NARRATIVE
SUMMARY
PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION ON DEMOGRAPIC REFLECTIONS - AN AUDIT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE
1.
OUTLINE
OF THE PRESENTATION
The
presentation will provide a background to the conducting of the audit, its
objectives, the methodology followed and limitations experienced. It will present the analytical framework
used to conduct the audit whereafter the key findings are addressed. The demographic reflections of the public
service as at June 2006 are then presented whereafter the recommendations that
emanated from the audit are reflected upon.
2. BACKGROUND
This
project stems from the commitment and mandate of the Public Service Commission
(PSC) that critical transformational policies, such as Affirmative Action (AA),
need to be evaluated, as these support broader governance objectives. The periodic assessment of such policies
presents the Executive and Parliament with timely information enabling them to
respectively take corrective action and perform their oversight role.
This
report builds on an earlier report by the PSC, the State of Representativeness in the Public Service (2000), which
provided a largely quantitative overview of progress in the first five years of
democracy. This report covers the entire 10 year period, and also provides a
more analytical perspective to AA.
The South
African state, apart from having to implement transformational policies, has
also had to transform itself over the past 10 years, so as to reflect current
demographics, and through this become more responsive to the needs of the
previously disenfranchised population.
It needs to be underscored that AA cannot be viewed simplistically as
changing race, gender and disability profiles; it is fundamentally about making
these changes in order to deliver more effectively. It thus needs to be recognised that there is a dynamic
relationship between achieving Affirmative Action on the one hand and
transforming the state and society on the other.
Transformational
policies are generally difficult to implement, and more so when these deal with
sensitive issues rooted in historic conditions that have caused race, gender
and disability imbalances. At the heart
of this transformation process is the recognition and willingness by
decision-makers to move beyond their personal interests and views, and show
commitment through action by making transformational decisions. In this regard the commitment from civil
servants, irrespective of their race or gender, to implement government policy,
is essential.
This audit
shows that progress in achieving AA has been varied, both at the national and
provincial levels. By analysing
progress across various indicators, it has been found that much more needs to
be done, both in terms of achieving the numeric targets, as well as addressing
the empowerment dimension.
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE AUDIT
The objectives of the audit were to
·
Determine the extent to which government Departments
have complied with policy and legislative requirements and measures, taking
into account national and provincial demographics. An assessment is made of
constraints and/or barriers that are being experienced in meeting the
regulatory requirements (compliance).
·
Audit the effectiveness and efficiency (efficacy) of
the systems, processes and procedures used to monitor and evaluate the
implementation of AA in the entire human resource management chain (monitor
and evaluate the implementation of AA).
·
Audit the extent to which AA practices empower the
designated groups to fulfill their employment obligations. This includes an
assessment of human resource management practices starting from recruitment,
selection, induction processes and retention programmes. The process of
assessment should take into account the work already done by the PSC on
recruitment and selection and other related reports (empowerment).
·
Present a comprehensive analysis based on the above
of the success and failures of AA and recommend requirements for further
implementation.
4. METHODOLOGY
The scope
of work of the project focused on the following issues:
·
A review of human resource management practices,
policies and procedures currently in use in the public service with a view to
producing a conceptual framework document that defines the empowerment
aspect(s) of affirmative action.
·
Gathering and collating qualitative and quantitative
data through engagements with national and provincial Departments and other
relevant stakeholders, accessing baseline information.
·
An analytical review of the empowerment practices as
a means towards achieving affirmative action within the public service. This is meant to focus on whether
affirmative action has been able to achieve reasonable empowerment within the
public service and ensure that reasonable accommodation is made to the known
functional limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disability and
other designated groups.
·
Review Human Resource Management processes with
specific assessment of personnel practices to ensure that job applicants and
employees from designated groups, particularly with disabilities, are
considered for all job vacancies and training opportunities, and are not
stereotyped in a manner which limits their access to all jobs for which they
are qualified.
·
A quantitative and qualitative analysis of
affirmative action to determine whether the requirements as laid down in policy
and legislative documents are being implemented, monitored and evaluated.
·
A trend analysis and comparison of the implementation
of AA in government Departments in the national and provincial spheres of
government to measure compliance, efficacy and empowerment across government
Departments.
·
A broad and comprehensive account of the success and
barriers of affirmative action using empowerment, efficacy and compliance
perspectives as units of analysis.
·
Benchmarking best and worst practices in
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of affirmative action, which can be
made available for learning within the public service and beyond.
