Nametsegang Maruping (34) is responsible for Altron’s human capital. She joined the JSE-listed company in 2018 as head of human capital and less than three years later, was promoted to the group executive level, to look after the technology group’s people.
And it’s a lot of people – 7 500 across 11 divisions based in SA, the rest of Africa and the Middle East.
She reports to group CEO Mteto Nyati, who four years ago, initiated the group’s transformation, refocused it under the banner of the One Altron strategy, and created new organisational values. The group has since then implemented Altron 2.0 strategy and people management is a big part of it.
Maruping says her appointment is a testament to the fact that Altron focuses primarily on grooming and promoting from within versus appointing externally, adding she is living proof of Altron’s talent and performance management and succession plans for employees.
Speaking of how the pandemic has transformed her role, as well as the technologies that are available to human capital management professionals, she says HR has evolved from being about ensuring people are paid on time and labour practices are followed, to advising the business on human capital strategy.
Although Altron is a technology solutions provider, it’s driven by its people, she explains. HR is involved in the decision-making process, and is expected to provide strategic insights about people. This includes the impact of external global factors on individuals within the organisation, understanding the challenges employees face, as well as the barriers they need to overcome, and how this can be managed.
The pandemic also brought with it a new challenge to a profession that was already in flux, she notes. “COVID was the trigger for the digital workspace. We had the tools but we didn’t utilise them as extensively before COVID.”
Whereas previously the role was all about face-to-face engagement, in today’s world of work it’s about virtual engagements, and the role has shifted to one that fosters teamwork and builds relationships online using the various tools available. “It's no longer about eight to five jobs. Now it's about who owns the time – and this is now the employees.”
Trust is part of the foundation of values at Altron. “We trust our employees to do their job. We provide them with the necessary tools, and we support and enable them, creating a conducive environment.”
The bulk of the workforce, around 70%, are agile workers working from home, she adds, and her team has had to be creative when it comes to the use of technology.
In addition to the staple tools such as Microsoft Teams, instant messaging and webinars, Altron’s OneTouch platform, based on Workday’s HCM cloud technology, handles many repetitive HR tasks, leaving time for the department to be more strategic, to align, and think about the future – it frees up HR to do more human-centric tasks.
“Several HR processes around recruitment, exits, promotions and talent management are now being done on that platform, which not only frees up time, it eliminates human error,” says Maruping. “We use the platform as an internal data repository and run internal surveys which help me in my role in terms of touch points, and understanding what's going on in my organisation. What is employee morale like? Where are we doing well? Where do we need to improve?”
The challenge, Maruping says, is keeping people involved. Altron has introduced a programme focused on its managers, and provides support on aspects such as how they should communicate and handle crucial conversations via virtual meetings.
“For example, how do you present online versus face-to-face? This is why it is important to put yourself in the shoes of the people – the people that lead, those at the forefront who are building technology solutions, and those engaging with our customers. What are they all going through? This is why, holistically, it's about enabling our employees to achieve our goals and strategy as an organisation, and do this in a conducive environment. This is what I am really passionate about and what I'm looking forward to doing more of in the future.”
When it comes to investment in the HCM technology solution, it’s driven by Maruping and her team, but the decision-making process is a joint one, taken by the group CEO, group CIO, group COO, group HC, and other stakeholders at senior leadership level. “It would be up to me to propose a solution and lead with it, but we’ve adopted a collaborative approach because these decisions impact every other sphere in the organisation too.”
Maruping doesn’t see things reverting to the old ways of working. “We need to be realistic about COVID and its impact, which as I mentioned, was a propeller and a trigger towards a digitised workplace. We had the tools, we had the capabilities, we just never utilised them because our employees and/or management layers were a bit slow and preferred the old versus the new. I think post-COVID, we will adopt a hybrid model.
“In fact, Altron has already implemented a flexible work arrangements policy, and is putting flexibility back into the hands of our employees in collaboration with their managers.”
Maruping says the world of work has shifted from a work-life balance to a work-life integration. Moving forward, she sees people being viewed as humans, with work being just one element of who they are, instead of having to be 50/50 or splitting themselves up.
“This is how I see the world of work evolving, and we need to assist our organisations to transition into that phase. It's those that are prepared, agile and use technology to help them that are the best set for it. And I think we are, and we’ll get there as Altron.”