A challenge to any business when you are trying to keep productivity up, staff motivated and focused and expenses down.

It is important to know what you legally are obliged to pay staff– so that you are not paying too much or breaking the law by not paying public holidays at all!  There are also options in the BCEA that allow for you to move public holiday leave taken to more convenient days to improve your profitability.

 

Here is what that Department of Labour says about Public Holiday Pay:

Basic Guide to Public Holidays

Pay for Public Holidays

Workers must get paid time off for any public holiday that falls on a working day.

 

Working on Public Holidays

Working on a public holiday is by agreement only.

Workers must be paid extra for working on a public holiday.

 

Exchanging Public Holidays

A public holiday can be exchanged with another day by agreement.

 

Public Holidays and Annual Leave

A public holiday cannot be counted as annual leave.

 

 

Based on Legislation in Section 20, of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act

 

Workers must get paid time off for public holidays, but if they agree to work, they must be paid double their normal daily wage. Application The Basic Conditions of Employment Act applies to all employers and workers, but not – members of the – National Defence Force, National Intelligence Agency, or South African Secret Service; or unpaid volunteers working for charity. The section of the Act that regulate working hours does not apply to: workers in senior management sales staff who travel and regulate their own working hours workers who work less than 24 hours in a month · workers who earn in excess of an amount stated in terms of  section 6 (3) of the Act workers engaged in emergency work are excluded from certain provisions. The provisions for public holidays do not apply to – senior management sales staff who travel workers who work less than 24 hours a month

 

For a lot of companies, they make up their own rules when it comes to what is allowed for Family Responsibility Leave, and often employees in the past have set president and the company policy with regards to this has “evolved”. 

 

This is what the Basic Conditions of Employment says about Family Responsibility Leave.

 

Basic Guide to Family Responsibility Leave

 

Workers my take up to 3 days of paid leave a year to attend to certain family responsibilities.   Number of Leave Days Full time workers may take 3 days of paid family responsibility leave during each annual leave cycle (12 month periods from date of employment).   Family responsibility leave expires at the end of the annual cycle. Reasons for Leave You may take family responsibility leave: when your child is born when your child is sick in the event of the death of your spouse or life partner parent or adoptive parent grandparent child or adopted childg grandchild sibling. Proof Employers may require reasonable proof of the birth, illness or death for which a worker requests leave.   Application The Basic Conditions of Employment Act applies to all employers and workers, but not – members of the – National Defence Force, National Intelligence Agency, or South African Secret Service; or unpaid volunteers working for charity. The section of the Act that regulate working hours does not apply to: workers in senior management sales staff who travel and regulate their own working hours workers who work less than 24 hours in a month workers who earn in excess of an amount stated in terms of  section 6 (3) of the Act workers engaged in emergency work are excluded from certain provisions. workers engaged in emergency work are excluded from certain provisions. Workers Excluded from Family Responsibility Leave The provisions for family responsibility leave do not apply to workers who work less than – 4 months for their employer 4 days a week for one employer 24 hours a month, or to leave over and above that provided for by the Act.

 

When most of us started out businesses, we did not have office uniforms and were often working on our own, so dress code was not an issue- we would dress in a way that we wanted our company represented.  Over the year’s school uniforms have drastically changed and gone are the days of blazers, ties, polished shoes and hats, to wearing golf shirts and tattoos.  I have noticed a lot more job applicants coming for interviews in jeans and shorts- which would have been unheard of just a few years ago.

It is beneficial for a company to define what their image is before there are awkward problems, and communicate this to their staff.  I read an article recently on company branding, where it said that I company cannot control this, just guide it.  Branding today is made up of what is on social media/ websites, email signatures and correspondence and word of mouth, as much as it is your company logo and image, so it is important to control what you can.  Studies have also shown that staff that show pride in their appearance and dress well, behave in a more professional manner and take pride in their work.

Its up to the company to decide what their culture will be and to define it, but here are a few suggestions to consider when drawing up a Business Casual Dress Code.  If you would like us to email you a full Business Dress Code example, please email kirsten@2r.co.za

A Business Casual Dress Code

The company’s objective to establishing a business casual dress code, is to allow our employees to work comfortably in the workplace, yet still need to project a professional image.

Clothing that reveals too much cleavage, your back, your chest, your feet, your stomach or your underwear is not appropriate for a place of business, even in a business casual setting.

