CFO South Africa's Podcast

In this episode, Tsebo Solutions Group Chief People Officer Elanie Kruger shares her views on the role that HR leaders should play to combat the seemingly undeterrable monster that is youth unemployment. There are concerns that South Africa may soon have one of the highest global jobless rates, especially among the youth aged 15-34. This unemployment crisis has far-reaching consequences, as it exacerbates other challenges such as skills shortages that are prevalent across all sectors, hampering economic growth, development, and employability. Elanie thus talks about the upside of enhanced diversity, equity and inclusion. as well as the importance of investing in Learning and Development (L&D) beyond the mandated 1% minimum spending requirement.

In this episode, brought to you by Caseware Africa, CFO South Africa managing editor Caylynne Fourie talks to Caseware Africa product manager Stephan van der Merwe and Auditor-General of South Africa CFO Polani Sokombela about how the public sector can use data analytics to better execute on its mandate.

In this episode, you will hear from 2022 CHRO of the Year, Njabulo Mashigo, who is playing a pivotal role in shaping and leading the People Agenda for Vodacom South Africa and supporting the organisation's transition from a Telco to TechCo (Telecoms operator to a Technology Company). At last year’s gala event, she was recognised for her HR excellence, leadership and outstanding achievements over the years, walking away with the HR Technology Award and the Transformation and Empowerment Award. Tune in as Njabulo reveals the strategy behind their impressive diversity and inclusion efforts while also sharing information about their Engage App and TOBi - AskHR, the AI chatbot that has enhanced their employee experience by resolving employee HR-related queries in real-time.

In this episode, Pumeza Bam, Group HR Director at Liberty who last year won the Strategy and Leadership Award at the 2022 CHRO Awards, discusses how she got into HR having studied physiology and biochemistry. She details her approach to leadership, shedding light on how crucial it is to have a growth mindset culture, especially in a business like theirs, which is transitioning to a platform business.

In the past, HR was focused on administrative tasks such as payroll and benefits. However, in recent years, HR has had to adapt to a more strategic role that includes talent acquisition, employee engagement, and retention. 

In this episode, Dark Fibre Africa's former CHRO Portia Thokoane revisits her own transition from administrative to strategic HR, detailing the highs and lows that shaped the leader she is today. Portia, who won the Employee Value Proposition award at the 2022 CHRO Awards also talks about the special sauce that made Dark Fibre Africa such an amazing place to work. 

From longer work hours to increased demands at home, the Covid-19 pandemic introduced new stressors to nearly every domain of life. Although many organisations a beginning to settle on a semblance of normalcy within the workplace, burnout remains a major concern. The increased demands on workers due to restructures and the blurring of work-life boundaries are among the root causes of many employees still feeling stretched thin.

Enter the 4-day week. After a successful experiment in the UK and other developed countries, which showed workers' burnout and stress levels decreased while participating companies' revenues climbed up 8%, the notion of 4-day workweeks is no longer as bizarre an idea as it once was.

In this episode of the CHRO SA Podcast, you’ll hear about the merits of the 4-day week and whether it could be the panacea for burnout. You will hear from burnout activist Judy Klipin, who has written books and coached many executives on burnout recovery and prevention, as well as Karen Lowe, the director of 4 Day Week South Africa, who is spearheading the country's first four-day week pilot kicking off in March 2023.

Employers are facing an unprecedented shift in employee expectations and a recent report from the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR) has highlighted trends that will shape the world of work in 2023 and beyond. From managing the looming burnout crisis to adopting future-proof remote work policies, HR teams have quite a lot on their plate if they are to remain agile in the fast-evolving landscape.  In this CHRO SA podcast, Dr Dieter Veldsman, HR and OD Thought Leader at AIHR, discusses the report's findings, exploring how organisations must evolve employee experiences throughout the life cycle.

In part one of this episode of the CHRO South Africa podcast, you will hear from three esteemed experts who explore the leadership mindset that is necessary for an optimal adoption of AI in the workplace. The panel - which includes Claudia de Villiers, Oracle’s Domain Lead for HCM in Eastern Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, Jasmin Pillay, who is Microsoft’s Director: HR Consulting in the Middle East & Africa region, and Dieter Veldsman, HR thought leader and domain expert at the Academy to Innovate HR - will provide insights regarding how best to leverage AI in the workplace.

If the last two years have taught us anything, it is that the key to thriving in this amplified VUCA world is having the freedom and will to adapt to change - quickly. In one word, it's adaptability. That's the all-encompassing word that thought leaders love to use to describe future-proof people and organisations, but what does it mean in a practical sense? In part two of this podcast,  Tim London, Ronnie Toerien and Ninette Van Aarde continue to explore decentralised decision-making and whether it is the key to improving the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions and enabling seamless change management protocols within organisational ecosystems.