Neotel wants to hold onto staff

By Staff Writer for Neotel

Johannesburg, 19 Jun 2009

Neotel has implemented a new HR strategy, called My Virtual Neotel PA, aimed at retaining skilled staff members.

The project has hired a team from outside the business to be at the beck-and-call of Neotel staff.

The company says, in tough economic times, it is natural for employee morale to take a knock, and organisations must focus more on motivation and employee satisfaction. “We already face massive skills shortages in SA; therefore, it is critical for organisations to retain the intellectual property they have within their company at all cost,” says Lucky Ndwalaza, HR executive head at Neotel.

Over the last year, the ICT industry has faced a severe shortage of skills, with telecommunications specialists being the hardest hit. Skills poaching is one of the biggest problems the industry faces.

During the ITA Skills Development Summit local conference, held last month, it was noted that the economic downturn, through increased retrenchments, has relieved the crisis somewhat. However, there is still a high demand for skills in ICT.

Neotel says employee retention and satisfaction are more important than employing new skills. “Organisations just cannot afford to lose the core skills, and spend time and money on training new staff to fill those positions.”

According to Ndwalaza, increased pressure from organisations to drive sales up and operational costs down has led to a significant increase in stress levels and means employees have even less time on their hands outside of work.

He says to alleviate those pressures, Neotel has implemented My Virtual Neotel PA, which gives the company's employees access to counselling. “Crime is on the increase, stress levels are going up and, as a result of the commitment required by the organisation they work for, they are unable to attend to personal needs,” says Ndwalaza.

Neotel says the project team will handle everything from doing employee shopping to assisting with children's homework. “As long as the need falls within the scope of the services rendered, it will be done,” says Ndwalaza.

Neotel says that, since the project started, it has seen a marked decrease in stress at the office.