Human capital

Human capital is considered a core asset at Hulamin. The skills of our people are the foundation for our success. Hulamin appreciates the importance of its people and the key role that they play in achieving objectives through strategy implementation. Our people are equipped with the knowledge, skills and motivation that give Hulamin a leading advantage.

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENTS Further increases in black female representation in middle to upper management, with the appointment of a black female employee in F band as the Corporate Affairs Executive, four in D band level and eight in C band level. A third black female area manager was appointed. Extremely successful year in the area of safety, with lost time injuries at an all-time low and five million lost time injury free hours achieved. A LOOK BACK AT OUR GOALS FOR 2016 Safety performance rates were better than the year’s targets with no fatalities.  – TRCFR 0,27 (target 0,60)  – LTIFR 0,03 (target 0,20) Hulamin is on track to meet our 2018 targets for Employment Equity. Over half of our employee base participated in voluntary counselling and testing as part of Hulamin’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of our staff, their families and the community. THE FOCUS FOR 2017 Improve on employment equity to ensure that progress towards 2018 targets is according to plan. Improve on safety performance to set new benchmarks.

WORKFORCE

Our workforce consisted of 1 934 employees at December 2016 (2015: 1 972 employees). We are reliant on the skills, education and experience of our employees, particularly those who have unique skills that are required by our business. These are core and specialist skills which include amongst others, metallurgical engineering, rolling, roll-grinding, surface treatment and casting. We are dependent on these skills in various aspects of our business, including, manufacturing, design, operating, maintenance and project planning.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

We believe in the development of all employees with emphasis on people in designated groups. Employment equity is a key intervention required to address the past in providing equal opportunity to previously disadvantaged citizens of South Africa.

Employment equity is an integral component of Hulamin’s business strategy focusing on the following:

• Elimination of discrimination within the workplace; and
• Implementation of affirmative action measures to achieve demographic representation of designated groups across all occupational levels within the organisation.

A formal employment equity plan, with targets, was set with a five year horizon (1 January 2014 to 31 December 2018). The objectives of the plan include:

• Targeted black and female representation.
• Improving the skill levels and the profile of blacks and females in the organisation.
• Developing a highly-skilled talent pool that enables blacks and females to be suitably equipped for promotion into specialist roles and top management positions.
• Retention of blacks and females through a corporate culture that values transformation where all employees see Hulamin as an “employer of choice”.
• Clear career path planning for employees.
• Opportunities for all employees to use and develop their talents in ways that are appropriate for the business.

ENGAGING OUR EMPLOYEES

Employees are key to all aspects of Hulamin’s performance and future success. Hulamin’s employee representation strategy is based on open communication and consultation with its employees and their representatives.

Formal communication with employees and their representatives takes place regularly and at various levels, including the departmental action forums, where employees meet with line management, and the Employee Relations Committee, where employee representatives meet with senior management. In addition, employees regularly engage with management through weekly Visible Felt Leadership structures.

68% of Hulamin employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

No time was lost due to work stoppages, strike action, stay-aways or any industrial action in the company during 2016.

DURING 2016 WE EXTENDED OUR COMMITMENT TO EMPLYOMENT EQUILTY IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:
Female representation	We recruited one female in the F band, four females in the D band and eight females in C band. In addition we have appointed our third African female area manager. There are currently 29 in-service trainees of which 16 are female. Since the inception of the apprentice training programme, 19 females have qualified as artisans and have been placed into permanent positions. Plans are being worked on to accelerate the development of female artisans into senior artisan roles. Three females who previously occupied shop floor positions have been appointed into team leader positions which were predominantly occupied by males. In addition, eight female operators have advanced in senior operator positions.
African representation	Hulamin has recruited seven Africans in the D band, four of whom are female.
Persons with disabilities	Efforts remain focused on improving the training and development of employees with disabilities in order to improve their skills sets as well their employment prospects
Black representation	Black representation in D band and above at 69% as at December 2016 is unchanged from December 2015.

 

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

We strive to develop skilled and motivate employees through an outcomes based approach to development that endorses personal growth, individual responsibility and a culture of lifelong learning. We believes that it is important to continue to develop organisational capabilities for future sustainability, and to contribute to reducing the skills shortage, thus boosting growth within the South African manufacturing context.

A Training Committee has been established which functions in accordance with requirements the Skills Development Act and the MERSETA. This Committee is guided by terms of reference which clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the committee and the representation in respect of the employees, the employer and organised labour.