Even in a business casual work environment, clothing should be pressed and never wrinkled. Torn, dirty, or frayed clothing is unacceptable. All seams must be finished. Any clothing that has words, terms, or pictures that may be offensive to other employees is unacceptable. Clothing that has the company logo is encouraged. Sports team, university, and fashion brand names on clothing are generally acceptable.

Slacks, Pants, and Suit Pants

Inappropriate slacks or pants include jeans, sweatpants, exercise pants, Bermuda shorts, short shorts, shorts, bib overalls, leggings, and any spandex or other form-fitting pants such as people wear for biking/ gym.

Skirts, Dresses, and Skirted Suits

Casual dresses and skirts, and skirts that are split at or below the knee are acceptable. Dress and skirt length should be at a length at which you can sit comfortably in public. Short, tight skirts that ride halfway up the thigh are inappropriate for work. Mini-skirts, skorts, sun dresses, beach dresses, and spaghetti-strap dresses are inappropriate for the office.

Shirts, Tops, Blouses, and Jackets

Casual shirts, dress shirts, sweaters, tops, golf-type shirts, and turtlenecks are acceptable attire for work. Most suit jackets or sport jackets are also acceptable attire for the office, if they violate none of the listed guidelines. Inappropriate attire for work includes tank tops; midriff tops; shirts with potentially offensive words, terms, logos, pictures, cartoons, or slogans; halter-tops; tops with bare shoulders; sweatshirts, and t-shirts unless worn under another blouse, shirt, jacket, or dress.

Hats and Head Covering

Hats are not appropriate in the office. Head Covers that are required for religious purposes or to honour cultural tradition are allowed.

 

If a staff member fails to meet the standards laid out in your policy, you should ask the employee not to wear the inappropriate item to work again.  If the problem persists, the employee may be sent home to change clothes and will receive a verbal warning for the first offense, and progressive disciplinary action can be taken.

 

If you are implementing a new policy on dress code to existing staff members, it is important to involve them in the process of drawing up the document so that you have their commitment to the implementation of the policy, as well as to give staff a period of time to tailor their wardrobe to the new outlines.  We have a very nice template letter explaining the reason for a new policy and explaining its implantation.  If you would like a copy of this, please email kirsten@2r.co.za

 

Information obtained and adapted from www.humanresources.about.com

 

RESOURCE recruitment is an employment agency that focuses on placing staff in office and logistics based positions.  If you have any vacancies that you require assistance with, give us a call on 031 764 0787 or emailkirsten@2r.co.za

 

Yours in recruitment

Kirsten Glen

RESOURCE recruitment

Although you may know that a employee is not coming back to work, and in effect have resigned, from information other staff members give you, it is important to follow the correct procedure when dealing with desertion.

 

WHAT IS DESERTION?

Desertion implies that an employee has left the place of work and does not appear to have any intention of returning to the workplace.

 

HOW LONG DOES THE EMPLOYEE NEED TO BE OFF FOR IT TO BE DESERTION?

Although the law does not state a specific period that an employee needs to be off, for it to be considered desertion, it is generally accepted that they should be off for longer than 5 days.  If the employee does not contact the employer, the employer does have an obligation to try and contact the employee.  The purpose of making contact with the employee is to determine of there is any reasonable explanation for the employee being off work, and to inform the employee of the possible consequences of not returning to work.

 

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE EMPLOYEE DOES RETURN TO WORK?

If the employee does return to work, after the agreed date, the employer can ask for reasons why they did not return to work when they were supposed to.  Based on these reasons, the employer will then decide if any disciplinary action should be taken.

 

WHAT IF THE EMPLOYEE DOES NOT RETURN TO WORK?

If after all attempts to contact the employee, you are not successful, then you should continue with disciplinary procedures in the absence of the employee.

 

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE EMPLOYEE RETURNS TO WORK AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN DISMISSED FOR DESERTION?

If the employee returns to work after they have been dismissed, the employer is obliged to listen to the reasons the employee has for not being back at work on time, and not making contact with the company.  Where the reason for not returning to work or contacting the employer are reasonable, (eg the employee was hospitalised), and especially if the employee has proof, the employer should consider re-employment.

 

PAYMENT

Even is a case were an employee admits desertion, they are still entitled to pay for any period worked, any leave pay owed etc.

 

More information on this topic can be found on the CCMA website or in the Labour Relations Act, Schedule 8.

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act states that if a staff member (temporary or permanent) works over 24 hours a month, they have the same right as permanent employees.

