Software quality management company, Software Quality Systems (SQS) has been crowned the IT Leading Employer for 2011.
The company received the accolade early this month, at the Computer Society of SA (CSSA) President's Awards, in Johannesburg. The other two finalists were Discovery PruProtect and Xtensive ICT Academy.
The awards, run by TalentAlign in conjunction with the CSSA, honour organisations that put employee engagement at the core of their business. Last year, the title went to Yellowtail Software.
SQS sales director, Kim Johnston accepted the award at a ceremony, held at the Hilton Sandton Hotel.
Speaking at the event, Gail Sturgess, senior consultant at TalentAlign, said the purpose of the award is to showcase and reward organisations that not only say 'people are their greatest assets', but also inculcate the practices that bring the concept to life within the organisation.
Trevor Luyt, MD of SQS SA, says the award means a lot to his company. “It is validation and reassurance that our continual efforts and investments in employee engagement are well-directed. It is invaluable to us as a recruiter of young IT staff in our ability to attract and retain talent.”
He notes the company intends to use this recognition to build on its brand locally, adding that SQS SA has built a strong foundation, originally servicing chiefly global clients like British Gas (Centrica) as well as financial, legal, technology and telco firms in Switzerland, the UK and Ireland, from the offshore centre, in Durban.
He says there is no secrete to the company's success. “Managing and motivating people and running a people-intensive business is not predicated on a secret formula in the way that Coca-Cola has a closely-guarded secret recipe or KFC has its blend of secret herbs and spices.”
The dynamics are constantly changing and what worked last year might not work this year; what is right for one age profile of employee might not be right for another, Luyt explains.
“Generation Y is wired differently from Generation X; when we became a company of 150employees, our challenges were different to those when we were only 50, etc, and so if there is a secret or a trick, it has to be in the ability to adapt and to try new things and to constantly keep working at it - not sitting back and thinking 'we've cracked it'.”
Concluding, he notes it is important that clients of South African services companies engage with and challenge their suppliers on their programmes and initiatives for people development and for fostering and growing new talent in the economy.
“The playing fields in SA are not level, in every respect, and while BBBEE is an attempt to address this, more than anything, the country needs education, skills and talent to be fostered and nurtured.”
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