Training and development

Training and education
Understanding that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Exxaro is determined not to have any weak links in its skills development process. We believe in empowering all staff with the knowledge and skills they need to help us grow the company, but also to develop personally. Since the group’s formation in 2006, Exxaro employees have successfully completed almost 25 000 different training courses, specialist and development programmes. Exxaro’s policy is to invest an appropriate amount of total payroll each year on human resource development. In 2008, this was 5,2% (excluding the 1% skills levy) or an investment of over R100 million.

Through our human resource development policy, Exxaro aims to:

• Develop and sustain core competencies and maximise human resources to meet its strategic objectives and improve its operational performance
  
• Create a learning culture by assisting and facilitating the process by which employees and their dependants take responsibility for improving their own educational and competency levels, to the mutual benefit of the individual and the organisation
  
• Ensure integration and uniformity in all learning and development processes through leveraging technologies
  
• Support and reinforce the values of the company, through various learning and development initiatives
  
• Ensure learning and development initiatives are career- focused and aligned with business objectives
  
• Establish life-long learning as the major thrust of learning and development.
  

In 2008, Exxaro refined the focus on skills development. Where our primary focus was previously on engineering learnerships, the skills development objective in Exxaro has broadened to include other learnerships and especially skills programmes, while steadily increasing the number of engineering learnerships.

Although the numbers vary as learners qualify and new recruits enter the system, on average Exxaro currently has over 600 learners registered in engineering and other learnerships/skills programmes. This is a meaningful improvement on the prior year’s levels of 400.

In 2008, on average, 170 engineering learners were registered and trained at the Colliery Training Centre in Witbank, while 245 engineering learners were registered at Grootegeluk’s Grovos Engineering Training Centre. More than 100 artisans qualified at the Grovos training centre alone.

To put this contribution into perspective, Exxaro alone constitutes more than 20% of all engineering learnerships registered with the MQA. Exxaro’s training in engineering learnerships will lead to full artisan status in trades such as electrician, fitter, plater, diesel mechanic and millwright. Artisans are considered scarce and critical skills in South Africa and all these trades appear on the country’s scarce skills list.

The number of other learnerships and skills programmes has also increased significantly, reaching the highest levels towards the end of 2008. By then, there were 40 people registered in mining learnerships, 230 in plant learnerships/ bursars and 16 in administrative/services learnerships, which, when combined with engineering learnerships, brought the total number of people in learnerships/skills programmes to 678.

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

Training to assist employees in managing career endings is included in the social and labour plan for each mine, submitted to and monitored by the Department of Minerals and Energy as part of the process of renewing mining licences for each mine. Exxaro also included a five-year engineering learnership plan for 2007 to 2011.

In monitoring our artisan retention strategy, the ratio of learnerships in the pipeline to the number of artisans employed in various trades is reported to Exxaro’s executive committee each month.

Exxaro keenly understands the impact on current production and future growth of skills retention and availability. To retain technical and engineering competence in the group, a retention strategy has been introduced for technical categories, among others, together with an aggressive succession-planning strategy. Exxaro regularly benchmarks remuneration, provides comprehensive training and identifies growth opportunities at every level. This includes continual rotation and exposure of our own talent in multidisciplinary project teams.

All non-bargaining unit employees receive formal performance and career development reviews bi-annually. All management members are assessed throughout the year and this becomes the basis for individual succession programmes and talent management. These assessments are also linked to reward and remuneration.

While employees in the bargaining unit are not part of Exxaro’s formal performance management system, their development is driven by individual development plans derived from an employee’s job profile, formal career plan and individual preference. The performance management process is entrenched in the culture of Exxaro.

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

All training and development is based on a thorough needs analysis, taking cognisance of business strategy, identified skills via the performance management process, succession planning requirements, employee career pathing, and the relevant employment equity plans.

Personal development emphasises the joint responsibility of employees to manage their career growth. As such, Exxaro provides financial assistance to permanent employees with potential to further their education through part-time studies of certain 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 occupationally based skills
  
• Adult basic education
  
• Life skills programmes
  
• Learnerships.
  

Career development
In line with Exxaro’s strategy to ensure that 80% of all new appointments are made internally, we have a well-integrated process that is carefully aligned with our strategy and industry needs to provide a steady flow of qualified talent to tackle our growth and expansion projects. In 2008, there were some 233 trainees involved in programmes supporting internal advancement. The overarching objective is to ensure that trainees entering the company are empowered, challenged and appropriately rewarded:

• Exxaro People Development Initiative: the Exxaro Foundation sponsors 30 previously disadvantaged students each year for a 12-month bridging course at the University of Pretoria. Candidates must be grade 12 students from Exxaro mining communities who want to study for a mining-related degree or diploma. On completing their studies, candidates may be considered for an Exxaro bursary.
  
• Bursary programme: Exxaro grants around 35 bursaries each year to school leavers interested in mining-related disciplines such as engineering, geology and mine surveying. Graduates are generally offered employment at Exxaro, depending on the current need in that field, mostly through the group’s formal three-year professionals-in-training programme. There are currently 142 bursars studying at South African institutions at a cost of R9,7 million: more than two-thirds are historically disadvantaged South Africans and 30% are women.
  
• Professionals-in-training programme: the three-year programme bridges the gap between academic theory and 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 2008, there were 91 professionals-in-training throughout Exxaro in a R32-million programme: 77% are from designated groups and 26% of those are women.
  

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.

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