Annual Leave

Employees who work more than 24 hours a month are all entitled to claim paid leave.  This includes temporary employees, domestic workers and permanent staff.  When the employee applies to take leave, the employer and employee should decide on suitable dates.  If they cannot agree, the employer should decide.  Employees may also apply for unpaid leave.  Annual leave may not be taken during sick leave or a notice period.  An employee may not work while on leave, or be paid out their leave, unless on termination of employment.  An employee is entitled to 15 days annual leave in a twelve month period, or 1 day for every 17 days worked.  All leave should be taken within 6 months of the end of a leave cycle.

 

Sick Leave

Sick leave works in a three year cycle.  An employee may take 1 day sick leave for every 26 days worked in the first six months of employment, and thereafter may take as many days as they would have normally worked in a six week cycle (30 days for Monday- Friday workers).

An employee may request a valid medical certificate if they are absent from work more than 2 days in a row or more than twice in eight weeks.  If they do not have the medical certificate, the employer does not have to pay them.

Temporary employees working more than 24 hours a month can also claim sick leave.

 

Maternity Leave

An employee is entitled to at least four months maternity leave.  An employee must not work for six weeks after the birth of the baby, unless a doctor or midwife certifies that they are able to.  An employee who has a still birth or miscarries in the last three months of their pregnancy is entitled to six weeks maternity leave.

 

Family Responsibility Leave (Compassionate Leave)

An employee who has been with an employer for longer than four months and who works at least four days a week for the same employer may take three days paid family responsibility leave a year.  This is for when the employees’ child is born or sick or in the event of the death of the employees spouse, life partner, parent, grandparent, child or sibling.

 

Policies with regards to leave

As an employer I suggest that you put a policy in place so that all staff know what is expected of them, and what will happen if they go against the company policy.  Knowing simple things such as how far in advance one should apply for leave, what form should be completed and having a record of what leave has been taken can avoid a lot of confusion and problems.  Employees knowing that they will have to produce a doctors note when absent for more than two days, and that if they are found not to be sick, could be dismissed, could reduce the risk of false sick leave claims.

 

Christmas Shut Down Leave

Generally speaking, the law does not cover this leave, apart from with annual leave and unpaid leave.  An employer may state that an employee has to take leave over a specific period (or may deny them leave over a set period).  If a company shuts for a period of time every year, it is important to agree with new employees how their payment will work if they are entitled to the full pay for the leave period.  The leave days that they are not entitled to may be bonus leave, unpaid leave, or come out of the next leave cycle.

 

All the above information is covered in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.  If an employee does not have a letter of employment, they fall under the BCEA.  No employee may be given conditions of employment less than the MCEA.  If you would like a copy of the Basic Conditions of Employment, please email me and I would be happy to forward one to you.

Email and Internet is a brilliant thing. It has changed the way that we do business. Gone are the days of visiting a library to research products, competitors and clients, and visiting the bank to get your bank statements. Communication between fellow employees and other companies has also become far more efficient and professional.
Use of the email and Internet has become a part of our business so quickly, that many companies have not had a chance to address a few issues:

• What is our policy with regards to staff using email for personal use?
• What measures have we put in place to ensure that staff do not use company time and resources to visit unnecessary websites?
• How will we as a company deal with emails when they are of a discriminatory and offensive nature, especially when these emails are brought up in disciplinary hearings?
• What is the financial cost to the company, of employees using email and Internet for personal use?

What image is our staff projecting when they email from our company email address or domain?

Email and Internet Policy and Procedure

Without a document detailing how an employee is expected to deal with email and Internet, and what their rights and responsibilities are with regards to this matter, an employer has little control over this resource. Should the company decide to discipline an employee for abuse of email and Internet, and they do not have a policy in place, the employee can plead that they did not know how the company viewed their actions, and did not know the consequences of their actions.
The following are a few points, which should be included in your Email and Internet Policy document:

