Focus on leadership

• the accurate assessment of leadership performance
• proper selection and placement of leaders in the organisation
• assessment and development of leadership potential and capability
• developing leadership talent in the organisation

During the 2007/08 year, 1 592 managers and professionals were trained in the theory and application of Situational Leadership II. “Leading in Times of Crisis” e-learning material was developed and activated and a “Vision Dialogue Initiative” partly rolled out.

Diversity

Eskom continues to be a leader in driving employment equity, which has enabled us to achieve a staff complement that reflects South African diversity.

We will continue with the affirmative action drive, the promotion of women and the focus on employment equity for people living with disabilities, not because it is required of us by statute, but because we believe that it is the right thing to do. It is also a business imperative.

Highlights

• on 13 June 2007, in New York, Eskom was recognised by the Global Business Coalition (GBC), under the category “Counselling and Testing at the Workplace”, for having one of the best models for the provision of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at the workplace and for having more than 50% of our employees knowing their HIV status
• the HR Shared Services unit has been visited by other organisations in the past year to learn from Eskom’s experiences with the implementation of the unit, highlighting Eskom as a successful case study
• the occupational health and safety project commenced to establish occupational risk exposure profiles (OREPs) of employees within 12 high-risk job categories, such as live-line workers. We have started with performing risk assessments on all the 12 job categories. The next steps will be to confirm the man-job specifications, and to then review and conduct risk-based medical and psychological surveillance on all the employees within these job categories
• no man-hours were lost due to industrial action at Eskom in the last year. Good communication is a feature of the industrial relations environment. There are direct lines of communication with managers and professionals and consultation in the bargaining unit through recognised trade unions. Cosatu called for a public service solidarity strike in support of the public services unions wage demands, but this had no impact on Eskom. Eskom concluded a two-year salary and conditions of service agreement with trade unions during 2007. The next round of negotiations begins in May 2009
• the grading, assessment, and remuneration positioning project (GARP) was implemented with effect from 1 November 2007. GARP achieved the conversion of job evaluation in Eskom from the Paterson broadband system to the TASK (tuned assessment of skills and knowledge) system. This also involves a “close-to-market” approach in remuneration positioning

Eskom staff turnover and age distribution

Medical and health services

Eskom provides an employee assistance programme through internal advisors and an external service provider.  This ensures that all employees and their families have access to psychosocial support 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the event of trauma or crisis.  Support entails telephonic counselling, face-to-face counselling services, and voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) campaigns.  The external service provider also has a managerial consultancy and coaching programme that assists managers to help employees deal effectively with psychosocial issues that may affect their productivity.

Health and wellness

Eskom’s comprehensive health and wellness programme is modelled around the six pillars of wellness, namely, physical, emotional, occupational, spiritual, social, and intellectual wellness.  The services include focused primary health care, occupational health, chronic disease management, and an HIV/Aids workplace programme.  Other services include sports and recreation events, biokinetics, spiritual wellness, health education, and travel medicine and expatriate health, supporting employees on international assignments).

Managing the impact of HIV and Aids

Eskom operates in a high HIV-prevalent country and has identified HIV/Aids as one of the risks it needs to manage for its own business sustainability.  The goals of the HIV/Aids workplace programme are to have zero tolerance to new HIV infections and mother to child transmissions.  The company manages the impact of HIV/Aids through integrated response strategies, which are education and awareness, prevention, know your HIV status, treatment, care, and support.  Free condoms are provided to all employees.  Eskom met the human resources sustainability index standard, which requires 50% of staff to have undergone voluntary counselling and testing (VCT).

Last year also saw the launch and formalisation of a support group run by Eskom employees living with HIV and Aids (ELWHA), which assists employees infected with HIV to register early on the disease management programmes provided by the medical aid societies and also assists employees to comply with medication and to de-stigmatise HIV at Eskom.

Eskom has a supply chain programme that assists the SMMEs to manage HIV at their workplace.  This initiative is managed in partnership with the South African Business Coalition against HIV/Aids (SABCOHA) and Tshepang Trust.  These organisations offer VCT and ART (antiretroviral treatment) free of charge to the SMMEs.

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