THE SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF FREIGHT FORWARDERS
12 Skeen Boulevard, Bedfordview PO Box 2510 Bedfordview 2008
Republic of South Africa Republic of South Africa
Tel: (011) 455 1707/26
Fax: (011) 455 1709
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10 March 2011
HR Transformation - Circ No 004
FROM SAAFF NATIONAL
HR TRANSFORMATION NEWSLETTER
BEE Newsletter to the Freight and Forwarding Industry 10 March 2011
Currently the BEE world is going through considerable change as new legislation, recently gazetted for discussion, will enable IRBA (Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors) accredited CAs to issue BEE Certificates. Whereas this definitely will increase the national capacity to measure transformation, it has caused consternation amongst SANAS (South African National Accreditation System) accredited Verification Agencies who recognise this as a real threat to their market position. This will however mean that businesses may prefer using their auditors to do BEE ratings if legislation is passed after the close of the discussion period. We will keep you updated on progress!
Recently SANAS (South African National Accreditation System) also announced their intention to cancel 5 year average reporting for Enterprise Development and Socio Economic Development. Although this is generally welcomed in the market, it may have a negative effect on entities that have already entered in longer term projects which required a larger upfront investment.
Code 200 - Management & Code 300 – Employment Equity
A pre-requisite to scoring points on Code 200 and 300 of the BBBEE scorecard ; is compliance to Labour legislation whereby it is legally required for entities to submit annual (150 employees) or bi-annual (50 employees) reports to the Department of Labour. This report is also applicable to entities in the transport sector with less than 50 employees if their turnover exceeds R10million per annum.
The Management scorecard on the Freight and Forwarding Charter is as follow:
People counted under Code 200 (Management) are the Executive and non-executive board members and Senior and other Top management. The senior and other Top management members only include high level managers who influence the strategy of the business, traditionally referred to as the executive committee of the business. These individuals may not be repeated in the statistics reflected on Code 300.
Code 300 - Employment Equity
Employment Equity is measured on the employee profile of the business as listed in the annual/bi-annual employment equity report to the Department of Labour. It is important to note that a minimum of 40% of each of the targets need to be achieved before points can be scored for that specific element of the scorecard.
Code 300 does not evaluate black (African, Indian, Coloured, Chinese) representation on basic levels of employment as it is generally accepted that semi-skilled and lower level employees of the organization reflect the demographics of the population.
Junior to senior management levels refer to skilled workers as classified in the Labour Act. It is essential that job classifications of the organization are accurate to be able to report an accurate score for Employment Equity. If a sub optimal score is achieved, this is often the starting point to identify the gap.
Bonus points can be scored if the percentage black representation on any level exceeds the Economically Active Population (EAP) target of around 87%.
Organizations in the Freight and Forwarding industry which previously reported on the Generic Codes of Good Practice will experience a change in their scorecard when applying the Industry Charter Scorecard because Code 300, Employment Equity, dropped from 15 points in the Generic scorecard to 10 points (+3 Bonus) on the Freight and Forwarding scorecard. This industry charter has been customized to the specific transformational needs of the industry and is overall better matched to the Freight Forwarding environment.
If you wish to learn more about BEE in the Freight and Forwarding industry, we wish to invite you to a detailed workshop on the Freight and Forwarding industry charter presented by SAAFF on 13 April 2011. The first BEE workshop run specifically for SAAFF members was held on the 16th February 2011 at SAAFF National in Gauteng. Besides an overview of the BBBEE codes, Introduction to the Transport Code, attendees received information on the proposed amendments to SA Labour Law and engaged in discussion on the potential implications on BBBEE implementation. The attendees expressed interest in more workshops.
As part of the SAAFF HR-Transformation drive in partnership with BEExchange, the intention of the communication and engagement is to keep the SAAFF members in- the- know and up to date on the BBBEE Transport Codes by having a newsletters and workshops on alternate months in 2011. Our target audience is particularly HR managers, EE managers/ Transformation managers – employees of the SAAFF membership. However these workshops are also extended to individuals responsible for elements of BBBEE in their organization for example Procurement/ Finance managers and those driving in CSI or community projects in SAAFF’s membership. Although a formal invitation will be extended, members may contact Margy or Lindiwe at SAAFF National, Gauteng.
SAAFF: HR Transformation Portfolio
Distribution: HR Managers
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