in order to ensure that the project is effectively managed:

1.  Conduct a needs analysis.
2. Customize the climate survey questionnaire according to the client’s needs.
3. Client to agree on a list of dimensions that would be measured.
4. Climate survey questionnaire to be finalized and signed off by management.
5. Climate survey questionnaire to be distributed to all employees.
6. Reports will be drawn up containing the findings.
7. Feedback to management and feedback to employees will take place.

Contact us on info@beyondconsulting.co.za should you need assistance with the developing, administering or reporting of a climate survey.

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1. Foreign nationals, i.e. all those individuals who are not citizens of South African, should be excluded when completing the EEA4 forms.
2. Non-permanent employees should be included in the EEA4 forms in terms of the relevant occupational category and occupational level.
3. The calculation of remuneration must include twelve months of a financial year that is in line with the period covered by the EEA2 reporting form.  Where this is not possible, e.g. in the case of non-permanent employees, the total payment the person received for the period worked should be divided by the number of months worked, and then multiplied by twelve.
4. The following payments must either be included or excluded in an employee’s remuneration for the purposes of calculating pay in order to complete the EEA4 forms.

INCLUDED:

• Salaries and fees paid to directors
• Salary payments made to directors, executives and managers
• Payments for all types of leave which relate to the reference period
• Commissions paid
• Employer’s contribution to pension, provident, medical aid, sick pay and other funds (e.g. UIF and CC)
• Payments for piecework, incentive or profit sharing schemes
• Fringe benefits paid in cash such as housing, mortgage and rent subsidies and transport allowance (e.g. monthly petrol allowance)
• Allowances and penalty payments relating to ordinary time hours
• Performance and other bonuses
• Value of any salary sacrificed
• Amounts paid to employees based abroad but paid from South Africa e.g. Embassy employees

EXCLUDED:

• Payments to independent contractors
• Imputed value of fringe benefits
• Fringe benefits tax
• Reimbursement for expenses e.g. travel, entertainment, meals and other expenses
• Amounts paid from abroad to employees based in SA e.g. embassy employees
• Severance, terminations and redundancy payments
• Overtime pay
• Payments which do NOT relate to the reference period

Our two most popular Employment Equity workshops are discussed below.

Overview and Requirements:

Please send the registration form  to 086 527 2331 (FAX) / equity@beyondconsulting.co.za (EMAIL).

Equipping EE Committee members and EE Manager(s) to perform their roles effectively:

Designated Employers must submit Employment Equity documents (EEA2 and EEA4) to the Department of Labour by 1 October annually. Large Employers (with 150 or more employees in total in the last financial year/reporting period) need to submit Employment Equity documents to the Department of Labour every year, whereas Small Employers (Employers with fewer than 150 employees in total in the last financial year/reporting period) need to submit Employment Equity documents every second year on the year that ends on an even number (e.g. 2010; 2012; 2014).

1 October 2011 sounds far away; but if you think about everything that needs to be done in order to handle Employment Equity effectively, it is wise to start the process sooner rather than later.

Massive fines, starting at R500 000 can be issued for non-compliance with the Act.  The proposed amendments to the Employment Equity Act (as published in the Government Gazette of 15^th December 2010) states that the fines might be increased to a percentage of the organisation’s annual turnover! The proposed amendment to the Act further indicates fines for not implementing Employment Equity effectively in the organisation (i.e. not setting and achieving realistic goals and targets that will contribute to the appointment of Affirmative Action candidates). This might close down some organisations as the amounts due will potentially be extremely high.

You further need your Employment Equity in place in order to score on the Employment Equity element of your BEE scorecard.  We can also assist you to comply with the Employment Equity Act and to maximise your score for the Employment Equity element of the BEE scorecard.

Let us assist you with getting the necessary documents and processes in place.   Contact us now to ensure that you meet the submission deadline.

E-mail: equity@beyondconsutling.co.za
Phone: 011 023-9451/2