For a complimentary compilation of all the Workinfo.com HR Magazine cartoons from 2007 - click here.
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Part 1 - Are your annual strategic plans being derailed by failing to focus on long term outcomes?

In my short time with Workinfo.com, I have met with many companies who all openly acknowledge that they have many short-term plans in place such as employment equity plans, skills development plans, talent management plans, remuneration plans, attrition plans, BBBEE plans... and the list goes on. Unfortunately there normally isn't one single plan pulling this all together and linking it back to the business. 

All our readers are invited to take part in our current Refer a Colleague Campaign ...and get a free electronic copy of the following templates:

• Pro forma performance contract for employment equity manager
• Disciplinary hearing guidelines & fair decision guides
• Resource pack for Talent Management
• Toolkit for workplace substance abuse

Workinfo offers two NEW exceptional courses for the HR practitioner that will ensure that you stay ahead of the game.

Workforce and Succession Planning

Workforce Planning (WFP) ensures that "the right people with the right skills are in the right place at the right time." and is a fundamental planning tool. Succession planning is an important subset of workforce planning and ensures that you have the right leadership in place at every level of the organisation.

Developing a HR Business Strategy

Like all of the other major business functions, human resources must accomplish a wide range of activities from basic transaction processing to strategic planning in order to be successful. The importance ascribed to each of those functional activities in large part represents the organisation's human resource strategy.

To book your team on either of these important courses - please contact Shani Cullabine.

Courses and workshops currently run by Workinfo.com:

• HR Business Strategy
• Workforce and Succession Planning
• Workplace HR Communication
• Communications for Communications and Public Relations Practitioners
• Managing for Diversity
• Employment Equity Committee Training
• Wage Negotiation Management Support
• Managing Employee Discipline and Dismissal
• Workplace Violence Prevention
• Industrial Relations

Courses and workshops soon to come:

• Interpersonal Skills - Transactional Analysis (2 days)
• Mentoring Skills
• Coaching Skills

Eric Lesser and Joanne Stephane:
Preparing for human resources business transformation outsourcing: Key questions and decisions
"...an important issue for 21st century human resource organizations: the need to provide strategic support and guidance to the organization while, simultaneously, delivering high- quality administrative services."

Frank Horwitz:
Strategic Human Resources can be a major force in fight against unemployment
"One core aspect of every business that has for the most part been excluded from the equation of possible solutions is human resources management."

Eric Lesser and Michael DeMarco:
A new approach, a new capability - The strategic side of Human Resources
"Organizations are now looking to the Human Resources (HR) function to go beyond the delivery of cost-effective administrative services and provide expertise on how to leverage human capital to create true marketplace differentiation."

Many managers or organisations will on the one hand complain about talented people walking out of the door and on the other completely ignore the appeals of their people for development and recognition. Here are three important misperceptions that you should address if you are serious about retaining talented employees.

Indeed, a recent study shows that for mid- to senior managers, South Africa is a competitive place to work. The World Pay Report, conducted by global management consultancy Hay Group, and released in July this year, shows that local managers have more disposable income than those in the UK and other developed countries such as France, New Zealand and Canada.

Some of the positions currently on our list: Customer Service Advisor and Marketing & PR Assistant

• Workinfo.com Recruitment Profile
• Job Specifications
• Skilled Candidates looking for Positions

The Court ...held that the intention of the legislature was not that the number of paid public holidays should be limited to the twelve contained in the Schedule to the Public Holidays Act. Rather, the Act provided that there should be at least twelve public holidays in a calendar year.

Tuesdays @ 20:45 Repeats on Thursdays @ 21:45 and Fridays @ 06:45.

Programmes covering the definition of an employee, sexual harassment, Employment Equity, substance abuse and strikes are now on the Caselaw.co.za and Workinfo.com websites available as webcasts.

He believes in a statement that "people who are successful have failed more often". He has pulled this belief through to the culture of the business, so they simply are not fearful of failure! They keep trying new things, exploring, like real pioneers!

• 4th International ASTD Global Network Conference & Exhibition in Africa - 11 - 14 February 2008, Sun City
  Read what Peter Hammett, one of the speakers, writes.
• IPM Membership benefits

Michael Armstrong - A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice: 10th Edition (International Student Edition)

Buys, Lauron - Management by Coaching: 7 Basic Keys

Steinman, Dr Susan - Don't take SH*T from Hyenas in the Workplace: Reclaim your dignity - be hyena-wise

Goldsmith, Marshall and Reiter, Mark - What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful

Our gratitude to the many contributors who had submitted articles for the Workinfo.com HR Magazine throughout the year. To view more articles by authors such as Jeff Mowatt, Bob Selden, Robert Ridout, Stephanie Vermeulen, Eric Lesser, and Marion Stone, to name a few, click on this link.

More articles can be found on the Workinfo.com website, under the link Knowledge Resources .

Look up troublesome abbreviations:

• BWASA - Business Women's Association of South Africa
• FEDUSA - Federation of Unions of South Africa
• IMATU - Independent Municipal Association of Trade Unions
• THRIP - Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme
• YAFA - Yet Another Fine Acronym

"Indeed, the great majority (72%) of respondents report that their line managers currently take less responsibility for people management than had been intended. The reasons for this are thought to lie particularly with the attitudes and abilities of line managers and to a lesser degree with technology." (p.21)

"The Forer effect (also called personal validation fallacy or the Barnum effect after P. T. Barnum) is the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. The Forer effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some pseudosciences such as astrology and fortune telling, as well as many types of personality tests." Source: Forer effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia