Training and development

Material issue: Training and development

The critical shortage of artisans in South Africa, and around the world, is affecting virtually every aspect of our economy from municipal service delivery to routine maintenance.

At the heart of the issue lies the lack of suitably qualified candidates with the necessary entry skills, particularly in science and mathematics. These subjects are the basis of many trades. The situation is compounded by emigration, significantly reduced corporate training because of the government’s SETA learnership programme, and the fact that almost half our existing artisan population is over the age of 50.

South Africa is currently producing around 5 600 qualified artisans each year - well below the target of 12 500 set by the Department of Higher Education and Training. Estimates of the country’s requirement range from 50 000 to 80 000 artisans - our current artisan workforce is estimated at 1 340.

In 2010, Exxaro had 379 people at different stages of their artisan qualifications. To put this contribution into perspective, Exxaro alone accounts for a sizeable portion of all engineering learnerships registered with the MQA. This training will lead to full artisan status in trades such as electrician, fitter, plater, diesel mechanic and millwright. All these trades appear on South Africa’s scarce skills list.

Exxaro’s human resources development professionals also contribute significantly to the national and sectoral transformation process by participating in bodies such as Business Unity South Africa, Chamber of Mines’ education advisory committee, and the MQA’s sector skills planning committee and standards-generating bodies.

At Exxaro, we believe that empowering all staff with the knowledge and skills they need to develop personally will also help us grow the company. In 2010, 7 013 Exxaro employees successfully completed some form of relevant development training. Exxaro’s policy is to invest an appropriate amount of total payroll each year on human resource development. In 2010, this was 5,1% or an investment of R140 million (2009: 5% or R126 million).

In 2010, the group continued its broader focus on skills development, moving from engineering learnerships to include other learnerships and skills programmes. During the year, Exxaro enrolled 166 new engineering learners, 17 mining learners, 12 operator learners, seven administrative learners and 18 plant learners for the Grootegeluk Medupi expansion project.

The ratio of learnerships in the pipeline to the number of artisans employed in various trades is monitored as part of our artisan retention strategy. This ratio is currently 1:3.

E-learning is an integral part of our training delivery approach and implemented across the organisation.

Portable skills training is provided to assist employees in managing career termination as part of the social and labour plan for each mine.

To preserve technical and engineering competence in the group, aggressive retention and succession-planning strategies are in place for technical and other categories. Comprehensive training and growth opportunities provide continual rotation and exposure of talent to multi-disciplinary teams.

Across the group, training and development is based on a comprehensive needs analysis, incorporating business strategy, identified skills deficiencies via the performance management process, succession-planning requirements, employee career progress and employment equity plans.

All employees outside bargaining units receive formal performance and career development reviews bi-annually. Management members are assessed throughout the year as the basis for individual succession plans and talent management. These assessments are also linked to reward and remuneration.

New management and specialist-category employees undergo training on the performance management process to reinforce the concept that reward is driven by performance. Performance management is also included in a web-based induction programme.

Employees in the bargaining unit are not part of Exxaro’s formal performance management system. Their development is guided by individual development plans based on the job profile, formal career path and individual preference.

We encourage our people to accept joint responsibility in managing their career growth. Exxaro financially assists permanent employees with potential to continue their education through part-time studies of recognised, approved courses and programmes. Employees nominated by the company to attend courses or programmes are fully sponsored for tuition, examinations, travel, accommodation costs and study leave.

Specific strategies to ensure the accelerated learning and development of black people, women and people with disabilities include:

Fast-tracking employees with leadership and management potential
Accelerated development for occupation-based skills
Formal study assistance
Adult basic education
Life skills programmes
Learnerships.

Skills development


	Spent
Description	2010* Rm	2009 Rm
Total leviable amount (payroll)	2 736	2 045
Total training spend	140	126
Total training spend on black people	115	89
Total training spend on black women	21	11
Total training spend on white women	11	9

* Numbers as per skills development plan submitted to Department of Labour on 31 March 2010

Career development

To ensure solid learning foundations, further skills development only takes place once employees have been declared competent in their current positions. In most cases, further development is focused on a career path in the department in which the employee is currently working.

Exxaro’s strategy is to ensure 75% of all new appointments are made internally. Our integrated process is therefore aligned with both our strategy and industry needs to provide a steady flow of qualified talent for our growth and expansion projects.

