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    PRODUCTIVITY SA BREAKFAST MEETING HOSTED BY BCCI
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THIS BUSINESS BREAKFAST WAS ADDRESSED BY MR MOSHE RAMAKOLO, AREA MANAGER OF PRODUCTIVITY SA.

According to Mr Ramakolo, better communication increases productivity. If there is no direct or transparent communication with the workforce regarding the performance of the company/organization, workers are often the last to find out about their employer’s financial problems. It is very important that a structure of co-operation exists between management and workers and that workers be made aware on how their actions will impact negatively on the profits of the company.

Mr Moshe Ramokolo addressed business delegates in Bloemfontein on behalf of PRODUCTIVITY SA (used to be known as the National Productivity Institute). Productivity SA’s aim is to increase productivity levels in South Africa in order to help the economy grow. The Social Plan department of PSA’s mandate is to decrease job losses.

The service of PSA is free up to the point where the turnaround strategy is implemented. From there on, PSA will carry 65% of the costs and the company the remaining 35%. This funding is paid towards service providers of the Social Plan, who in turn, implement turnaround solutions on behalf of the Productivity SA Social Plan department.

INFORMATION ON PRODUCTIVITY SA SOCIAL PLAN (PROACTIVE AND TURNAROUND SOLUTIONS)

Productivity SA (used to be known as the National Productivity Institute)’s aim is to increase productivity levels in South Africa in order to help the economy to grow. The mandate of the Social Plan Department of Productivity SA is to decrease the impact of job losses and or retain jobs by sustaining companies.

Productivity SA Social Plan helps companies of 50 + employees to:

• Prevent job losses through turnaround solutions. This is a reactionary intervention for companies in distress.

• Sustain existing jobs. As a proactive solution, Productivity SA finds companies not in distress and establishes collaborative structures between management and employees, called Future Forums. Productivity SA will capacitate Future Forums to establish Early Warning Systems (EWS) and manage these problems proactively.

• Productivity SA will train internal Productivity Champions, selected by the company, to increase productivity in that company or organization.

• Productivity SA will also ensure that all staff members are trained on basic business principles (how a company operates), in order for them to gain understanding of where they fit in the operational process and how they actions affect the entire conversion process.

Better communication increases productivity. If there is no direct or transparent communication with the workforce regarding the performance of the company/organization, workers are often the last to find out about their employer’s financial problems. It is very important that a structure of co-operation and collaboration exits between management and workers and those workers must be made aware on how their actions impact on the profits of the company.

PROPOSAL FOR SOCIAL PLAN TECHNICAL SUPPORT

The Social Plan Technical assistance was one of the resolutions of the presidential job summit of 1998, which resolved that the country should create more jobs and also try to sustain or retain the already existing jobs. The job creation responsibility was given to the Departments of Provincial & Local Government, under the local Economic Development Units. The job retention responsibility was given to the Department of Labour which later delegated such responsibility to the National Productivity Institute for implementation - now known as Productivity SA.

The programme is intended to provide technical assistance to different organizations and companies to increase productivity, profitability and service, as well as to save and retain the current jobs. Productivity SA is working with a network of independent consultants in the country to reach as many organizations as possible and the Social Plan is also carrying the cost of this process of developing employees to improve their performance in the workplace.

The Job Retention Programme / Phase is two pronged – the one is Turnaround Solutions which is geared for companies that are in distress, as well at the Proactive Solutions which is geared for companies that are not in distress but only need to sustain and grow. The process below is for both Turnaround and Proactive Solutions, as follows:

• For Turnaround Solutions:  Stage 1 - 7

• For Proactive Solutions:  Stage 1 - 4

Stage 1: To arrange a meeting with the manager or management to introduce the programme and its benefits. Productivity SA uses a productivity performance system that will determine areas that need to be improved. This is done according to the norms and standards of the specific sector.

Stage 2: To introduce the concept to the workers’ representatives elected or appointed by the company/organization. A joint collaborative committee, the Future Forum is formed consisting of at least 2-3 representatives from management, and 2-3 representatives from workers. The committee will elect both the chairperson and secretary. Where unions are involved, such worker representatives can be the shop stewards. This forum will facilitate the implementation of the programme in the company/organization.

Stage 3: During this stage an in-depth assessment will be conducted with the assistance of the Future Forum. This will allow workers to suggest areas of improvement in the company/organization through their representatives. The output of this assessment will be a work plan indicating areas and operations that need to be improved and how to go about achieving this. The Future Forum will then be capacitated by the Social Plan of Productivity SA

Stage 4: Productivity SA Social Plan conducts an intensive three day training session for appointed members of management in the company. These individuals, after training, they become Productivity Champions. This training includes among other things, the development of an Early Warning System (EWS) for the organisation, the use the EWS to measure the performance of the organisation as well hoe to develop and implement improvement projects to sustain and grow the organisation. These champions will also add value during the implementation of the turnaround strategy 

Stage 5: Development and Implementation of Turnaround Strategy (Workplan) - This stage involves the development and implementation of the work plan (turnaround strategy) which consists of activities that will turn the company around and move it from distress into profitability. During the implementation all parties will make sure that the production is not affected negatively and that the company benefits from the intervention. Progress reports are produced that show improvement (with graphs and charts) on the intervention.

Stage 6: Close Out and Success Story – When the turnaround strategy has successfully been implemented, there is usually a success out of this process and a success report get written and it is published in the Productivity SA magazine and / or the Productivity SA Annual Report

Stage 7: Monitoring – After implementation, Productivity SA Social Plan will monitor the progress / sustainability of the turnaround over six months. Progress reports are produced that show the status (with graphs and charts) on the growth of the organisation.

Benefits of our interventions

• Fill in the three application forms

• Provide two years audited Company Income Statement and Balance Sheet, or if you are not comfortable in providing such information, then you may fill in the Financial Data Collection Sheet

• Your organisation should be employing 50 or more total staff complement (or lower if you are in smaller towns – negotiable)

NB: Any organisation may apply for Proactive or Turnaround Solutions. Remember that the Proactive Solutions are free and the Turnaround Solutions are free for all stages, but Stage 5, where Productivity SA Social Plan shares the implementation costs with the organisation (Productivity SA pays for 65% of total costs, and the client organisation is expected to pay 35%, depending on its financial position). This funding is paid towards service providers of the Social Plan, who in turn, implement turnaround solutions on behalf of the Productivity SA Social Plan department.

For more information on this very beneficial programme, please contact Moshe Ramokolo on 011 848 5320 / 082 7606045 or mosher@productivitysa.co.za.

Request for Social Plan Assistance           Application to the Social Plan and Productivity Advisory Council for Social Plan support and assistance to prevent the possibility of a business decline and assist the company to grow.           Productivity champions training  The Productivity Champions Training is part of the Turnaround process after implementation of the turnaround Strategy. This is an intensive three day course that covers about 9 modules           Constitution of the Proactive Future Forum

The team from Productivity SA: f.l.t.r:  Lethola Moshe (PSA Service Provider, Botle Consulting), Moshe Ramokolo, Rethabiseng Putsoa - PSA Service Provider (African Goddess Consulting), Pitso Qhotsokoane - PSA Service Provider (PQ Consulting) Seipoti Setai (BCCI council member) and Moss Motsumi (President of the BCCI)       Guests enjoying the breakfast at the APD (Association for the Physically Disabled) Hall in Park Road, Bloemfontein.