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The year is rushing past once more and we are already in the
second half of the year, incredibly planning our Christmas
parties. There has been much talk in the media about changing the
labour laws so that business will be easier for small businesses.
We hope that something will come of this, but the newest changes
to legislation are not indicating this, if anything it is becoming
more complex.
CHANGES TO TAX
Regional Service Council Levies are to fall away from 30 June
2006, so this is the last month that we will pay them. Please
note that any arrear levies will still be collected and penalties
will result from the failure to pay them. There appears to be no
intention to introduce a replacement tax at this point.
Unemployment Insurance Tax has been increased with effect from 1
July 2006. Earlier this month, Minister of Labour, Membathisi
Mdladlana announced an increase in the remuneration ceiling for
UIF to a level of R11 662.00 per month or R139 944.00 per annum.
This is an increase of 6,34% on the previous ceiling of R10
966-00. With effect from 1 July all employees who earn more than
R11 662-00 per month must contribute R116-62 to UIF and employers
must contribute an equivalent amount.
The Department of Labour will continue to increase the
remuneration ceiling in order to make the fund more attractive for
higher earning employees. If an employee earning more that the
ceiling claims benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, his
benefits will be limited to 38% of R11 662-00, i.e. R4 431-56 per
month. The employee would be entitled to this benefit for 34
weeks in the case of being dismissed, retrenched or ill.
BROAD BASED BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT (BB BEE)
The draft codes have been examined and it is understood that
comment on the codes has been received by the Department of Trade
and Industry. The closing date for comment was 31 March 2006 and
currently the Department, together with stakeholders are in the
process of amending the codes. We anticipate that they will be
published in their final form sometime between now and October
2006.
Some of the initial changes we are anticipating is that the
definition of a Small Qualifying Enterprise (QSE) will be a
turnover of less that R20 million per annum. It is not
anticipated that the number of employees will be used to define
company size. The Department is sensitive to measures which may
prevent job creation and it was thought that a company may not
employ more staff if it moved them from a QSE to a medium business
as the Generic Scorecard is very much more onerous.
In the meantime, our clients are being asked to report their BEE
status. In the absence of accredited rating agencies, this is
very difficult. We do have the criteria which Empowerdex is using
to rate QSE’s so anyone who would like to do a self-rating should
contact Jane or Jeff.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
After a very hectic second quarter most of our clients have
submitted their Training Reports for the year 2005/2006, thereby
enabling them to receive their mandatory grant of 50% of the Skill
Development Levies paid. Most clients have also submitted their
Training plans for the current training year 2006/2007, so they
can both receive their 50% mandatory grant as well as apply for
additional funding through the Discretionary Fund. Those who
missed the deadline will only be able to apply in April 2007, when
the new training year starts.
Connold & Associates are currently guiding clients with regard to
discretionary funding which will be made available by the Seta’s
during the course of the year. If you have any queries in this
regard please contact Jane.
EMPLOYMENT EQUITY
2006 is a reporting year for all companies and EE plans must be
submitted to the Department of Labour by the 1st October 2006.
The Employment Equity Act was amended on 26th May 2006.
Unfortunately the criteria for companies to comply with the act
have not changed since the act was published in 1998 and the
turnover tables remain the same. Because of BEE there is more
pressure on companies to voluntarily comply with the act.
The main purpose of the amendment to the act was to change the
format to be used for reporting. It is now a 23 page report and
the main changes in the act appear to be:
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Defining the role of the Manager responsible for Employment
Equity
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Much more company information including names and addresses of
contact employees
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Reporting on Foreign Nationals employed in a Company
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Separate numerical goals for Disabled employees
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Separating job functions into those that are core or operational
and those that are support functions
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Much more detailed reporting on income disparity.
The amendment refers to a new form for employers with less that
150 employees, but this form has not been made available as yet.
Over the next few months, Connold and Associates will be guiding
you through the completion of the new formats in order to ensure
that the deadline date of 1 October 2006 is met.
TESTING FOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Thomas International (who markets the PPA) is working together
with ACT to provide a test to assess emotional intelligence. This
test will assist in recruiting management as well as diagnosing
developmental areas for current management. The test is the BarOn
EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT INVENTORY (BarOn EQ-i®)
BarOn EQ-i measures one’s ability to deal with daily environmental
demands and pressures. A growing body of research suggests that
emotional intelligence is a key determinant of success in life.
BarOn EQ-i consists of 133 items and includes four validity
indices and a sophisticated correction factor rendering scores for
the following components:
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Intrapersonal (Self-Regard, Emotional Self-Awareness,
Assertiveness, Independence, and Self-Actualisation).
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Interpersonal (Empathy, Social Responsibility, and Interpersonal
Relationship).
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Stress Management (Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control).
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Adaptability (Reality Testing, Flexibility, and Problem
solving).
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General Mood Scale (Optimism and Happiness).
Areas of Application
The BarOn EQ-i can be used in corporate, educational, forensic,
medical, clinical, human resource, and research settings. It can
assess a client’s general degree of emotional intelligence,
potential for emotional health, and present psychological
well-being.
It can be applied to map out areas that need further exploration
in the assessment process and to evaluate the successfulness of
psychological intervention. The BarOn EQ-i can be administered to
individual’s 16 yeas and older. An educational level of at least
7th grade is required. The assessment will take approximately 30
minutes to complete.
For more information please contact Pleia
EMPLOYEE WELLNESS
Over the last few years we have noticed distressing trends in our
client base. There seems to be an increasing abuse of sick leave
(many duvet days and family responsibility days are being taken),
but equally many people in South Africa are subjected to stress
and as a result have serious physical and psychological
illnesses. These can often be very difficult to deal with in the
workplace. In order to assist our clients, we have established a
relationship with Elixir Corporate Health Consulting (Pty) Ltd.
The Elixir partners have more than seven years experience in
delivering an all encompassing health and wellness service to
multinational companies who have a strong presence in all corners
of the country. They believe that through their network of Health
and Wellness experts, they are ideally positioned to assist
employers to manage health risks amongst employees. Their
multi-disciplinary team integrates with the employer’s appointed
‘Wellness Manager’ to ensure implementation and delivery of all
aspects pertaining to a comprehensive Health & Wellness Programme.
Their service offering comprises three main components:
Elixir provides customised, efficient, integrated solutions to
manage health and wellness related risks in the workplace through:
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Elixir Corporate Health Consulting assists the client to
define a health and wellness strategy in line with the
client’s current Business Strategy
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Project management
Integrated health risk profiling
Guidance and assistance to implement H&W solutions
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Together with Health Gap Network, Elixir CHC offers a network
of H&W consultants and service providers throughout South
Africa and Africa.
For more information contact Dr Adriaan Combrinck on 083-651-5133
or email to
acombrinck@elixirhealth.co.za.
WE HAVE MOVED
We are enjoying our new offices, but find that many of our clients
are still telephoning the old numbers. Please note that our
numbers are:
Telephone: 454 5485
Fax: 454 5523 |