In 2010, there were 221 participants on programmes supporting internal advancement. The overarching objective is to ensure that trainees entering the group are empowered, challenged and appropriately rewarded:

Exxaro people development initiative
Exxaro granted 30 bursaries in 2010 to school leavers interested in technical disciplines such as engineering, geology and mine surveying. Candidates must be grade 12 students from Exxaro mining communities who want to study for a technical degree or diploma. On completing their studies, candidates are considered for an Exxaro bursary.
Bursary programme
There are currently 118 bursars studying at South African institutions at a cost of R11 million: two-thirds are historically disadvantaged South Africans and 30% are women.
Professionals-in-training programme
In this three-year programme that blends academic theory with the work environment, each professional-in-training has a mentor who supervises exposure to the various commodities, leadership and management training, and formal training from professional bodies. In 2010, there were 73 professionals in training throughout Exxaro in a R40-million programme: 65% are from designated groups and 29% of those are women.

Getting the golden ticket

In 2009, Exxaro introduced a programme to help employees obtain their government certificate of competence (GCC) in electrical or mechanical engineering. Given the pass rate of around 20%, obtaining the GCC offered by the Department of Mineral Resources has been a formidable obstacle to many engineers in the past.

The Exxaro programme, developed by a manager in the engineering field at Matla, prepares qualifying employees by building on the practical engineering exposure and training they have received in the years prior to registering for the GCC examination.

Since the introduction of the course, Exxaro’s pass rate has risen from 20% to 50%.

Grovos conducting trade tests

Trainee electricians, fitters and millwrights are enjoying the benefits of the new R3-million assessment workshop that opened at the Grovos training centre in Lephalale in April. This is in line with legislation that requires training providers to conduct their final trade tests at a different venue to where learners were trained.

The launch of the assessment centre follows a series of improvements over the past four years, in which Grovos has increased the intake of new learners by 56%, while setting a record with an 89% qualification rate in 2009. In 2010, the qualification rate dropped slightly to 85%.

The centre is now equipped to train 180 learners per year, many of whom will be placed at Grootegeluk to support its expansion plans.

Case study - Exxaro learner management programme has industry-wide benefits

Exxaro’s learner management programme is instrumental in designing skills programmes for the engineering and mining disciplines in the coal industry. Once approved by the MQA, courses are loaded onto the MQA database for national use. In addition, Exxaro loads course material onto its own e-learning platform for other business units to use. During the year, two more groups of gas-testing and flame-proofing learners graduated. To date, 72 employees have been trained in gas-testing 720 unit standards and 38 employees in flame-proofing 141 unit standards.

Leadership development

Formal leadership development initiatives, mentorship programmes and succession-planning workshops involving senior management and employees are ongoing. Building and retaining a pool of current and future leaders is a priority for the group and appropriate initiatives include a comprehensive succession-planning process and enhancing strategic leadership competencies.

The professionals-in-training programme supports the success of critical skills in the management and specialist categories. The programme also assists in achieving the group’s employment equity targets.

New leadership programme - (In)Credible Leadership

Exxaro has developed a unique leadership philosophy dedicated to strategic business objectives and personal improvement on all levels. Hundreds of leaders in Exxaro have contributed to developing a sound philosophy that encourages leadership credibility first and incredibility to follow.

Credible

Competence: Leaders have basic functional and managing competencies to lead.
Self: Leaders have a value-centred, accountable and reflective character.
People orientated: Leaders have basic rational skills including diversity, respect and constructive discipline.
Communication: Leaders have foundational communication attitudes such as openness, listening and positive attitude.

Incredible

Involved: Leaders create a context for meaningful participation of teams through diversity, trust and alignment.
Inspire: Leaders connect people with the dream and maintain motivation for the vision.
Invest: Leaders facilitate knowledge and understanding of people.
Influence: Leaders influence achievement of goals through respect, understanding and openness to change.

Communities of practice

Exxaro has communities of practice for effective development and sharing of knowledge, best practices and lessons across the group. The focus is primarily on core competencies required for Exxaro’s sustainability. In practice, these communities have lowered the risk of losing key knowledge workers, and brought new people up to speed more rapidly.

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