The
following data gathering methods were used:
·
Desktop Literature Review. This was done to determine elements of the human resource value
chain that are relevant to AA policies and procedures to be monitored and
evaluated by the PSC.
·
Personnel Data Review. Mainly to draw statistical
data and use such data to review the extent to which national and provincial
Departments comply with the set numeric targets.
·
National Affirmative Action Survey. The survey was
used to collect empirical data from Departments by means of a self-administered
standard audit questionnaire based on the AA audits terms of reference,
preliminary literature review and the audit conceptual framework.
·
Audit Sample. The audit focused on the entire Public
Service, defined as involving all national and provincial Departments as set
out in the Public Service Act, 1994.
Responsiveness
of Departments
·
15 National Departments submitted late.
·
19 provincial Departments did not submit at all with the biggest transgressor being Limpopo.
5. LIMITATIONS
In
terms of the quantitative analysis the study relied on the survey questionnaire
and the data as on 30 April 2005 from VULINDLELA. One of the problems when
dealing with the comparison of change over time was the manner in which the
various levels are defined. The VULINDLELA system provided data according to
salary levels, but Departments responded by presenting data according to
occupational categories as per their employment equity reporting requirements
to the Department of Labour. This meant that the data between the two sources
needed to be reconciled.
A further
problem related to the delays in returning information, and given that
extensions were provided, the information from certain Departments was not
used, and in some cases information was of poor quality.
For
purposes of this presentation, therefore, and to give as up to date reflections
on the demographics of the public service as possible, data that has been
obtained from Vulindlela as at June 2006 will be used.
6. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
AA is implemented
through programmes designed in terms of the adopted policy framework, namely
the White Paper on Affirmative Action (WPAA). The WPAA sets out mandatory
requirements that Departments should comply with to implement AA programmes.
The WPAA sketches the accountability, monitoring, coordinating and reporting
responsibilities of various role players within AA programmes. Compliance and
efficacy aspects of this audit were predicated on these policy requirements.
The
compliance element of the audit focuses on the extent to which government
Departments conform to the prescribed policy and regulatory requirements, as
obliged to in terms of goals, objectives, targets and implementation framework
set out. Based on the mandatory requirements of the WPAA, the following
indicators were derived from the WPAA and used for the compliance aspect of
affirmative action against which Departments compliance was assessed:
·
Numeric Targets.
·
Employee Profile.
·
Affirmative Action Survey.
·
Management Practices Review.
·
Performance Management.
·
Affirmative Action Plan.
·
Responsibilities.
·
Policy Statement.
The
assessment of the efficacy element of the audit focused on determining the effectiveness of the systems, processes and
procedures used to monitor and evaluate the implementation of AA. In order to measure how well AA is
implemented, a set of indicators was developed. These would provide a
conceptual instrument to measure the quality of the AA implementation process.
These are:
·
Policy communication and training;
·
Policy planning and review;
·
Programme design and development;
·
Performance and resource management;
·
Extent of integration and alignment with the broader public service
management, reform, transformation initiatives;
·
Stakeholder involvement and participation;
·
Openness, transparency and accountability; and
·
Executive and management leadership.
The focus
on empowerment was an attempt to go beyond the compliance and
effectiveness elements of the audit in order to understand the substantive
issues that lie beneath the numbers. It attempted to measure the extent to
which AA practices empower the designated groups to fulfill their employment
obligations. Empowerment indicators were identified based on the
provisions of the WPAA namely:
·
New Employee Appointment, Recruitment and Selection.
·
Personnel Orientation and Induction.
·
Individual Development Planning.
·
Career Guidance and Counselling.
·
Mentoring and Coaching.
·
Performance Management and Feedback.
·
Human Performance Plan Management.
·
Recognition and Reward.
·
Promotions and Succession Planning.
·
Training and Development Management.
·
Leadership and Management Development.
·
Transfer and Retention.
·
Reasonable Accommodation.
7. KEY FINDINGS
The audit found that whilst overall progress is being
made with the setting of AA targets, there are significant challenges for the
effective compliance with the policy requirements on AA. It appears that most national Departments
perform very well in terms of compliance with AA target requirements as compared
to provincial Departments. The
quantitative analysis of AA revealed that although a general improvement in
representation of Blacks at national Departments has taken place in middle
management (56% Blacks as opposed to 44% Whites) and senior management (68%
Blacks as opposed to 32% Whites), Departments still have a long way to go to
meet the 75% target set for Blacks for April 2005. As far as gender
representation is concerned, women make up 56% of all employees within the
Public Service whilst they only represent 30,5% at middle and senior management
level. As far as people with
disabilities are concerned only 0, 3% are employed in both national and
provincial Departments, which is way below the set target of 2%.
