“As a Human Capital professional or business owner in South Africa – what are the trends and legislation I need to be aware of to run my business optimally?”
As a provider of recruitment and outsourced HR services, this is a question we constantly have to ask ourselves and evaluate for us to be a service provider of choice to our clients. We believe this is one of the reasons we are regularly asked to contribute toward media articles and industry thought leadership content where the publications or platforms are looking for credible human resource consultants who understand the South African market.
Each month, we analyse a variety of data sources to help us identify trends to help us answer this question. These are the trends we identify for March 2025.
Labour Law Update: World Bank calls out South Africa
The month of March kicked off with a highly-publicised report by the World Bank which called out a number of issues in South Africa including onerous labour regulations and B-BBEE as inhibitors to growth.
The full report entitled: “Driving Inclusive Growth in South Africa” can be found here but the below are snippets from the report.
The report notes:
”Well-intended but poorly designed regulations to correct market failures. South Africa’s SMEs spend an average of 202 working days (3.7% of
the total workforce for the average SME) and $39,000 (R532,801) annually on administrative tasks. Additionally, labor regulations to protect workers disproportionately burden small firms by impeding their ability to hire and thus exacerbate unemployment, especially among youth.”
Two interesting graphs from the report on labour productivity are shared below:
Temporary Employment Service (TES), Remote Work and Work from Home Policies are topical
A primary source of data for us is to analyse website data and search queries to understand what are the burning issues for the industry at the moment.
Looking at our website data, the following are key focus areas:
- Temporary Employment Services / Registration of Temporary Employment Services
- Remote Work and Work From Home Policies
- Benefits of Workforce Planning
Temporary Employment Services (TES) searches: There seems to have been a spike in these searches, specifically driven by a blog written by Nelly Mohale – our head of Human Capital. Organisations wishing to register as a TES are welcome to reach out to us to assist.
Remote work and Work from Home (WFH) Policy searches: The tail-end of 2024 and the start 2025 has seen a big push from organisations wishing to see staff back at the office. Business owners and managers are trying to balance or hybrid model that works, but this means enhancing employment policies around remote work and WFH. Should you need assistance in developing these for your organisations, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Benefits / Advantages of workforce planning searches: With new employment equity legislation being introduced, this has been a regular search term as organisations with more than 50 staff looking to align their workforces.
Fractional Hiring and Global Recruitment
These were two trends which were recently highlighted in the annual Ad Talent survey released in February.
On the Fractional Hiring trend, the report noted:
“2024 has also seen an increase in fractional hiring trends. Employers are now more inclined to bring in specialised skills on a project basis or through abbreviated work schedules. This trend typically involves senior or experienced professionals who can contribute valuable expertise on a temporary basis.”
The marketing, creative and technology sectors lend themselves to global recruitment opportunities. The Ad Talent report notes:
“The skills, work ethic and language proficiency of South Africa’s tech talent has captured the attention of overseas recruiters. This demand has led to the establishment of unique remuneration structures that often differ from traditional models.”
Hiresales.ai – Technology innovation in sales staff recruitment
We are always on the lookout for new technology to enhance the recruitment journey and one of the tools we have seen getting some airtime is Hiresales.ai which is a South African venture-capital backed business.
Recruitment of quality sales people is a real challenge across multiple industries and we are always keen to trial new technology.
Let us know if you have had any experience or success with this tool.
Looking for a partner to assist you with your Outsourced HR and Recruitment needs in Gauteng?
If you would like to discuss your Outsourced HR and Recruitment needs. We can either host you at our offices in Rosebank (Gauteng) or set up an online meeting to discuss your requirements.
Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss further.