To All You H.R. People Out There in South Africa

The training profession brings one into contact with folk from all walks of life , gender, race, religion and beliefs. What an absolute privilege to meet different folk on a daily basis, boy, am I blessed!

Notwithstanding the cultural nuances and quirks, most folk that I train are of an African descent, members of the various tribes we have in Southern Africa with a rich cultural heritage and wonderful cliches and mannerisms.

When training folk one is privy to private information, the most obvious would be Date Of Birth and Identity numbers, this information gives one a clear indication of the age groups one is involved in training and obviously the gender and tribal origin (purely by their surnames)

It is a sincere regret that I have to announce the following, most of these disadvantaged folk find permanent employment at the ripe age of 28-32 years old, a very distressing statistic, one third of their life is past them and their climb has only just begun. Many have had contract and menial (entry level employment) in the past and amongst others any labour based enterprise that requires pure labourers, have been all they know.

Why am I mentioning this to you all?

Developing these late blossoms takes a special approach and careful career mapping; most of these folk are so overjoyed at their permanent employment status that thoughts of ladder climbing are furthest from their desires.

What can one do?

1.       These folk take their jobs extremely seriously and feel their contribution toward the organizations success is meaningful.

2.       Their absolute greed and thirst for skills is a prominent feature of their person.

3.       The loyalty they portray is unmatched.

4.       Their reaction to praise and encouragement brings on perfect pearly white teeth and a beaming disposition.

5.       Their pride upon any achievement is admirable.

6.       Look at their dress, corporate wear is worn proudly and neatly and is clean, really good examples.

Yet, their knowledge of legislative and mandatory compliance issues is abysmal, and they soak all related information up until the proverbial sponge is over saturated.

We have a number of opportunities to harness this enthusiasm, yet companies refrain from thinking and have training departments purely focused on corporate and product information, what a waste of resources and opportunity.

Vernon is an Expert facilitator, specializing in Franchising, Health and Safety and Customer service training –   for more information contact -  vernonboxall@gmail.com