• Employees should be made aware that computer or related hardware belong to the company, and that they may access email messages sent or received by company property and from the company email address.
• Although the company respects the employees’ privacy, this privacy does not extend to the electronic communications, such as email. The company installed email to facilitate business communication and all emails will be considered Company records and may be shared with other people. The employee should not consider their emails to be confidential.
• The employee is given access to email for the sole purpose of business communications, and may not use this company email or computer for personal use such as running their own business venture or advocating religious or other causes.
• Company email and Internet may not be used to download or forward any discriminatory information, or any information that may be seen as insulting, disruptive, offensive or harmful to any person.
• Employees are prohibited from accessing other employees emails
• All communication on the company’s email/ Internet system should contain the employee’s name. The employee is responsible for all emails coming from their email address.
• All emails from the company’s email facilities reflect on the company, and anything said in these emails that are against company policy or reflect badly on the company, may result in disciplinary action.
• No confidential or proprietary company information may be disclosed in emails.
• No unauthorized downloading of software or encryption security is allowed.
• Copyrighted material belonging to other entities other than the company may not be illegally downloaded, copied or forwarded.
• The policy document should state what information should be included in the email signature and what stationery (background), colours and fonts are acceptable.
• All emails should have a disclaimer following the signature.
• The policy document should state who the employee should contact if they are unsure about any of the points in the policy document.
• All employees should ensure that their computers have up to date virus protection software and follow any company memo’s regarding virus threats.
• Employees should safeguard their computers against environmental hazards such as lightening; and ensure that removable hardware such as laptops are locked away when the employee is not using them. Should the employee be away from work for an extended period, this hardware equipment should be given to the department head for safekeeping.
• No company equipment, such as computers, printers and software may be removed from the company without written permission.
• No unauthorized purchasing of hardware and software is allowed.

In addition to the above points, the policy document should also contain a disciplinary policy, stating what action would be taken if any of the above policies were transgressed.
Cost of Email and Internet Abuse
Apart from the obvious costs of phone lines and email accounts, there is the cost of the employee’s time. If you take the employees monthly salary and divide it by 168 hours (the average number of working hours in a month) you will get your employees hourly rate. This hourly rate multiplied by the amount of time they spend on personal emails, surfing the net and forwarding on junk mail to other staff, who in turn read and it and forward it on, is the cost of email abuse.

Insulting your Employer on Social Networking
Another spin off from the development of email and internet, is social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Employees become very brave when they have a computer screen between themselves and the rest of the world, and say things about other staff, employers and the company that they work for, that they otherwise should not have. This can lead to charges of insubordination, breach of employment relationship and other grounds of dismissal. More and more the CCMA is holding up dismissals related to posts on social networking sites, claiming that if the employee expected their communication was private, should not have posted it on the internet were they had no control over how it was distributed. Employees should be made aware that there is a big difference between complaining about work over a drink to a friend, and putting there feelings in writing on the internet.

If you would like a copy of a template Email and Internet Policy and Procedures document, including a disciplinary guideline with regards to email and Internet abuse, please email me and I would be happy to forward it onto you free of charge.

• We are owner managed so you don’t speak to a different person every time you phone!
• Because we are smaller (three experienced consultants) you get personal service!
• Because we offer a personal service, we are flexible to the individual and unique skills of your company.
• We are not IR professionals, but due to our 20years plus experience in HR, we have a lot of experience that we are willing to share with our clients for free, including copies of Acts and Legislation and templates of policies
• We offer verifications of qualifications, drivers licence, ID, PDP as well as ITC and criminal checks on all candidates
• We don’t only advertise in the conventional ways other employment agencies do, but have a data base of 25 000 job seekers in KZN that we email vacancy alerts to and get an immediate response back!
• Most job portals that you use are national, and you will be the majority of applicants from out of KZN.  RESOURCE recruitment is proudly KZN based and our data base of 25 000 job seekers are ALL in KZN
• Give us a call to see just how different and better we are!

In terms of the law, when an employee starts work with you, you have to give them their terms of employment, written down.

 

The Written Particulars of Employment should contain:-

• The full name and address of the employer
• Name of employee
• The employee’s job and short description
• The place of work
• Date which the employee starts work
• Days and hours that the employee will work
• Their rate of pay and how it will be calculated (e.g. per week/ month/ page typed etc)
• Overtime rate and any other allowances
• When the employee will be paid, and any deductions that will be taken
• Leave entitlement (sick leave, annual leave, family responsibility)
• Notice period that must be given on termination.

These particulars of employment are normally put in a contract of employment.  A contract of employment may not offer less than the Basic Conditions of Employment, but may offer more.  (e.g. in the first six months of employment, notice period according to BCEA is 1 week, but you may state that it is 2 or 4 weeks, but not 24 hours).  Some people like a very detailed, comprehensive contract of employment, but personally I think it is best to keep it simple and general, rather than “write yourself into a corner”.

 

The following are a few points that you may wish to consider when putting together a contract of employment.  We have template contracts of employment from the CCMA and Department of Labour that go with these points.  If you would like a copy emailed to you, please email kirsten@2r.co.za and we would be happy to send it on. 

