Human resource management

Management of people

The management of people has been identified as a key strategic priority within the group and is an important element to our long-term success. The group’s objective is to create a mutually beneficial, safe, injury free and harmonious environment in which all employees can reach their full potential.

Eqstra employs 7 136 (2010: 6 608) people. The employee complement increased by 8% during the 2011 financial year. The increase is largely attributable to new mining contracts secured in the Contract Mining and Plant Rental division and business growth in the Passenger and Commercial Vehicles and Industrial Equipment divisions.

The table below gives a breakdown of employees per division.

Human resource management

Our human resource management strategy aims to harness the full human capital ability within the group to create value whilst improving the wellbeing of employees and ensuring that transformation initiatives add sustainable value to both the group and the communities in which we operate.

Our strategy aims to achieve the objectives of:

The strategy is further supported by the group’s focus on succession planning from within and mentorship. Succession plans are reviewed annually at the divisional remuneration committee meetings as well as at the nomination and remuneration committee meeting for executive management. For 2012 emphasis will be placed on the updating of career paths to support the succession planning process. Mentorship programmes are undertaken at divisional level.

1. Attracting the best people in the industry

Eqstra encourages internal recruitment practices across all divisions to ensure opportunities are made available to existing employees. To further enhance the group’s ability to employ the correct people, a new e-recruiting process is being rolled out to streamline current recruitment processes, supported by advertising and networking campaigns.

Developing

2. Developing potential to meet critical business needs

Given the severe shortage of skills in South Africa, Eqstra has placed significant emphasis on training technicians, operators and managers.

In view of the importance of this strategic objective, group spend on skills development increased by 20% in the 2011 financial year to R54 million (2010: R45 million). Total spend on skills development equates to 4% of total payroll spend and R7 624 per employee (2010: R6 851).

3. Retaining talent by rewarding and celebrating success for outstanding performance

Remuneration and employee benefits are competitive within the sector. Eqstra regularly conducts salary reviews and benchmarking to ensure that employees are remunerated according to market benchmarks.

Provident and pension funds are provided for all permanent employees. Medical aid is provided as a condition of employment for all employees except for wage employees where this condition is voluntary.

The following section contains additional information relating to skills development and training.

Annual training spend per division