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

The talent management strategy and career development programme has been refined to ensure that Hulamin has the appropriate plans and interventions in place that enable the organisation to have the right skills in place as cost-effectively as possible to meet future needs.

• Integrated Manufacturing Approach Visual Management
• Skills/Programmes/Learnerships – portability of skills
• Talent management
• Building leadership and management capability
• Shift Leader Development
• Shopfloor Competency Training
• The engineers-in-training programme
• Apprenticeship training programme

SUCCESSION PLANNING

This is an area of the talent management strategy that is currently receiving deliberate and targeted attention. The process to develop the executive succession plan and the succession plans for other key and senior positions is progressing well.

The process to identify the talent pool and determine the bench strength based on potential and performance has been completed. This included psychometric assessments and in-depth reviews of the candidates’ performance. Based on the outcome of the assessments, the candidates have been categorised into three categories in line with their readiness to occupy the required positions, i.e. immediately ready, within the next three and within the next five years.

The next phase will be to identify the talent gaps and implement individual development plans for candidates which will include developmental interventions. The succession plan is also closely aligned to the transformation strategy and other talent management processes some of which include targeted recruitment and selection, competency development and maintenance, career development and targeted learning and development interventions.

Candidates’ progress will be reviewed and monitored using existing structures such as the Strategic Manpower Committee.

Annual feedback will be to the Remuneration Committee, and the Transformation, Social and Ethics Committee.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TARGETS
Criterion	Target 2018 %	Status 2016 %	Status 2015 %	Status 2014 %
Black representation at senior management	58	45	47	45
Black representation at middle management	85	79	76	75
Black representation at skilled and supervisory level	91	91	93	93
Women at senior management	12	10	8	5
Women at middle management	23	16	16	16
People with disabilities	1,5	0,6	0,9	0,9

 

Our investment in talent	2016
Investment in employee training and development as percentage of leviable amount	5%
Total Skills Development Spend	R38 788 524
Proportion of the above focused on black employees	92%
Percentage of employees trained	83%
Average learning hours per employee	17
Investment in pipeline management programmes	R4 331 820
Employees currently in learnership programmes	96
Investment in bursary scheme	R2 897 555
Employees in company sponsored education programmes	221

SAFETY

Hulamin is committed to the wellbeing of employees and providing a safe working environment that ensures that the business continues to function effectively and to retain and attract skilled people in future.

Hulamin has embedded a culture of safety in the organisation to ensure that its plants are operated safely and employees are protected from injury or from harm due to incidents or exposure. To achieve this, employees and the teams in which they work are guided and supported in taking responsibility for their own safety. Hulamin seeks to continuously improve its safety performance by measuring and monitoring both leading and lagging indicators which are aligned to industry best practice.

Hulamin is audited for verification and compliance in line with the OHSAS 18001 management standard. In 2014 a successful recertification audit was conducted and will be repeated in 2017.

Focused projects are being implemented by the High Risk Safety Committee (HRSC) to reduce the exposure risk of employees. These projects address aspects such as:

Machine guarding Lock out, tag out Pedestrian-vehicle interface Overhead crane safety Working at heights Explosion risks Confined spaces Contractor safety Engaged employees

* The Total Recordable Case Frequency Rate (TRCFR) and the Lost Time Injuries Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is the number of recordable injuries divided by the number of hours worked, multiplied by 200 000. Targets for 2016 were LTIFR of 0,2 and TRCFR of 0,6.

SAFETY PERFORMANCE FREQUENCY RATES

All forms of injuries decreased in 2016, lost time injuries were at an all-time low. During November 2016 Hulamin Operations achieved five million LTI injury free hours. The success is as a result of the focus on addressing root causes related to latent failures (management systems). During 2017 the focus will be on active failures (failure to comply). There were noLA fatalities in 2016.

HEALTH

We believe that the good health of employees is essential to motivation, capability and productivity. To this end, we offer benefits for employees and their families and friends. The enhancement of employee health also contributes to reduced absenteeism and promotes good working relationships. Hulamin has adopted a “shared responsibility” approach to the wellbeing of its employees. In this regard, the company equips employees with the appropriate education and healthcare facilities in order for employees to best manage their own health.

See the online sustainability report for more detail on each of the aspects of human capital.

Note: Limited assurance has been obtained over the following as detailed in the sustainability report: HIV/Aids spend, employee and contractor lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR), employee and contractor total recordable frequency rate (TRCFR), number of fatalities, new noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) cases for the year and new dermatitis cases for the year.