Our social impact

Employment Equity and Diversity Management

The objective of all employment equity initiatives is to create workplaces that are more broadly representative of the economically active demographic make-up of our country, and to ensure those workplaces are devoid of unfair discrimination. Old Mutual (SA) has made significant progress in the last few years in meeting the obligations and targets set out in the Employment Equity Act and internal business plans.

The table below plots the progress made as at the end of December 2005.

It is clear that the most significant challenges are those of recruiting people with disabilities, black executives, and women.

The implementation of employment equity in Old Mutual (SA) is rigorous. Quarterly progress checks are conducted in addition to annual audits of progress made against business plans. An employment equity short-term incentive scheme (10% of total bonus) that rewards proactive implementation of the programme is in place. Any appointments that go against a business unit’s business plans need to be approved by the responsible executive. As at the end of December, eight of the 35 business units within Old Mutual (SA) had not met their employment equity targets.

Managed by the Old Mutual Talent Manager, a process and system exist to ensure the development and promotion of internal talent across race, gender, and disability.

Regarding the removal of unfair discrimination from the workplace, Old Mutual (SA) has appointed a Diversity Manager whose role it is to facilitate management action against racism and any form of unfair discrimination.

Every year employees are invited to address barriers to affirmative action, and to highlight workplace activities and/or policies that are preventing the company from meeting its objectives. Progress reports are presented during the year to the Old Mutual Employment Equity Consultation Committee (which includes staff representative bodies) and to the Department of Labour.

Old Mutual (SA) – Detailed employment equity profile (using Charter categories)

(rounded to the nearest decimal)

(Click to enlarge)

Instances of unfair discrimination are dealt with through the accepted industrial relations grievance procedure. At Old Mutual (SA), unfair discrimination, including racism, is a dismissible offence if proven. Moreover, a procedure has been communicated to management through which cases of this nature can be fast-tracked for speedy resolution.

The company has initiated a “Managing Unfair Discrimination” workshop for line managers to enable them to deal effectively with such incidents. The workshop works alongside a suite of existing diversity workshops that seek to encourage an inclusive workplace by providing management with the tools required to achieve this. The Old Mutual Business School runs the Employment Equity Workshop (one day); Optimising Diversity Workshop (one day); Diversity Workshop (one day); and Dialogue: A Tool For Diversity Workshop (one day). It is estimated that approximately 60% of all Old Mutual (SA) staff have attended at least one of these workshops. “Diversity” will be integrated into all other forms of learning at the Old Mutual Business School.

Nevertheless, despite this high attendance and the above-mentioned initiatives, unfortunate incidences have arisen during the year. A particularly high-profile case involved an incident which led to an employee, Mr Xolile Finca, taking Old Mutual (SA) to court on the charge that the company had not adequately dealt with an alleged case of racism. As part of a process of dealing with the issue outside the courtroom, the Managing Director personally reiterated, to all staff and to South Africa via the media, that racism would not be tolerated in the organisation. He also restated that racism is a dismissible offence at Old Mutual (SA). The Managing Director issued an apology for the hurt caused to black staff by the case. The Minister of Labour, Mr Membathisi Madladlana, visited Old Mutual (SA) a few weeks after the apology was issued and commended the company on the actions taken.

The company has resolved to write up the incident as a case study for management, and has condensed its learning thus:

• Awareness, sensitisation and education are not a guarantee that unfair discrimination will not occur. Individuals have their own sets of experiences which create their own mindsets. The organisation’s responsibility is to make clear its stance on issues, to back up that stance with appropriate action when required to do so, and to do everything possible to ensure that undesirable mindsets are challenged and, wherever possible, changed.
   
• Consistent consequence management is critically important. If a uniform approach is applied, there is little chance of an undesirable mindset surviving in any organisation.
   
• Many employees are hesitant to attend workshops that do not directly further their careers. Moreover, many do not want to attend diversity workshops because they are afraid of being stigmatised as someone who “has issues” with diversity.

Executive management recognises that employment equity and diversity remain the cornerstones upon which the transformation of Old Mutual (SA) rests. It is key to attract high-potential black staff, to retain them, to ensure that they operate in core and critical roles, that they work within a non-unfair discriminatory environment, and that their diverse talents are well utilised and adequately rewarded.

A Great Place 2 Work

In December 2004, in addressing a decline in the company’s rating in Deloittes’ “Best Company To Work For Survey”, as well as the findings of various internal climate/staff surveys, the Managing Director declared that 2005 would see a focus on people. To keep that commitment the company embarked on several initiatives.

The Conversation Hour enables staff and management to meet at a set time across the entire group, to discuss a particularly important and topical subject. The intention is to obtain clarity on burning issues, ensure that staff have a sense of ownership of these issues through discussion and commitment, and expose management to the views and contributions of staff.

