SA’s first black women-owned employers’ organisation looks out for the employer

According to Business Tech, there are currently 2 100 companies around the world with ‘top employer’ status – and 146 of them currently operate in South Africa.

To become recognised as a Top Employer, organisations are evaluated according to entry criteria and then participate in the HR Best Practice Survey.

In South Africa, most labour unions are there for employees, while the employer is left vulnerable and in most cases is not represented fairly in different sectoral determinations.

It is for this reason that two black women, Leonora Stanger Paulsen and Juliet Pelembe, formed an organisation called the Global Employers Organisation South Africa (GeoSA) with the sole purpose of representing the employer on geometric platforms.

The two women say they speak for the employer with the intention of building relations in the labour space, while at the same time preserving and creating job opportunities, especially at a time when the country finds itself in a dire economic situation and faces a looming jobs bloodbath.

“In 2013 it dawned on me that there isn’t much statutory regulation for employers. The focus is always on the business and employees. I do a lot of work for small and medium-sized companies and the first thing that came to my attention was the labour cost, and subsequent to that is the bargaining council,” said Paulsen.

“Compliance is needed. An employer has to comply and so must an employee, but all we are saying is that let there be a unanimous agreement between the employer and employee.

“Our sole purpose is to represent the employer on geometric platforms – which means we not only cater for one industry but all industries within the workplace,” she said.

Paulsen said it was important for compliance to be on amicable grounds as businesses function on various levels and scales.

“You cannot have someone who owns a small business in the same category as an employer who owns a big business. Look at the magnitude of each business – small and medium businesses are unable to sustain their labour costs,” she said.

Their aim as an organisation is to assist employers so that they are able to have representation in bargaining council matters right up to the labour court.

On whether they have already found clients, Paulsen said they have employers rooting for them and advocating this.

The Global Employers Organisation South Africa will be launched officially this month.