Cape Town - Old Mutual has been named the SA company that creates the best employment conditions for its staff by the Top Employers Institute.
The financial services and banking group was announced SA's best performer at the 20th African Top Employers Certification Programme awards in Johannesburg on Thursday evening.
The global awards seek to honour companies that have demonstrated high standards in human resources practices over the past 12 months.
“We are both delighted and humbled by these awards and achievement. It comes at a time when Old Mutual is embarking on an exciting journey, to prepare for our independent future next year,” said Old Mutual Emerging Markets Human Resources Director Anisha Archary.
“Being a consistent Top Employer places us in a very strong position to achieve our aspiration of being Africa’s financial services champion,” she said.
To achieve certification, independent certification company the Top Employers Institute asses companies on a broad range of employment practices, from the extent of internal training opportunities to mentorship programmes.
Firms have to apply to be in the running for certification.
Companies were judged on over 60 different criteria. Those that offer international exchange programmes, peer coaching, and online work portals, for example, score better than those that don’t.
Quality metric
Top Employers Institute manager for Africa Billy Elliott said in a statement that the certification provides employers with an important quality metric for attracting and retaining top talent.
“The Top Employers Institute is not just certifying Africa’s top employers. We are making visible those who, through continuous employee development, are helping to bring Africa in the mainstream of modern business practice,” he said.
Top 10.
Second place in SA went to professional services company EY South Africa and third to IT firm SAP South Africa.
The remainder of the SA top 10, in terms of ranking, were Tata Consultancy Services, Microsoft, Nestlé South Africa, Accenture South Africa, Orange Business Services South Africa, Vodacom and Dimension Data.
In total 86 SA employers received certification.
Some state-owned companies that made the list include Denel Land Systems, The Industrial Development Corporation, SANRAL and various branches of Transnet.
Transnet’s chief executive of freight rail Ravi Nair said the certification was “a vindication of Transnet’s efforts to become a world class organisation”.
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