by Talent360 | Jul 21, 2020 | General
The employment of an employee can be terminated by the death of the employee, by his/her retirement, by dismissal, by mutual agreement or at the instance of the employee.
Normally, if the employee terminates the employment he/she does so by retiring or resigning and giving advance notice in writing. The amount of notice that the employee is supposed to give depends on a number of factors. Firstly, if there is no contract between the employee and employer providing for a notice period then the notice period as provided for by labour legislation must be applied. For example, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) provides that employers and employees covered by the BCEA must give, in writing:
- One week’s notice if the employee has up to six months’ service
- Two weeks’ notice if the employee has between six months’ and 12 months service
- Four weeks’ notice if the employee has 12 months’ service or more.
Secondly, an employment contract can provide for periods of notice longer than those prescribed by legislation as long as the employee is not required to give more notice than the employer is required to give.
Sometimes the employee just leaves without giving notice or works only a portion of the notice. This can cause operational problems for the employer who then does not have sufficient opportunity to make alternative arrangements to get the work done.
In some cases where the employee fails to work the required notice the employer is only too pleased to accept this. But, if the employer fails to object to the absence or shortness of the notice period being worked the employer is required to pay the employee out in lieu of the unworked portion of the notice!
A bigger problem arises for the employer where the employee fails to work-in his/her notice in a situation where the employer needs the employee’s services for the full notice period. This need could exist because:
- The employer needs the employee to complete a handover of his duties;
- There is a lot of work that still needs to be done ;
- Certain tasks can only be done by the employee;
- It will take time to find a suitable replacement;
- Clients need to be given advance warning of the employee’s departure due to a special working relationship between the employee and the client.
What can employers do if employees leave without working the required notice? Firstly, the employer can apply to court to issue an urgent order of specific performance. This is an order requiring the employee to work-in the required notice. Secondly, the employer could apply to court for damages caused by the employee’s failure to work the notice. However, should the employer sue for damages, it would have to be able to quantify and prove specific losses attached to the employee’s breach of the notice agreement.
For example, if the employer could show that it lost an order worth one million rand due to the employee’s premature departure the damages claimed from the employee would be one million rand. In the case of SAMRO Ltd vs Mphatsoe (2009, CLL Vol. 18 No. 9 page 82) the employee failed to work the notice that the employer believed he was contractually required to work. The employer therefore sued Mphatsoe for damages equivalent to the earnings that employee would have been paid for the period of the unworked notice. The Court decided that this basis for arriving at the damages amount was legally incorrect. It said that a suit for damages can only be satisfied by the amount of loss actually suffered by the plaintiff. However, as the employer was unable to show that it had suffered any specific loss, the Court was unable to award any damages. The Court commented that, if the employee breaches the notice agreement the actual damages caused could be zero or could be a lot more than the amount of the employee’s earnings.
The Court also decided that a clause in the agreement providing for a ‘calendar month’s notice’ will not always mean that notice must be given on the first of the month to the end of the month. The intention of the parties as to the notice period was more important in this regard.
The outcome of this case makes it clear that:
- It is difficult for employers to force employees to work-in their agreed or statutory notice
- Should the employer claim damages it must clearly identify and quantify the losses actually suffered
- Where the employer wants notice to be given on the first day of the month the employment contract should specifically provide for this instead of merely requiring a calendar month’s notice.
To buy our e-book WALKING THE NEW LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE please contact Ivan via ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za or 011-888-7944.
BY Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawadvice.co.za
by Mathulwane Mpshe | Jun 19, 2020 | General, Jobs
If you, like nearly all young people, have had your education and personal life disrupted by COVID-19, it might seem hard to look beyond the lockdown, the fear of the virus, and the economic troubles to dream of a brighter future.
The coronavirus, after all, arrived at a time when inequality, joblessness and poverty were already high in South Africa. But don’t be despondent – it’s within your power to work on personal mastery and on skills that will equip you for tomorrow’s high-tech workplace.
A good place to start is by thinking about some of the key qualities and skills of tomorrow’s leaders. Some examples include:
Lifelong learning
Even before the pandemic, automation and digital technologies were changing how organisations operate. But Covid-19 has accelerated the speed at which companies are evolving. Old skills are falling by the wayside and new skills and jobs are coming into existence.
According to the World Economic Forum, in just five years, 35 percent of the skills deemed essential today will change. There’s only one way to remain relevant in this reality: commit to a lifetime of learning. The good news is that improving your skills has never been easier.