GUIDELINES FOR CONTRACTS OF EMPLOYMENT
1. Notice period and termination of employment. In terms of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, any party to an employment contract must give to the other written notice of termination as follows: One week, if employed for four weeks or less; Two weeks if employed for more than four weeks but less than one year; and Four weeks if employed for one year or more.
2. Procedure for termination of employment. Whilst the contract of employment makes provision for termination of employment, it must be understood that the services of an employee may not be terminated unless a valid and fair reason exists and fair procedure is followed. If an employee is dismissed without a valid reason or without a fair procedure, the employee may approach the CCMA for assistance.

3. Wage/remuneration/Payment There is no prescribed minimum rate of remuneration. Additional payments (such as for overtime or work on Sundays or Public Holidays) are calculated from the total remuneration as indicated in clause 5.3 of the contract.

4. Transport allowances, bonuses, increases These are not regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and are therefore open to negotiation between the parties.

5. Hours of work 5.1 Normal hours (excluding overtime) An employee may not be made to: Work more than 45 hours a week; Work more than nine hours per day for a five day work week; Work more than eight hours a day for a six day work week; and 5.2 Overtime An employee may not work more than three hours of overtime per day or 10 hours per week. Overtime must be paid at 1.5 times the employee’s normal wage or an employee may 5.3 Daily and weekly rest periods 5.3.1 A daily rest period of 12 consecutive hours and a weekly rest period of 36 consecutive hours, which must include Sunday, unless otherwise agreed, must be allowed.

6. Meal intervals An employee is entitled to a one-hour break for a meal after not more than five hours work. Such interval may be reduced to 30 minutes, by agreement between the parties. If required or permitted to work during this period, remuneration must be paid.

7. Sunday work Work on Sundays is voluntary and an employee can therefore not be forced to work on a Sunday. If the employee works on a Sunday he/she shall be paid double the daily wage. If the employee ordinarily works on a Sunday he/she shall be paid one and one-half time the wage for every hour worked.

8. Public Holidays The days mentioned in the Public Holidays Act must be granted but the parties can agree to further public holidays. Work on a public holiday is entirely voluntary and an employee may not be forced to work on such public holiday.
These days can be exchanged for any other day by agreement. If the employee works on a public holiday he/she shall be paid double the normal day’s wage.

9. Annual leave Annual leave may not be less than 21 consecutive days for full-time workers or by agreement, one day for every 17 days worked or one hour for every 17 hours worked. The leave must be granted not later than six months after completion of the period of 12 consecutive months of employment. The leave may not be granted concurrent with any period of sick leave, nor with a period of notice of termination of the contract of employment.  You may specify that leave has to be taken at a certain time, or is not allowed at a certain time (e.g. over shut down or a busy period respectively).

10. Sick leave During every sick leave cycle of 36 months an employee is entitled to an amount of paid sick leave equal to the number of days the employee would normally work during a period of six weeks. During the first six months of employment, an employee is entitled to one day’s paid sick leave for every 26 days worked. The employer is not required to pay an employee if the employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight-week period and, on request by the employer, does not produce a medical certificate stating that the employee was unable to work for the duration of the employee’s absence on account of sickness or injury.

11. Maternity leave The employee is entitled to at least four consecutive months` maternity leave. The employer is not obliged to pay the employee for the period for which she is off work due to her pregnancy. However, the parties may agree that the employee will receive part of her entire salary/wages for the time that she is off due to pregnancy.

12. Family responsibility leave Employees employed for longer than four months and for at least four days a week are entitled to take three days’ paid family responsibility leave during each leave cycle when the employee’s child is born, when the employee’s child is sick or in the event of the death of the employee’s spouse or life partner or parent, adoptive parent, grandparent, child, adopted child, grandchild or sibling.

13. Deduction from the remuneration The Basic Conditions of Employment Act prohibits an employer from deducting any monies from the employee’s wages without his/her written permission.

14. Other issues There are certain other issues which are not regulated by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act such as probationary periods, right of entry to the employer’s premises, afternoons-off, week-ends-off and pension schemes, medical aid schemes, training/school fees, funeral benefits and savings account. However, the aforementioned may be negotiated between the parties and included in the contract of employment.

15. Prohibition of Employment The Basic Conditions of Employment Act prohibits employment of any person under the age of 15 and it is therefore important for an employer to verify the age of the employee by requesting a copy of the identity document or birth certificate.

NB: These guidelines are not meant to be a complete summary of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and/or legal advice. Should there be any doubt as to rights and/or obligations in terms of the Act or terms of any clause of the suggested Contract of Employment, such queries can be directed to the local office of the Department of Labour.

