In recent years, affirmative action has become a touchy subject as opinions are divided and feelings run high.
With the advent of the Employment Equity Bill as a basis for the way business should be conducted in the future, the subject of affirmative action is once again coming to the fore. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding these issues in the workplace.
With the Employment Equity Bill, affirmative action is becoming a reality for companies to face in the near future.
Jill Hamlyn, MD, The People Business
Words and phrases such as "levelling the playing fields", "positive discrimination" and "reverse racism" are, unfortunately, still being bandied about corporate corridors, all leading to affirmative action being an ill-defined concept. Such words are also emotive and contribute to the rising level of dread that mainly white South Africans feel when the idea is made explicit.
Negativity often continues to surround the idea of affirmative action in SA. This is especially true when we consider the high unemployment figures, the rise in job losses and the economic downturn that is characteristic of our economy at the moment.
The stance of the South African government is unequivocal. With the implementation of the Employment Equity Bill, companies have to have clearly defined policies relating to the employment of people previously discriminated against in the workplace.
IT industry
How will affirmative action affect the IT industry in SA?
Once again, the ever-present skills shortage is going to present a problem in this area. There are still not enough affirmative action candidates who have the requisite basic skills or qualifications in IT.
Companies may then find themselves in the interesting position of not being able to fulfil their proposed plan for employment equity, not because they are inherently prejudiced against the idea, but because there are too few affirmative action candidates available across the whole industry spectrum.
A snap survey conducted among some of the leading universities and training centres shows that on average there are inequalities to be found based along racial lines. More white than black students are enrolled for not only many of the IT courses offered, but also, sadly, a disproportionate amount of black students are studying in higher tertiary education within a number of institutions. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. There is also a gender discrepancy, but this is not nearly as marked. If people of all races are not actively encouraged by business to embark on relevant industry and business training, there will continue to be a skills shortage in the imminent future and industry will continue to bear the cost.
Within the IT field, if specialist skills are not being developed across the total population group as they should be, this will exacerbate the continuing shortage of available practical hands-on skills in the near future. Although the aim of the Skills Development Act is to develop current employees, companies are often not as eager to send as many black students on training courses as they should be, having "been burnt" through the rampant and inexcusable deluge of headhunting that takes place at the lower levels.
By implication, some companies may therefore appear to be not managing the process of affirmative action implementation. Managers are often measured on their ability to retain and retrain staff, but are not given the necessary support and backup. There is very often little planning and interest in what they are doing.
As much as there is a need to be able to encourage people to enter the IT industry, there is also a need to distribute the responsibility for affirmative action policies. This is not the same as passing the buck. The practice of mentoring can be used successfully in a case like this as it is by far the most efficient method of bringing people up to acceptable skill productivity levels in as short a time frame as possible.
Base skills
Alternatively, companies should decide on a set of base skills for entry into the industry. They can then get together and pool their resources, train groups of people and release them into the workplace.
Awareness of the challenges facing the industry is the first step towards successful implementation of strategies to overcome potential hurdles. With the Employment Equity Bill, affirmative action is becoming a reality for companies to face in the near future. It doesn`t have to be liked, but it has to be accepted.
The more prepared you are for the changes that are going to be occurring in the IT arena, the more successfully you will be able to negotiate the transition. There are some excellent people out there who are just looking for an opening, and the benefits all around can be enormous.
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