Systems Thinking and the Corresponding Effect on Data Improvement, Knowledge Efficiency and the Compliance of Skills Development Processes in Organisations.
Today's companies face increasing challenges in implementing strategies in order to comply with reporting on the Skills Development Levy (SDL)-, Employment Equity (EE)-, and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Acts. These Acts all have annual company report submission requirements and do not exclude any sector or industry.
Although each of the aforementioned legislations is governed by a separate government department, they do have commonalities in their annual reports such as the company's financial-, employee- and training information. In addition, they also have different focus areas and intricate compliance criteria for the required information supporting the submissions.
Skills Development information data, with a particular focus on Personnel- and Training data, is a vital element of all three reports that companies are required to submit.
Some of the predicted reporting challenges corporate organisations experience are:
- A lack of insight in comprehensively understanding Skills Development as an element of the three separate Compliance Reports and its corresponding position in the learning and development strategic plan or organisation .
- A lack of knowledge with regards to planning the information and data streams required to comply with the three Compliance Reports against individual deadlines, multiple compliance divisions and information criteria.
- An all-inclusive database to capture and store the required information can be extensive and keeping data updated to support real time reporting is intensive.
- Current information technology systems to support all the information required are expensive and typically part of a Human Resources-, Payroll,- Learner Management system.
- Companies often have financial difficulty in supporting all of the compliance criteria technologically.
- Responsibility of the reports is often divided between multiple departments which leads to timing and communication challenges.
Compliance to implement the above mentioned legislative reporting challenges should be driven by internal strategies and accompanying management processes in companies. An investigation into understanding which key factors most influence compliance to report accurate employee- and training data will be of immeasurable benefit to companies and their identified personnel tasked to coordinate the Compliance Reports.
The SDF and its supporting team are generally responsible for delivering the Skills Development sections of all three of the Compliance Reports. It is worth noting that a need to explore and propose internal solutions to the identified challenges is often overlooked...
This is introductory article is the first in a series by Elmarie Esterhuyse – Manager of EOH's Skills Development Advisory division highlighting the importance of Skills Development in today's companies.
Elmarie has over 14 years' experience in the Skills Development Facilitation, Training and Human Resource arena's, all of this experience has resulted in her developing in-depth knowledge and understanding of all facets of Training and Skills Development at the various SETAs.
Elmarie is the Gauteng regional chairperson of the Association for Skills Development South Africa (ASDSA). As Manager of the Skills Development Advisory division at EOH she consults with regard to analysing, aligning and simplifying Skills Development strategies for SETAs, B-BBEE and Employment Equity needs, and assisting companies with the compliance and implementation journey. She has an in-depth understanding of the challenges and importance of this process in companies, especially in the light of the ever evolving world of Skills Development. She is presently finalising her MSc in Management of People, Innovation and Technology.
To find out more about Elmarie and EOH's Skills Development Advisory services visit www.eohlandd.co.za and bookmark this page to be first informed of follow up articles.