During the year, a Benefits Working Group made up of the major internal stakeholders of the company met to conduct a Review of the Company Benefits. The review recommended a series of changes to the Old Mutual benefit structure. In light of this, staff were asked to attend roadshows across the country, and were asked to vote for the acceptance or rejection of the proposed changes: 91% of all permanent office staff voted in favour of amending the contract of employment. Executive management have committed to discussing the concerns of those who voted against the measure, and have consequently postponed the implementation of the new contract until the third quarter of 2006. The essence of the proposals was to ensure flexibility and increase employees’ level of decision-making regarding their benefits. The new benefit structure will also support the principles of the Role Design Programme (RDP).

The RDP is essentially about enabling the business to define clear roles and design simpler structures that are focused on customer value, achieving the business strategy, and enabling high individual and team performance.

One of the key changes staff will experience as a result of the RDP is the replacement of the organisation’s current grading structure with: (1) roles that fall within simpler flatter structures, (2) remuneration that will be based on the internal role requirements as well as market pay, and (3) different methods to map and grow careers. The organisation aims to implement the technology required to support the new system during the last quarter of 2006.

The objective of the Leading Effectively Project is to instil leadership and business disciplines and measures that will enable the organisation to continuously renew itself, whilst maintaining high employee morale as well as high business performance. Approximately 800 employees were trained during the year in change methodology and facilitation skills. Most of the Leading Effectively Project objectives were achieved in 2005, with 2006 focusing on embedding the disciplines to become part of the fabric of the organisation.

A revised set of organisational values was introduced in 2004, and discussions around the desired behaviour that accompanies each value continued during the last year through a series of Values Workshops held throughout Old Mutual (SA). The values form the framework for performance appraisals conducted twice a year. 

Progress made by each of the above initiatives is measured by an annual Climate survey (measuring employee morale), the Beehive survey (measuring culture), the annual Values survey, and Deloittes’ “Best Company to Work For Survey”.

Employee Wellbeing Programme

The Employee Wellbeing Programme (EWP) was implemented first in 2000 to counter the work stress and domestic pressures placed on staff. It is a collaborative effort between the organisation’s internal health services, such as Old Mutual Healthcare, Incapacity Management Services, Occupational Health and Safety, and the Gym@Old Mutual.

The EWP incorporates the Old Mutual Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme and is managed countrywide by dedicated human resource staff, supported by an external service provider, The Careways Group.

The main components of the programme are:

• a full-time care and call centre;
   
• a face-to-face counselling facility;
   
• a wellness training and development programme;
   
• trained peer educators;
   
• an ongoing “Know Your (HIV) Status” facility; and
   
• a financial wellness support structure.

Although all the above are inter-related to offer a holistic service, a special project was launched in 2005 to highlight the need for financial wellness. An audit of employee garnishee orders was completed that resulted in the uncovering of some unscrupulous money-lending operators, and the payment of savings and refunds to a number of Old Mutual staff.

The overall utilisation of the programme has been approximately 13% of staff (1 690 people). Similar to last year, the main areas of support required by staff have been for family and marital relationships, work stress, and financial well-being.

Skills development

ADMIT is an accelerated development programme that identifies and fast-tracks high-potential young people from black communities who show the potential to become IT thought- and people managers and therefore provide Old Mutual (SA) with future mid-level IT managers. In addition, the highly customised mentorship programme LEAP will be introduced in 2006 to prepare existing black IT staff for senior posts. This investment has totalled R1.9 million over three years (2005: R1 million).

The Old Mutual Actuarial Transformation Programme was launched in 2001 and set out to identify and support black actuarial students through to qualification in the field. The programme began with 13 bursary holders and has since grown to 23 black students out of a total of 34 bursary holders. A notable success of the programme has been the qualification of the first black woman actuary in South Africa. The programme has built on this milestone with another two women actuaries qualifying in the last year. The first seven graduates have all commenced full-time employment in various Old Mutual (SA) business units. The total investment since inception of the programme amounts to R6 million (2005: R1.67 million).

In support of the company’s overall transformation initiative, the Retail business segment introduced the Graduate Accelerated Programme (GAP) which aims to develop talented graduates into Assistant Divisional Managers (ADM’s) within three years. The GAP participants undergo extensive orientation and then work within various business units to further their technical understanding of the business and shape their leadership competencies. In the year under review there were 11 graduates on the programme.

The Training Outside Public Practice (TOPP) programme aims to identify and train mostly black Chartered Accountants, an area of skills development which poses a particular challenge to the South African industry. Last year, Old Mutual invested R2.4 million in the programme, on 7 trainees and 12 bursars. This initiative is supplemented by the organisation's involvement with the Association of Black Accountants of South Africa (ABASA), an association devoted to promoting the profession to black students and providing the relevant support.