Improvement is still required in the areas of
employee profiling, conducting AA surveys and allocation of
responsibilities. Overall it appears
that progress is made on the initial administrative processes such as setting
of targets and developing the AA/EE plans while the actual implementation
processes critical for the attainment of targets and objectives in the AA/EE
plans remain a serious challenge.
As far as
conducting AA surveys is concerned, it was found that only (28%) of national
Departments conduct AA surveys whilst the majority (72%) do not. At a provincial level AA surveys were mostly
conducted with Departments in provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Free State,
Western Cape, North West and KwaZulu Natal.
No such surveys were reported to be conducted in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and
the Northern Cape. Those Departments
that do not conduct surveys claim to
have addressed the matter by for example, consulting staff and unions through
departmental bargaining councils and/or EE consultative forums.
The
periodicity of conducting management reviews in national Departments was
uneven, whilst more than (80%) of the Departments in the Western Cape reported
that they review management practices on a quarterly basis. Most of the Departments within Mpumalanga,
Eastern Cape and the Free State do not perform management practices reviews at
all.
The
integration of AA accountability into performance management systems was found
to be uneven across national and provincial Departments. It is of concern that this is not reflected
in the performance agreements of senior managers.
In many
instances it was found that the process followed in national and provincial
Departments in developing and implementing the AA programmes is inconsistent
and not necessarily aligned to the guidelines provided in the WPAA. It appeared that most Departments tend to
use the Employment Equity Act (EEA) as a guide for their affirmative action
programmes as they follow the process outlined in the EEA as against the
requirements of the WPAA. Most of the
national and provincial Departments have, however, developed AA plans or
employment equity (EE) plans.
There
appears to be no consensus by the various role players regarding the
responsibility for the implementation of AA.
This varies between senior management and a combination of roles and
responsibilities for different staff within a department. This uncertainty about roles and
responsibilities and the absence of formal lines of accountability for the
implementation of AA is one of the barriers for the successful implementation
of AA. The absence of a mechanism to
enforce compliance with AA policy and other human resource policies and
regulations is a perennial challenge facing the Public Service.
Most Departments did not identify barriers to
fulfil AA requirements. In those
instances where barriers were identified a combination of factors were
mentioned of which unavailability/scarcity of skills from designated groups was
the most cited factor. More than (60%)
of national and provincial Departments did take action to overcome barriers by
developing recruitment strategies and the forging of links with organisations
for designated groups (people with disabilities).
Technical requirements that facilitate the
implementation of AA reveal discrepancies between the extent to which there is
administrative compliance and actual implementation. This is due to the fact that the methods used in implementing AA
may not necessarily be in line with the requirements of the WPAA or that they may
not be well documented to facilitate learning from best practice across
provinces. In some cases, such as the
Western Cape and Free State, there is administrative compliance (which may come
across as positive), yet in terms of what ultimately counts, that is changing
the legacy of apartheid, progress is limited. In the case of provinces such as
Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape there is poor administrative compliance (which
may come across as negative), yet actual performance in changing the demography
is good.
Provinces may demonstrate high levels of
administrative compliance, yet perform poorly at the level of
implementation. Therefore, the
development of AA plans and setting of targets in isolation cannot be viewed as
a singular indicator of progress with implementation of AA in the public
service. Department specific and
province specific incremental targets are critical if AA is to change the
demographics of the public sector to be in line with the demographics of the
country.
Most Departments have specific criteria, such as
giving preference to applicants for employment based on race gender and
disability, for recruiting and selecting people from designated groups. Departments do however, experience difficulties
in managing data on AA appointments, recruitment and selection. From generating employee profiles to
monitoring and evaluating the outcomes of the policy implementation, many
Departments have been found wanting.
Most national and
provincial Departments do conduct reviews of the implementation of the AA
policy. Despite Departments
involvement in reviews, it was found that they are still preoccupied with
day-to-day routine administration of personnel transactions and have not
focused on key strategic areas such HR Planning and organisational
development. The human resource
components in many Departments still do not link their daily work with the
business strategies of the Departments they serve. As a result, key transformation result areas such as affirmative
action tend to suffer.