You don’t necessarily need to study for years or take big loans to build the qualifications needed for the roles of the future. Instead, you need to be committed to growing and adding skills all the time, using resources such as free and open online courses (MOOCs).
Creativity & critical thinking
The coronavirus has made many existing human problems worse and added new ones into the mix. We’ll need creativity and innovation to dream up new products and ways of working to navigate to a brighter future. Getting in touch with your creativity will help you thrive in the future workplace.
And we need to think critically about our governments, the structure of our society, the information that floods us via social media, and the businesses we deal with every day. When you analyse the world through this lens you can be a change agent, and start thinking about how you can address the needs you see in your community or market.
Leadership
In a world where human capability is augmented by machines and where social distancing and home working might continue for the foreseeable future, leadership is key. People who can lead and inspire diverse and virtual teams spanning home-based workers, office workers, gig economy workers and inculcate a culture of collaboration will be in great demand.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to be aware of, express, and control our emotions, and to be aware of others’ emotions. At a time when people might feel uncertain about their jobs and the future of the business, it is key to connect on an emotional level. Individuals with strong EQ will be sought by organisations of all sizes and in all industries.
Adaptability
The pandemic has taught us not to get too comfortable because change happens. If things don’t work out, you need the resilience to reinvent yourself or pivot into a new career, for example.
Community-based entrepreneurship
It’s clear that government and big business cannot meet the need for jobs in our country on their own. That’s why we believe the future lies in the community and finding ways to make life better for the people you share your immediate world with.
While you look for a job, you could start a business. Assess the needs of your community, nothing is too small or too big. Start vegetable gardens for sustainability, run a garden service, set up a laundry service – there are many opportunities to start a business that bring in revenue while you seek a job and in the end, you may find you no longer need a job because you are creating jobs for others.
Technology
Whichever career path you follow, understanding technology will be critical to your future. Digital literacy is as essential as literacy and numeracy.
It’s a journey, not a destination.
Peter Senge says: “People with a high level of personal mastery live in a continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’.” These are the words every young person should live by in a world of accelerated change. Choose your vision, work towards it, and be ready for reality to change around you in ways that can be both scary and exciting.
By Mathulwane Mpshe, Director at ReimagineSA
by Frank Martela and Derin Kent | Jun 11, 2020 | General
In dire times, it’s natural to question the meaningfulness of your work. When your world is shaken by a massive disruption, your job may seem insignificant and even pointless.
On the other hand, crises can also heighten feelings of purpose and connection. Crises lead many people to find deep value in their jobs, develop professionally, and grow personally. Today most of us don’t have frontline roles in the fight against coronavirus, of course. But we all can still discover ways to contribute through our everyday work, by taking these three steps:
- Empower yourself with small actions
When you’re feeling overwhelmed and can’t help but obsess over the big things that you can’t influence, this badly affects your mental well-being. Instead, try to act on whatever aspect of the situation that’s still in your control, no matter how minor.
That will bolster your feelings of personal effectiveness and make it easier to then move on to more meaningful goals – to think about what else you can do to improve the situation for yourself, your colleagues, or your community.
The idea here is just to get moving: Try a number of things and see what sticks. We assume that our goals determine our actions. But the reverse is also true. Our small actions generate feedback that allows us to discover more meaningful goals.
- Consider how your unique skills can address crisis-related challenges.
Proactive employees are increasingly using “job crafting” to actively redesign their work to better fit their strengths, passions, and motives. Part of this approach, according to Yale professor Amy Wrzesniewski, involves simply rethinking how you view your work.
During this crisis you can fight the recession that the pandemic is likely to cause simply by keeping your business operating. Remember that it’s providing paychecks that feed families and helping vendors do the same. But even more significantly, you can mold your job to contribute solutions to your community’s current problems.
Start by taking an inventory of your skills and resources, and then think creatively about where they could be put to good use. If you’re an expert in investments, for instance, you could dedicate a few hours to giving financial advice to struggling entrepreneurs or those who’ve lost their jobs. If you’re an architect, you could redesign offices, restaurants, and schools to be more virus-proof, and if you’re in marketing, you could help nonprofits provide vital services with their fundraising campaigns. A diverse set of groups is affected by the crisis, so there are countless ways to provide assistance. And by partnering with others, you can maximise your impact.
- Use the crisis as an opportunity to connect with a more purposeful future.
If you’re in a tight spot, there might not be much you can do right now to enhance the meaningfulness of your work. Maybe you’ve been laid off or are so overwhelmed keeping your head above water you have no time for anything else. But you can still find meaning by focusing on the future. Humans’ ability to mentally time travel is unique in the animal kingdom.