The Old Mutual Academy of Financial Planners was established two years ago to provide quality training to carefully selected black professionals wishing to start a career in financial planning. The first of its kind in the country, the Academy offers an “earn while you learn” programme through Old Mutual (SA)'s Selekane brokerage which was set up to enable students to fast-track their careers under the guidance and supervision of managers. While students have Old Mutual (SA) bursaries, Sanlam and Metropolitan provide product and systems training to students, who may decide to include these companies among their portfolio of assurers. In 2005, Old Mutual (SA) invested R4.6 million in the Academy, with an aggregate three-year investment of R16.3 million. In June 2005, 29 independent black brokers graduated from the Academy.

Old Mutual Broker Distribution has provided R1.4 million in loans to facilitate the development of black broker trainees, and has directly invested a further R2 million in the training and development of black sales staff who are potential managers.

In 2005, the Old Mutual Business School offered learning options under four key themes that address the knowledge and skills needed to grow as an individual, develop change resilience, lead people, and harness the potential workforce.

“Invest in yourself” offers a suite of options for personal development recognising the individual employee as the critical heart of the organisation and as Old Mutual (SA)’s primary source of competitive advantage. “Making change happen” recognises the fluidity of the competitive environment and develops Old Mutual (SA) employees’ ability to change, to operate in an open environment, responding rapidly in an organisation that is flexible, innovative and learns quickly. “Lead effectively” aims to enhance the capabilities of Old Mutual (SA) leaders at all levels and to entrench an holistic leadership framework that addresses their primary role – to tap into and unleash the energies, passions and potential that exist within the organisation in the execution of the corporate strategy. “Celebrate diversity” helps employees recognise and appreciate differences between themselves that transcend race and cultures, including personalities, thinking, learning and working styles.

Through the Amathuba Learnership Project, the first intake of 84 learners – matriculants with no previous work experience who are trained in the Old Mutual (SA) workplace – graduated during 2005, and a second intake of 200 began service in 2005. Both groups were sourced from around the country.

Learners are provided emotional support, trained in the skills required by financial institutions, and given personal mentorship. The intention is for Old Mutual (SA) to have trained a number of learners equal to 4.5% of its workforce by 2008.

The Old Mutual Business Administration Learnership Qualification (at National Qualification Authority Level 4) was created in cooperation with the Services and Insurance Sector Education and Training Authorities to address the need for a high-quality, entry-level, accredited learnership qualification.

In addition, two new leadership programmes were introduced to build the Old Mutual (SA) pipeline: the Leadership Development Programme facilitated by the Gordon Institute of Business Science for emerging leaders, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice offered by the UCT Graduate School of Business for middle and senior leaders. An important addition to improving our delivery capability is the introduction of the internationally accredited Prince 2 project-management suite of learning programmes.

Staff union membership

Talented managers are supported through study loans and at the company’s cost to complete various external training programmes, including the Master of Business Administration (MBA) and the Postgraduate Diploma in Management, conducted in collaboration with UCT’s Graduate School of Business.

As at the end of December 2005, Old Mutual (SA) had invested 7.7% of payroll (R186.1 million) in training staff at the Old Mutual Business School, with 3.56% of payroll invested in developing skills among black staff. More than 61% of all staff had undergone some form of training during 2005, with a total number of 28 859 courses undertaken by black staff.

Industrial relations and industrial action

Old Mutual (SA) complies fully with the Labour Relations Act and in particular Section 189 of that Act as it relates to information disclosure and consultation with a view to reaching consensus in respect of changes to Old Mutual (SA)’s operations. In addition, Old Mutual (SA)'s retrenchment and redundancy guidelines fully comply with the Code of Good Practice on Operational Requirements Dismissals attached to the Labour Relations Act.

During the last year, Old Mutual (SA) managers have undergone training on industrial relations processes and procedures and each has been supplied with a copy of the 2005 Industrial Relations Handbook. Chapter 10 of the handbook specifies the processes and procedures in respect of retrenchments/redundancies for operational change. The same information is available to all employees through Old Mutual (SA)’s Intranet.

As a further precaution and in order to satisfy an Internal Audit requirement, the human resources managers in each business unit were requested to confirm in writing to the Old Mutual Industrial Relations division that any future retrenchment exercises arising from changes in Old Mutual (SA)’s operations would comply with the above procedures.

It is worth noting that Old Mutual (SA)’s severance package relating to retrenchments is more than double the statutory minimum.

Old Mutual (SA) employees are well represented by staff unions/associations.

The table below summarises employment disputes involving Old Mutual (SA) and staff in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as at end-December 2005.

Industrial relations and industrial actions

Employee health and safety

All occupational injuries and diseases are reported on the required WCL1 and WCL2 forms to the Compensation Commissioner within 14 days. This procedure complies with the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) requirement. Moreover, the OHSAS 18001 Management System has been adopted by the company which, together with stringent observation of the relevant legislation, makes Old Mutual (SA) compliant with the ILO Guidelines for Occupational Health Management Systems.

All business units have health and safety committees. Each committee comprises a management nominee and health and safety officials.

Employee health and safety

Transforming the Old Mutual (SA) workplace

Investing in society