Most national and less
than half of all provincial Departments have designed programmes aimed at
training managers to implement AA. It
was however, found that overall training offered and strategies adopted varied
considerably.
The policy
requirements on the lines of responsibility and accountability (leadership for
AA) in Departments as outlined in the WPAA appear not to be adhered to. This legislative deficiency opens
possibilities where there is no centralised mechanism through which progress of
AA is effectively monitored and a global perspective of the challenges faced by
the provinces and national Departments is adopted.
Although most national and provincial Departments
have and conduct an orientation and induction programme for new recruits and
designated groups based on specifically designed strategies, more than a third
of the Departments tend to adopt generic empowerment practices. It is assumed that employees from designated
groups will benefit from these generic approaches.
Most national Departments have personal development
plans for staff and implement these through their performance management
systems or as part of their Human Resource Development (HRD) strategy. There is, however, a high level of disparity
across provinces on the mechanisms and approach used to implement personal
development plans.
In general there is a challenge for Departments on
career guidance and counselling in that such programmes are not properly
implemented or the benefits from such initiatives are not yet discernable.
Whilst (51%) of national Departments have mentoring
and coaching interventions (56%) of provincial Departments did not. At both national and provincial Departments
line managers are assigned the role of being mentors. In many instances managers mentoring and coaching programmes are
administered on an ad-hoc basis.
Most national and provincial Departments have
recognition and reward mechanisms in place to ensure that the employees from
designated groups are recognized and valued when they perform exceptionally
well. This also serves to encourage and
maintain their performance at a high standard. The directives from the
Department of Public Service and Administration are used to guide the granting
of rewards.
No or inadequate records of
promotions and succession are kept at both national and provincial
Departments. This situation reflects
negatively on succession planning in the public service, particularly
commitment to the career progression of employees from designated groups. It is critical for this aspect to be
addressed as lack of career progression may lead to frustration for employees.
National Departments either
use personal development plans or departmental strategic objectives to identify
training needs, whilst conducting skills audits is a mechanism mostly used at
provincial Departments to identify training needs of employees. Proper records are kept of the type of
training, with data on employees trained broken down according to occupational
categories. Since identification of
training needs is generic, it was difficult to determine the success of such
training in the absence of predetermined AA training objectives for employees
from designated groups.
There are no specific
leadership and management development interventions for employees from
designated groups reported in national and provincial Departments. Similarly, there are no support mechanisms
specifically designed for employees from designated groups in middle and senior
management.
The reason mostly cited by
employees from designated groups for a transfer to another institution was
better career opportunities followed by better working environment and better
pay/package. Inability to fulfil responsibilities
was the least mentioned reason.
Most Departments reported
that they have incorporated issues of reasonable accommodation such as access
to work areas, modification of facilities and flexible working hours in their
AA plans. The most mentioned aspect
regarding reasonable accommodation is the elimination of physical
infrastructural barriers, followed by language flexibility, flexible working
hours and provision of assistive devices or equipment for people with
disabilities.
8. DEMOGRAPHIC
REFLECTIONS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE
Cabinet set a target of 30% representation of women
in senior management positions, 75% black in senior management positions and 2%
for people with disabilities in the Public Service by March 2005.
These targets have since been reviewed and Cabinet
has approved that women must occupy 50% of posts at senior management level.
The target that 75% of senior managers must be black has been maintained. This
must be achieved by 31 March 2009. The 2% target for employment of people with
disabilities remains unchanged and must be achieved by 31 March 2010.
