Getting your HR & IR houses in order

A further 8 million South Africans will return to work tomorrow, 1 June, heralding the tentative, risk-adjusted migration from lockdown Alert level 4 to Level 3.

These are the fortunate ones. These are the South Africans who have workplaces to go back to. Sadly, many South Africans will not be returning to their places of work tomorrow as many businesses have had to close their doors during the past 2 months. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their livelihoods since the lockdown came into effect on 27 March 2020.

Those fortunate enough to have workplaces to return to tomorrow, will return to workplaces which will look and feel very different to the places of work they left at the end of March. It will, of course, not be business as usual for those returning to work. In preparation, those business reopening tomorrow, would have had to have put their health and safety houses in order in response to Government’s stringent Covid-19 health and safety regulations and directives.

The taking and recording of employee’s temperatures, the wearing of masks and other Covid-19 related PPE, the stringent adherence to social distancing regulations, staggered shift configurations, and in some instances, shortened working weeks with a commensurate reduction in salary, will become the new normal from tomorrow.

Responsible employers would have spent the past weeks and months transforming their workplaces into safe, sanitized environments in preparation for the return of their employees.

Employers who have not adequately prepared, will run the risk of their employees being reluctant to return to work, thereby raising serious HR issues. Non-compliant businesses will also run the real risk of being closed down permanently by the Department of Labour. The latter scenario will result in further job losses for many South Africans. It is therefore imperative that businesses get their health and safety houses in order.

Apart from employers having to get their health and safety houses in order, there is also a need for many businesses to ensure that their HR & IR houses are in order.

The past two months of lockdown has highlighted some glaring non-adherence to ‘Good HR Practice’ by errant employers. Some employers have, opportunistically, used the Covid-19 national lockdown to ‘get rid’ of some of their ‘troublesome’ employees by dismissing them unfairly and unlawfully, and without due process being followed. Some employers have ‘retrenched’ employees and have done so without due process as prescribed in Section 189 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) being followed.

Other employers have arbitrarily, unilaterally and materially changed the terms and conditions of their employee’s contracts of employment without due consultation. In my view, the CCMA will be inundated in the weeks and months ahead with referrals by employees who have fallen victim of the actions perpetrated by these unscrupulous employers.

In addition to the above unfair labour practices, it has been my experience that some businesses do not have basic HR and IR policies and procedures in place, no job descriptions, and no contracts of employment for their employees. Having legally compliant HR & IR policies and procedures in place, provides the road map to sound HR and IR practices at the workplace. The introduction and implementation of these HR policies and procedures benefits both the employer and employee, and mitigates against unfair labour practices.

Dynamix HR solutions is well positioned to assist your business in getting your HR & IR house in order. Check out our website at www.dynamixhrsolutions.com to see our comprehensive suite of HR and IR services and solutions and drop us an email for a free quotation/proposal.

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Note: This article was originally published on 31 May 2020.