As the debate over the advantages and disadvantages of office work versus hybrid and remote work continues, the latter approach has helped three of South Africa’s leading financial service groups to earn global certification as top employers.
According to an employment insights report released by jobs portal CareerJunction last year, only 3% of job listings on the platform offer remote or hybrid employment opportunities. CareerJunction’s data insights show a clear correlation between job sectors that offer remote or hybrid employment and job sectors in high demand. The report said this could be partly attributed to employers looking to attract skills or professionals in high demand by offering additional flexibility as a job perk.
And a highly desirable one at that. A survey conducted among South Africans in 2022 by employment agency Michael Page found that 37% of respondents would choose to work remotely for two days and 33% for one day a week, while 53% are looking at three or four days a week as an ideal work-from-home arrangement. Forbes recently found that 98% of polled employees want to work remotely, at least some of the time.
These statistics suggest a notable gap between job offers and demand, indicating that providing employees with hybrid work opportunities could significantly enhance job satisfaction.
During an online event on January 18, the Top Employers Institute announced that 2 303 organisations from 121 countries and five continents secured Top Employers certification in 2024. Notably, 138 of these companies are in South Africa, with 25 of them in the financial services sector.
Read: Financial services entities recognised for exceptional HR practices
Among these are Sanlam, Momentum Metropolitan, and Absa. Sanlam was certified as a top employer for the ninth consecutive year and Momentum Metropolitan for the fourth. Absa Bank retained top employer certification for the third consecutive year across five markets, including South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Botswana, and Kenya.
When sharing the HR practices and initiatives that enabled them to meet and exceed rigorous global benchmarks, all three acknowledged that, among other objectives, maintaining working-from-home flexibility played a significant role.
Moonstone delved into the people practices and initiatives of these three companies, examining how they consistently meet and surpass stringent global benchmarks.
Sanlam
The Top Employers Institute is the global authority on recognising excellence in HR practices and certifies organisations using its HR Best Practices Survey. The survey is based on six domains that cover key HR themes: steer, shape, attract, develop, engage, and unite. Under these, 10 categories are included: workforce planning, talent strategy, learning and development, culture, compensation and benefits, leadership development, onboarding, talent acquisition, performance management, and career and succession management.
One of the primary points of the certification is for companies continually to assess and improve their workplace environment and the positive impact that their human management policies have on the welfare and morale of employees. Companies compete against their previous results, as well as being benchmarked and assessed against companies around the world.
This year, 60% of Sanlam’s scores shifted positively. Additionally, the group scored “full marks” for business strategy, organisation and change, digital HR, performance, purpose and values, and ethics and integrity.
The group’s work environment score saw the most significant improvement this year, reflecting its efforts to enhance the employee experience in a hybrid work environment. Sanlam also made significant gains in its offboarding, sustainability, and well-being scores.
“We recognise that the needs of our employees are constantly changing,” said Sana-Ullah Bray, group executive: human capital at Sanlam. “We are committed to responding to these changes by implementing innovative channels for listening to employee feedback and making changes that will have a positive impact on their lives.”
According to the group, four progressive people practices that Sanlam focuses on include diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB); women at work; employee wellness; and hybrid ways of working.
To promote DEIB, “a pivotal part of the group’s ‘Winning as One’ culture”, Sanlam concentrated on:
- Leaders who lead by example and embrace diverse thinking, people and behaviours.
- Talent and recruitment practices that advance employees and reflect the diversity of the communities and countries in which Sanlam operates.
- Policies and practices that embed DEIB.
- A flexible workplace that accommodates diverse and changing life situations.
- Continuous cultural change, modelled from leadership level.
To advocate for the group’s female employees, the group established the Sanlam Women’s Forum, which steers initiatives to empower women and prepare candidates for leadership opportunities.
Recognising the importance of employees’ overall well-being, Sanlam offers a comprehensive, digitally enabled well-being solution that includes mindfulness workshops, in-office healthcare clinics, and financial coaching.
When the world emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, employers had to decide whether to continue allowing their employees to work remotely or force them to return to the office. Acknowledging that Covid-19 changed the game, Sanlam continues to offer the flexibility of a hybrid system to employees.
Momentum Metropolitan
Momentum Metropolitan has improved its overall average rating every year since 2021. This year, 65% of topics scored above the South African benchmark, against all the other South African companies assessed and certified.
While improvements were achieved in most areas of measurement, the group excelled in the “shape” category, which evaluates the work environment, digitisation of HR processes, and the management of change.
According to Momentum Metropolitan, the group’s focus on enabling integrated digital solutions in the HR space, “resulting in easy-to-use, self-service functionality coupled with clear, concise and regular communication of these digital capabilities”, contributed to the global average high scores in this area of analysis.
“Post-Covid, the company adapted to changes through the #ThinkHumanFirst mantra and provided resources to our Human Capital business partners, line managers, and employees, to effectively navigate the changed landscape. The well-being of employees is valued, and this philosophy is embedded into the work design,” the group said.
Momentum Metropolitan is welcoming more and more employees back into the office, but still enables some work-from-home flexibility.
“Interestingly, the hybrid model giving employees the choice of working remotely and back in the office is considered a good practice globally and is rated strongly and appreciated by employees,” the group said.
Leadership was an area of analysis in the steer category in which the group scored particularly well.
“Relentless attention to change management and regular, transparent two-way communication with leadership contributed to these positive results. A clearly articulated business strategy from leadership was communicated regularly,” the group said.
Areas of greatest improvement were in the develop category, with learning and personal career development shining here.
“The company has proudly embarked on a series of ambitions, specialised education programmes for employees. Modules include junior, middle, and senior leadership programmes, up to a very sophisticated tailor-made executive leadership programme, and at senior management levels, there is the prospect of courses at the international business schools.
“In addition to that, the company has also introduced a programme for Women in Leadership, and a programme for Specialists in Leadership,” the group said.
Absa
The institute acknowledged Absa’s outstanding performance in digital HR, learning, career development, ethics and integrity, placing the group above industry standards.
Focused on building an empowering organisation, Absa launched its landmark broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) and staff scheme, eKhaya, last year. The B-BBEE transaction includes a Colleague Share Scheme, which will provide “colleagues” in South Africa with an equity ownership interest in the Absa Group.
“Colleagues in participating ARO (Absa Regional Operations) and other international operations entities will participate in a Colleague Phantom Share Scheme, which is the cash equivalent of that implemented in South Africa,” the group explained.
Jeanett Modise, Absa Group chief people officer, said: “This strategic move to award our employees with shares not only reinforces Absa’s dedication to being an active force for good but also underscores the organisation’s mission of ‘Empowering Africa’s Tomorrow, Together, One Story at a Time’.”
As with the other two top employers mentioned above, Absa’s adoption of a flexible and hybrid work model stood the group in good stead.
Modise said another noteworthy achievement for Absa was that a growing number of its workforce comprises boomerang employees. Boomerang employees are workers returning to a former employer after a stint working elsewhere.
According to Modise, this reflected the organisation’s culture and affirmed that “Absa is a place where employees find inspiration and continuously return”.
“This statistic is a testament to Absa’s status as a great workplace, inspiring others in the industry,” Modise said.