We don’t just experience the present; we also can relive the past and envision the future. And research led by Adam Waytz from Kellogg School of Management shows that when we exercise this ability, it enhances how much meaning we feel in the present. Crises interrupt the passive unfolding of our lives and make us more aware of what truly matters. So we’re most apt to gain life-changing insights during them.
A crisis can help you realise that what you want out of your career requires a change in direction. A decade from now, many people may look back at this moment as a turning point at which their path toward a more meaningful existence started. With that in mind, think about what your potential dream job might be in 10 years time but don’t imagine just one job; imagine several.
Now work backward to imagine the paths that took you there. At the same time, explore where your current back-burner projects and dormant passions could lead you. Finding purpose during a crisis is more than making a temporary situation bearable. You didn’t choose the circumstances, but you can choose what to make out of them. Start with small actions and identify how your own skill set could be put to best use. By taking a step or two forward you will not only make a contribution today but reach out toward a more meaningful future.
This article first appeared in Harvard business Review.
by Alice Boyes | Jun 11, 2020 | General
Mark was always one of the smartest kids in his class. He’s done well in his career, but when he checks Facebook, he sees people he outperformed at school who have now achieved more. Likewise, there are colleagues at his firm who have leapfrogged him. Sometimes he wonders, “What am I doing wrong?”
Sounds familiar? You might relate to Mark yourself, or have an employee or loved one who struggles with similar feelings. Raw intelligence is undoubtedly a huge asset, but it isn’t everything. And sometimes, when intellectually gifted people don’t achieve as much as they’d like to, it’s because they’re subtly undermining themselves. If you’re in this situation, the good news is that when you understand these foibles you can turn them around.
Here are five ways smart people sabotage their success:
- Smart people sometimes devalue other skills, like relationship building, and over-concentrate on intellect
Very smart people sometimes see their success as inevitable because of their intellect, and don’t see other skills as important. For example, an individual who finds workplace diplomacy difficult might write this off as an irritation rather than as a core skill required for their role. Similarly, they might see it as critical for a secretary to be personable, but not an executive. Therefore they don’t invest time and effort in developing these skills.
These views don’t come out of nowhere. Most people have a natural bias towards wanting to capitalise on their strengths and, conversely, would prefer to avoid thinking about areas in which they’re not naturally as strong. Bright kids typically receive a lot of reinforcement throughout their early lives that their intelligence is valuable. They grow up being told they’re smart, and during their schooling, experience that success comes more easily to them than to others. It’s easy to understand why, as a result, they would continue to focus on their intellect as adults.
But in most workplaces, you need more than raw intelligence to get ahead. And only focusing on your greatest strength, rather than also addressing your weaknesses, tends to be self-sabotaging.
Solution: Use your strengths to overcome your weaknesses. If you’re good at learning you can simply learn the skills that don’t come as naturally to you. You don’t need a personality makeover, you just need a game plan and a genuinely constructive attitude. For instance, identify three specific workplace diplomacy behaviors that would improve your success in that area.
- Teamwork can be frustrating for very smart people.
When someone grasps concepts quickly and has high standards for their own performance it can create difficulties when working with others who take longer to process information and pick up concepts. If a person felt held back at school by being in a class with less smart kids, this frustration with teamwork can develop early – you know what this feels like if you routinely did most of the work on group projects, or got scolded for daydreaming during a class that was moving too slowly for you.
These feelings can get re-triggered throughout life. When people develop an emotional raw spot as a child, they often have outsized internal reactions when that raw spot is rubbed in their adult life. Smart people also sometimes find it difficult to delegate because in a sense they can do a task better (regardless of whether this is actually true). This is especially likely for those who have a perfectionist streak.
Solution: Be self-compassionate about your internal reactions and understand where they come from, but also learn to genuinely appreciate what diverse minds bring to a team.
- Smart people often attach a lot of their self-esteem to being smart, which can decrease their resilience and lead to avoidance
If a lot of your self-esteem rests on your intelligence, it can be very difficult to be in situations that reveal chinks in your armor. That might be working with people who are even more skilled or intelligent, or receiving critical feedback, or taking a risk and failing. Any situation that triggers feeling not-so-smart is experienced as highly threatening. The smart person may even seek to avoid those situations, which ultimately holds the person back.