There is no doubt that making the right employment decisions is essential to all businesses success.  Not only are salaries and wages the biggest expense most businesses have today, but you place a great deal of trust in your staff.  They are often the face of the business, produce the product that you sell and often have access to your bank accounts and assets.

 

It is essential that before employing staff we know for sure what their true skills and abilities are, why they left previous positions and if they have any history which would inhibit them from doing their jobs to the best of their ability, and inhibit us from trusting them fully.

 

Before appointing anyone in a position, you should make sure that you have all the necessary checks and references on them.

WHO DO I PHONE FOR A REFERENCE?

When you interview a candidate, make a note of who you want to do reference checks with.  These are generally the last one or two places that the person worked for a significant period of time, in the last ten years.  If there is a position on their CV, or a reason for leaving, that seems a little “fishy” then this is a good one to reference check.  Ask permission to do the reference check, ask who to contact and tell them that you may speak to someone else at the company.  Always ask for land line numbers rather than cell phone numbers.

 

HOW MANY REFERENCES SHOULD I GET?

Generally two references are sufficient, unless you have found problems in one references or are wanting to know how the person performed in a certain environment.  You should not go back further than ten years, because a person can change a great deal in ten years.

 

WHO SHOULD I GET THE REFERENCE FROM?

A person will list who you can contact for a reference on their CV.  It is also a good idea to simply phone the receptionist, tell them you are phoning for a reference, and ask them to put you through the to relevant person.

** Never phone a persons current employer without permission, ideally in writing, as you could jeopardise their current job if their manager does not know they are looking.

 

ARE WRITTEN REFERENCES SUFFICIENT?

Personally I would recommend always doing telephonic references unless the company has closed or is overseas.  You learn as much from the tone and what a person does not say, as from what a person does say!  No one is going to show you a bad reference.

 

WHAT IF I CANNOT GET A REFERENCE?

The biggest reason that you wont be able to get a reference, is if a company has closed, or all the people that worked with the person that you are trying to get a reference on, have left the employ of the company.  Another major reason is that some companies have a policy not to give references, and legally they do not have to.  The trick in this situation is determining whether their reasoning is that it is their company policy, or if it is because they have nothing good to say about the person.

 

QUESTIONS TO ASK IN A REFERENCE

When phoning for a reference, phone and introduce yourself, explaining the reason for your call.  Then the following are some questions you can ask:

1. What was (the candidates) position in the company?
2. What is your position in the company?
3. What was your relationship to the employee (you want to determine if you are speaking to the manager and not a friend)
4. What dates was the person employed with the company for?
5. What were their main responsibilities?
6. To the best of your knowledge was there ever disciplinary action taken against (the candidate)?
7. What was their reason for leaving?
8. Would you recommend employment in a similar position?
9. Did they have any personal problems that effected their ability to do their job, i.e. permanently sick children, drinking or drug addiction, mental stability, etc.
10. Then make a list of competencies that you feel are important to your position and ask the referee to rate the person from 1-10, 10 being the best.  An example of these competencies are ability to deal with deadlines; attendance; timekeeping and punctuality; relationship to colleagues; relationship to mangers; quality of work produced;  trustworthiness and honesty etc.

The aim is to keep the questions simple and competency based, so that you get the information relevant to how the person worked, and not a long casual chat which at the end of the day does not provide you with any relevant information to aid you in making your employment decisions.

 

WHAT IF YOU GET A BAD REFERENCE

Interpreting a reference is entirely subjective.  A reference can either be brilliant or terrible, but most of the time, it is somewhere in the middle.  You have to accept that most times, if a person was happy with their previous employer, they would never have resigned and you would not be phoning for a reference.  This means that the referee will confirm the facts, tell you what you need to know, but will not be raving.  This is fine too.  The aim of a reference is to confirm all the facts in the CV and that you know about the candidate, not to sell the candidate to you.

 

ADDITIONAL CHECKS & VERIFICATIONS

While reference checks are incredibly important, it is also important to check qualifications, drivers licences, credit ratings, criminal records etc.  RESOURCE recruitment checks candidates before placing them where relevant (included in our placement fees), and also offer these checks to their clients where they are not the ones placing the staff.  Checks include:

ITC checks                                                                  R100.00

Business Credit report                                            R250.00

SA Qualifications verification                               R100.00

International Qualification verification             R225.00

Criminal Checks                                                        R150.00

Drivers licence validation                                       R120.00

PDP validation                                                           R120.00

Telephonic references(local)                                    R100.00

Contact our consultants to find out more.