As indicated demographic statistics drawn from
Vulindlela as at June 2006 is presented:
The
situation for the entire Public Service is as follows:
n
PUBLIC SERVICE (OVERALL)
v
Africans 843 259 74%
v
Asians 41 004 4%
v
Coloured 100
514 10%
v
Whites 140
973 12%
n
GENDER
v
Female 607
262 53.9%
v
Male 518
488 46%
At senior
management level the following applies:
n
PUBLIC SERVICE (SMS)
v
Africans 3 923 55%
v
Asians 554 8%
v
Coloured 549 8%
v
Whites 2
063 29%
n
GENDER
v
Female 2
084 29%
v
Male 5
005 71%
At
national level the following applies:
n
NATIONAL DEPARTMENTS - SMS OVERALL
v
Africans
2086 54% 189
257 68%
v
Asian 292 7% 7 929 3%
v
Coloured 293 7.6% 29 644 11%
v
White 1190 31% 50 403
18%
n
GENDER
v
Female 1 182 31% 96 292 35%
v
Male 2 679 69% 180 941 65%
All
persons with disabilities 0,2%
At provincial level, the following applies:
EASTERN CAPE
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African
- 228 68% 104 167 87%
v
Indian
- 27 6% 637 0.5%
v
Coloured- 34 8% 8 355 6.9%
v
White
- 90 20% 6 315 5.2%
n
Gender
v
Female - 121
27% 79 123 66%
v
Male -
318 63% 40 351 33.8%
All persons with disabilities - 0,07%
FREE STATE
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African - 153 52% 44370
80%
v
Asian - 5
2% 70 0.1%
v
Coloured- 16 5%
1868 3%
v
White -
120 41% 8860 16%
n
Gender
v
Female - 83
28% 33754
61%
v
Male - 211 72% 21 414 39%
All persons with disabilities 0,06%
GAUTENG
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African - 343 50% 87
019 74%
v
Asian - 62
9% 3 122 2.6%
v
Coloured 41 6% 4 151 4%
v
White -
242 35% 22 247 19%
n
Gender
v
Female - 214
31% 79 488
68%
v
Male - 474 69% 37 051 32%
All persons with disabilities 0,10%
KWAZULU-NATAL
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 327
55% 130
823 82%
v
Asian 118
20% 180
014 11%
v
Coloured 10 2% 2 869 2%
v
White
138 23% 8 167 5%
n
Gender
v
Female 181 31%
105 317 66%
v
Male 412 69% 54 556 34%
All persons with
disabilities 0,12%
LIMPOPO
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 324
88% 112
427 97%
v
Asian
11 3% 188
0.1%
v
Coloured 2 0.5% 143 0.1%
v
White
31 8% 2 694
2%
n
Gender
v
Female 119
32% 64 912 56%
v
Male 249 68% 80 540 44%
All persons with disabilities 0,22%
MPUMALANGA
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 196 84% 51
485 90%
v
Asian
6 3%
267 0.4%
v
Coloured 1 0.4% 361 0.6%
v
White
29 12% 4 781 8%
n
Gender
v
Female 68 29% 39
972 63%
v
Male 164 71% 23
029 37%
All persons with disabilities 0,07%
WESTERN CAPE
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 53
15% 12 670
18%
v
Asian
18 5% 589 0.8%
v
Coloured 106 31% 43
109 61%
v
White
170 49% 13 966 20%
n
Gender
v
Female 77 22% 44
933 64%
v
Male 270 78% 25
401 36%
All persons with
disabilities 0,26%
NORTH WEST
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 200
75% 57
074 90%
v
Asian
13 5%
303 0.4%
v
Coloured 10 4% 868 1.3%
v
White
44 16% 4 756 8%
n
Gender
v
Female 87
33% 39 972
63%
v
Male 180 67% 23 029 37%
NORTHERN CAPE
n
SMS OVERALL
v
African 64
47% 6 040
35%
v
Asian
11 8% 75 0.4%
v
Coloured 41 30%
8 360 50%
v
White
21 15%
2 619 15.3%
n
Gender
v
Female 35
26% 10 640
62%
v
Male 102 74% 6 454 38%
All persons with disabilities 0,13%
9. RECOMMENDATIONS
Targets have been set within
a broader political and policy environment, and therefore have a legitimacy
which needs to be adhered to. As the
study has indicated there is a marked variation in the extent to which there
has been compliance with AA targets and record-keeping, both between national
and provincial Departments, and between provincial Departments themselves. To address these deficiencies, the following
recommendations are made:
All government Departments
should engage in a concerted effort to employ people with disabilities across all salary levels, but more so at
middle and senior management levels.
The periodicity of monitoring targets should be increased especially
with regard to senior and middle management and people with disabilities. Ideally such reporting should be aligned
with key management meetings. This
should also be communicated within departmental structures.
The responsibility for implementing AA needs to be allocated across all
levels of management, and the accountability mechanisms for this spelt out in
the performance management systems of the department as well as the individual
performance agreements of managers.
This will ensure that addressing targets gets the requisite profile and
attention.
Regular updates on progress with regard to AA be provided to the Portfolio
Committee on Public Service and Administration.
Employee profiling is critical, and PERSAL should develop a function to produce these
profiles at all levels.
The Departments that have
not set or do not monitor AA targets
should do so.
Provision needs to be made
in AA plans for conducting AA surveys
for the review of management practices, in order to improve communication
around AA progress and ensure action thereof.