Solution: Take an objective view of the benefits of working with people who are, in some respects, smarter than you. If you’re surrounding yourself with smart people, you’re doing something right. Remember, iron sharpens iron. Develop relationships with people who you trust to give you helpful and constructive feedback. The more you become accustomed to receiving critical feedback from people who believe in your overall talents and capacities, the easier it will become.
- Smart people get bored easily
Being smart is not exactly the same as being curious, but if you have both these qualities you might find yourself becoming easily bored with executing the same behaviors over and over. Some types of success stem from creativity, but other types come from becoming an expert in a niche and performing a set of behaviors repeatedly. If you’re smart, curious, and have a love of learning, you might find you quickly lose interest in anything once you’ve figured it out. The execution side of performance might bore you, and you’d rather constantly be learning new things. This can end up being less lucrative than finding a niche and repeating the same formula, but that might seem too boring or unchallenging to you.
Solution: Try taking a 30 000 metre view of when it’s worth tolerating some boredom to collect easy wins when it comes to your overall success. Instead of attempting dramatic change, decide when tolerating short periods (a few minutes or hours) of boredom could have a very beneficial impact on your success. For instance, devoting 5 hours a week to an activity that’s monotonous but lucrative.
- Smart people sometimes see in-depth thinking and reflection as the solution to every problem
Bright people are accustomed to succeeding through their thinking skills, but can sometimes overlook when a different approach would be more beneficial. For example, the smart person might attack every situation by trying to think it to death (over-researching every decision and ruminating over every mistake) when other approaches would be more fruitful.
Solution: Notice when thinking becomes an unhealthy obsession. Consider when strategies other than thinking are more likely to result in success. Experiment with taking breaks to get unstuck, and allow yourself to learn by doing rather than through exhaustive advance research. Expand your range of skills for reaching insights so that you’re not the person who sees every problem as a nail because their only tool is a hammer. Finally, whenever you find yourself ruminating (doing negatively toned overthinking), disrupt it by doing a few minutes of an absorbing activity (such as a puzzle). This can be a surprisingly effective strategy for breaking out of negative thinking.
Which of these five patterns do you identify with the most? Try rank-ordering them. Are there colleagues or other people in your life who seem to fall into these traps? Try to let go of any sense of shame or judgment — it’s not necessary or useful for overcoming these habits.
This article first appeared in Harvard Business Review
by Joe Hirsch | Jun 4, 2020 | General
Getting others to accept our feedback can prove challenging, especially when it’s critical. Worried that their feedback may lead to hurt feelings or diminished productivity, managers resort to face-saving techniques like the “praise sandwich” that end up doing more harm than good. The result is a tenuous feedback culture built largely upon evasion, confusion, and self-delusion.
This dynamic can change with a better message – and a bolder mindset. Based on my work with leadership teams, I’ve found that when performance conversations are powered by partnership, the landscape shifts. Not only do managers enjoy better relationships with their teams, but their feedback may even produce greater joy, not fear. Rather than relying on a feedback hierarchy, managers should consider a partnership model that distributes power and increases two-way conversation with their employees – leading to a more authentic and revealing feedback experience that fosters trust, flows with the rhythm of work, and sets the conditions for positive, lasting change.
It’s a humbler approach to managing people that focuses on asking questions, not giving orders. I call it the difference between “window gazing” and “mirror holding.” “Window gazing” is a process of see-and-tell. Ask two people gazing out the same window to describe what they see, and you’re likely to get a pair of perspectives that are substantively different but remain equally valid. Not so in the context of work, where the imbalance of power allows only one view – the manager’s – to prevail. This limited picture of performance is often riddled with subjectivity and bias, as managers ignore, distort, and overlook details related to an employee’s work.
That view becomes muddled over time, often resembling a “forgetting curve” punctuated by a sharp initial drop, followed by a slow and steady loss. While managers fumble over the past, employees are forced to sit in judgement, stuck in a present they can’t wait to end. That changes with “mirror holding,” which offers a dramatic shift in the tone and trajectory of feedback conversations. Instead of telling their employees what to see, managers guide them on where to look. They engage employees in thoughtful conversation about their current strengths, future goals, and how to bring those elements closer in line.
Rather than offer directives, managers ask probing questions that help them better understand the picture of work and entrust their employees with opportunities to shape the way forward. In my work with leaders at all levels, I’ve seen the power of a humbler approach. Mirror holding enlarges employees’ perspectives while expanding their opportunities for dialogue and reflection. It relieves managers of the prescriptive and often uncomfortable rituals of feedback – a hasty run-through of recent accomplishments, followed by a much longer list of deficits. And it transforms managers into people champions who actively promote the growth and agency of their employees.
