Credit management group Real People, one of the largest ICT employers in the Eastern Cape, continues to attract ICT skills to the coast from major centres locally and abroad, including hubs such as India.
However, the relaxed seaside lifestyle and lack of daily traffic congestion are not the only draw cards - as Real People is fast becoming reputed as a multicultural, developer-friendly and stimulating IT environment.
Comments Morn'e Owen, Real People CIO: "Real People is an agile company providing interesting challenges to the ICT team. We pride ourselves in being quick to market with new products as our systems support the business initiatives. We realise that our people are our greatest asset and therefore need to look after them.
"Our main goal is to build a dynamic and vigorous team ready to take on the next challenge. Our skill set includes the Microsoft .Net technologies and SQL Server. Using some of the latest technology is very stimulating and creates a challenging environment. We endeavour to keep up with the latest trends by sending staff on courses, events and building our own internal library of books and articles.
"Staff is encouraged to share knowledge: we like to ensure that everyone in our team is on the same level. To further enhance technical skill and team work, we have launched 'Project Virtual' where developers of different teams are placed into a new team working on a non-core project. The main driver of this project is to force the use of 'bleeding technology' in order to demonstrate how it could be used to solve business problems."
Office with a view and good ergonomics
With the focus on stimulating technologies and knowledge building, Owen says they have also invested time and thought in blending elements of comfort in office design, collaboration and good ergonomics into the developers' space.
"It is important to us that the environment lends itself to be productive and facilitates collaboration among staff members. Our developers have an awesome sea view that promotes lateral thinking and reduces stress. We tried to split our office space so that we don't spoil the view, but also allow every person to have their personal space."
A project lead, Cedrick Oommen, who came from India to Real People for five years, rated the environment as terrific - saying he would miss the unrivalled view of the Indian Ocean, but more so, the fantastic camaraderie of the Real People IT team, when moving on to his next dream job in the USA.
Building gender in ICT, great incentives
Real People are also pleased, says Owen, to be further "non-old-school" in the gender representation in their team. "Although the IT industry is male dominated, we have been able to employ a number of the fairer sex, with 22% of our ICT staff being women. For us, working in a diverse, representative and multicultural environment has great rewards - as we learn from each other and also helps us all to see life in context."
Owen says Real People ICT offers a multifaceted incentive scheme, which is valued in that it is financial but also has family time and lifestyle enhancing elements.
"It is important for us to make our staff feel valued and recognise the contributions they make. Our incentive scheme enables developers the time off to bond with their families, and includes a system of restaurant vouchers, for encouraging quality family time. We have an ultimate award for Real People Developer of the Year, which includes an overseas trip," elaborates Owen.
* Real People has over 1 500 employees, with nationwide branches in South Africa and Africa, and prides itself on its IT culture, with divisions including credit management, in-store credit, retail financial services, assurance and cellular products.
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