AA targets must be
incorporated into performance management systems and an appropriate proportion
of the overall score for performing on these levels be agreed upon. This will influence the seriousness with
which it is taken.
A protocol should be
established whereby Departments can approach either DPSA, DoL or SAMDI as the
need arises to provide specific support they may require in implementing AA.
The Portfolio Committee on
Public Service and Administration should play a greater role in holding
Executing Authorities accountable for compliance with the affirmative action
policy.
It is important that
Departments generate, manage and maintain stable, accurate and efficient
strategic personnel information that should improve their M & E systems on
personnel planning, management and reporting.
It is thus recommended that:
Given that Departments
experience difficulties in managing data
on AA appointments, recruitment and selection which is important in assisting
with M & E of AA, this area receives management attention.
There needs to be broad support for M & E, and this requires
on-going consultation with stakeholders.
This means that consultation should not be viewed as an event, but
rather as an on-going process.
Given the importance of
buy-in to the process at all levels, training
on the implementation of AA should be regarded as mandatory across all
levels.
The institutional
arrangements for implementing AA need to
be constantly reviewed with a view to changing these as necessary.
Departments should develop capabilities to monitor and evaluate
their performance on all HR policies, programmes and projects, particularly
those of a transformation nature such as affirmative action.
There is also a need for the
PSC to build a partnership with the
Department of Labour to establish an index of affirmative action that will,
based on the baseline data reported on in this document, form the basis for
forward monitoring and evaluation of affirmative action.
Detailed case studies on selected Departments be developed to build knowledge and
experience on the implementation of affirmative action and to generate
recommendations for improvement to Executing Authorities.
This is probably the most
critical dimension to AA, as it relates directly to affirmed employees
performing effectively.
In terms of support, the
following is recommended:
It must be mandatory that AA
criteria are applied to all adverts for new employees. Departments need to go
beyond this, especially in the area of disability, by proactively making
contact with appropriate organisations and ensuring that they receive adverts.
In terms of creating an
environment conducive for the employees with disabilities, Departments need to
ensure that the work environment is made disability friendly, and the
appropriate signage placed.
The induction period for new
employees needs to be treated with the requisite seriousness from the part of
the employees. The support must go
beyond the standardised induction usually offered by Departments. In each individual case, there needs to be
personal development and support plans agreed upon, and monitored. This will allow for the early identification
of integration problems, and allow management to intervene before employees
leave out of frustration.
In terms of empowerment,
Departments need to also offer a service such as career advice and counselling,
as it can reasonably be assumed that matters of career pathing, linked to
training, will emerge as affirmed employees seek new opportunities.
Furthermore, given the new environment, there may be challenges, and support in
the form of counselling must be provided.
Induction programmes should
be strengthened to ensure that they are not just a once-off generic set of
activities.
Performance discussions need
to be held more frequently, and the measurement of work done
incrementally. By doing performance
assessments more frequently, there would be more opportunities for feedback,
and greater opportunity to identify problems.
Affirmed employees, like all
others need to be recognised and rewarded, not only through monetary awards but
with other innovative ways in which growth and development can be affirmed.
General
Recommendations on Affirmative Action and Human Resources
Departments
should address during their HR Planning processes and methods how they will
meet affirmative action targets.
Departments
should build clear knowledge base and intelligence on key issues such as skill
demand and supply factors in the labour market.
Departments
should focus more on the advancement of women in senior management and people
with disabilities across the board.
Each
department should define roles and responsibilities and assign these to a
designated official with delegations and performance targets and measures.
The
affirmative action roles, responsibilities, powers and functions of central HR
units and their head and line managers respectively should be clearly defined
and communicated effectively.
The HR
function in Departments should be repositioned in a way that creates a balance
between their strategic and administrative outlook. This requires that
strategic HR competencies such as HR Planning, organisational development,
change management, business process improvement, strategic information
management and M&E be sourced, harnessed and retained.
10. CONCLUSION
The audit has highlighted challenges in the
implementation of affirmative action from the three dimensions as outlined in
the contextual framework. Quantitative
analysis of affirmative action is conducted to assess progress made in terms of
numeric targets and representativity.
Areas of success and challenges in the implementation of affirmative
action are indicated based on which recommendations are made. It is hoped that national and provincial
Departments, particularly those whose performance has been identified as
requiring improvement will take concerted efforts to implement recommendations
contained in this report.