All Eyes on: BizTech

Watching global economic figures at the moment is like being on a rollercoaster in the dark, you know you are falling fast but have no idea of when the ride will go up again.

You have a choice: become paralysed by fear or create opportunity. Take Corrie Fourie, one of the finalists as PA of the Year and a speaker at this year’s ICAP Indaba sponsored by BizTech. After being recruited into the South African Defence Force as a young conscript in the late 1970’s, he stayed on and made it his career. He resigned in 2004 at the age of 45 and for six months could not find work.

Lesser individuals would have panicked and become depressed. Corrie opened his mind to new opportunities. He was also clever in having a wide circle of interests, he sang in the State Opera in Pretoria in his spare time and a friend from there set him up for an interview as a personal assistant. Corrie got the job, on his first day, he says, he didn’t even know how to work an electronic diary and so he asked for help and worked harder and with greater efficiency than anyone else.

He stayed alert to training courses to improve his skills.

After being an executive PA for the last five years, Corrie was recently promoted to Facilities and Travel Manager for his company. T-Systems SA. Excellence never goes unnoticed.

“Corrie’s example is an excellent one,” Liza van Wyk, CEO of BizTech says. “He stayed alert to opportunity, worked hard and has always networked at work and in his private life. He has always been aware of the need to keep learning and would suggest new courses to improve his skills to his boss – if you don’t alert your boss, do not be surprised if you never or only rarely go on courses. Their job is not to advance you, it is to keep a company running.

“You can advance yourself and help the company achieve excellent results by continuous training. It’s a fast-moving world and everyone should go on a course at least once a year.

Major corporationslike Edcon ensure that every staff member has at least a week of skills training each year.” Liza van Wyk understands the importance of scanning the environment for opportunity, she was an engineer 10 years ago when she realised how important the demand for training was and began her own business.

In these hard times the way to hold onto your job is to work harder and with greater skill. Wise companies invest in training to ensure that the staff they have work better and more productively.

Staff also have to make significant adjustments: in the United States more than 600 000 people have been losing work every month since November last year and so shorter working weeks are becoming the norm and about 15% of companies have negotiated pay cuts with their employees.

Liza van Wyk, CEO of BizTech said, “These are all difficult calls to make, this financial crisis is unlike anything the world has experienced. It is impossible to predict when the economy will lift, we are not experiencing a scenario as bad as the developed countries, but in a globalised world we are all interlinked, problems in one place have repercussions in another.

“As a major training organisation we are sympathetic to the impact of this downturn on employees and companies but in bad times one should only get rid of assets as a last resort and skilled staff are prime assets. Companies need to consider how to best utilise their asset base to ensure they can climb out of these hard times earlier.” She lists some international examples:

• Toyota which is experiencing the worst sales and profits ever, is not shedding jobs, it is using downtime to train workers or use them on public service projects.
• Public service projects as a way of seconding employees rather than laying off staff is gaining ground and is something South African employers should consider. It helps staff do good in their communities and learn new skills that could help the business later. New York-based law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett offers associates a year off to work on a public service project and get paid $60 000 plus benefits – less than half their normal pay but better than being retrenched.

The downside of firing staff in bad times is well-documented. In 2007, as an example, Northwest Airlines in the USA went through tough times and fired hundreds of pilots, they tried to rely on a small core, but pilots are not allowed to fly more hours a month than regulators allow. When the industry began picking up, Northwest had to spend millions recruiting and retraining laid-off or new pilots.

Van Wyk said government had an array of mechanisms to help employers earn while staff learn. “For example, with Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment grading, for every R100 you spend with a Level One certified provider you get credit for spending R135 and for every R100 you spend with a Level Eight provider you get credit for only R10. One of the BBBEE pillars is Skills Development and to score full points as a company you need to spend two percent of payroll on training previously disadvantaged individuals.

“The Skills Levy too makes allowance for claiming back training costs at accredited training providers.”

Van Wyk recommends too that staff that go on courses should frame every certificate and put it up next to their desk, “it impresses visitors and is a constant reminder to your boss and colleagues that you are not only a knowledgeable individual, but someone keen on knowing more and working better.”

And with everything in life who you know is almost as important as what you know. Network widely. Have a range of hobbies and interests outside work, as Corrie discovered your dream job may come from the most unexpected sources.