If the sign of a good leader is someone who creates other leaders, then mirror holding is the mark of transformational leadership. Making the transition from window gazing to mirror holding takes deliberate practice, but it’s something every leader can do with the right amount of effort and intent. Here are a few recommendations for developing more mirror-holding in your touchpoint conversations:
Ask “hero questions”
Unlock the potential of your employees by asking “hero questions” that focus on their strengths and stories of success. These questions cut to the heart of employee experience – how individuals perceive their competencies and contributions. Some of my favourite hero questions include:
- Tell me about a time this month you felt energised.
- What have you learned about yourself from working on this project?
- What strengths have you found most useful on this project?
- Who have you recently helped, and what difference did it make in their work and yours?
Asking employees to look back at these peak moments helps managers better understand what it took to get there – and, more importantly, what it will take to get there again.
Diagnose challenges
When employees hint to a challenge, pay attention to their cues. Is this person holding back? What does that individual’s body language and tone of voice convey? This process of scanning and listening can alert managers to the unseen emotional toll of work and how it is affecting performance. Try to uncover the employee’s perception of the challenge and how to address it with these prompts:
- What outcome are you trying to achieve?
- What is happening? Why do you think it’s happening?
- What have you tried so far? How have you handled similar challenges in the past?
- Have you tried to resolve this challenge? What happened as a result?
Helping others recognize work challenges can provide the first measure of relief. When issues are brought into the open, both sides gain clarity and can begin working towards a shared solution.
Shape the path
If performance is a journey, then it’s the manager’s job to help shape a path towards commitment. Once employees suggest a way forward, managers should guide their next steps. This steers the conversation towards actionable progress, making feedback more concrete. Try closing the feedback exchange with questions like:
- How do you think you’ll act on this?
- What is holding you back from achieving your goals?
- What would happen if you tried this?
- How can I help you recreate the conditions of your success?
The best feedback helps others understand their strengths and provides the encouragement and guidance to build on those strengths. Mirror holders set the conditions for positive and lasting change. Making that small adjustment in your mindset can produce a world of difference in your message — and just might help others see themselves in an entirely new way.
This article was first published in Harvard Business Review
by Samantha Perry PR | May 28, 2020 | General
Most of us are spending a lot more time at home than we’re used to – a lot more time. And we’re also having to up our tech game. After all, if we can’t go out into the world, we want the world to come to us. Here are five tech hacks to help make your “new” home life easier – and cheaper.
Ditch the landline
Landline telephones are so last decade, and they’re expensive once you factor in line rental and call charges. With the emergence of new digital phone service providers on the market, you can now ditch your landline for a landline alternative that’s free – you only pay for the airtime you use. Some current deals include one that gives you a home phone, with your same old telephone number, and lets you receive your calls on your mobile or internet browser (via an app) or on a VoIP handset (which you’ll need to buy one). All you do is pay for airtime. Some service providers even give you a little on airtime on sign-up to test it out and see if you like it. If you don’t, you ditch it. If you do – get more airtime and away you go.
Get an assistant
You don’t need an iPhone to get an assistant. Download the Google App and you can ask Google to do all sorts of things for you – like setting a timer while you’re cooking, or keeping a shopping list for you, or telling jokes. Go on, try it … “Ok, Google – tell me a joke …”
Find a deal
Now that home internet connectivity demand has soared, both internet service providers and mobile operators are offering a bunch of good deals, without long-term contracts either. They’ve realised month to month actually works better for many consumers. If you’re on fibre, ask your ISP about free line speed upgrades, which will help keep everyone at home connected and running smoothly.
Power up
These days, you’re living on your phone, and/or your tablet, and possibly your laptop, all at the same time. Basically your life has become a juggling act of battery life and power points. A power bank can help with that (and loadshedding, when it makes a re-appearance). Ranging in price from R100, these portable marvels are available for phones, tablets and laptops at electronics retailers, online and in-store.
Switch it up
Wifi-controlled smart plugs are becoming a thing. Basically – plug it into the wall and then plug, for example, a lamp into it. Connect the plug to your wifi and set it to turn the light on and off at certain times on certain days. Useful as a security feature or to ensure you’re not sitting in the dark when you forget to get up and turn on the lights at dusk. Some of them work with smart assistants like Alexa, Siri and the Google Assistant too.
Life under lockdown doesn’t have to be limited. With a bit of imagination – and some fun tech – you can stay connected, save some money, and smarten up your living space.
Supplied by Samantha Perry PR
