Author: Editor

By Ralph Berndt, sales and marketing director of Syrex In today’s connected landscape, there is a growing complexity associated with safeguarding the myriad of endpoint devices accessing the corporate network. The unpredictability of attacks and threats are increasing, and threat actors are using increasingly sophisticated technologies to compromise devices. Adding further impetus to this is the normalisation of a distributed working environment that sees employees using their personal devices to log in to back-end systems. Generally, employees at home are often prone to less than cautious behaviour and non-compliance with the corporate cybersecurity policy. Check Point research has found that…

Employee hearings haven’t come to a halt in the pandemic, but is remote really the way to go? Hearings are a critical part of the business machinery. They provide parties with an opportunity to resolve conflict, and they can mitigate risk for employee and organisation alike. However, the past 18 months have not been ideal for organisations undertaking hearings. Lockdowns, restricted office engagements and social distancing have put many hearings online. But, as Nicol Myburgh, Head: HCM Business Unit at CRS Technologies, points out, this requires that the company make a concerted effort to ensure fairness, embed ethics and dodge…

By Howard Feldman, Head of Marketing & People at Synthesis The conversation started when I repeated a question someone had posed to me earlier that day. I thought it was an interesting one, and so when sitting down to a family lunch I posed the question: Would it be wrong to prohibit unvaccinated people from attending indoor synagogue services? The debate followed predictable lines where we compared smoking in public and driving drunk to being unvaccinated. “What about dress code?” I asked. “If people came to a house of worship dressed to offend others, would the same argument apply?” My…

With only around 29 per cent of South Africans vaccinated against Covid-19 (at time of writing) and the threat of a fourth wave of infections looming, the debate around mandatory vaccination in the workplace is hotting up. Databuild CEO Morag Evans believes there is a case to be made for compulsory vaccinations in the construction industry. “The Occupational Health and Safety Act stipulates that employers must provide and maintain a safe and healthy working environment, free from risk to employees,” she says. “This includes putting measures in place to protect employees from infectious disease such as Covid-19. “Owing to the…

By Nick Bell, Group CEO of Decision Inc. As companies around the world begin to embrace that their future operating model is going to need to be Digital First, the race is now on for companies to invest in technology and data assets to create new value and opportunity. At Decision Inc., we are seeing these investment decisions beginning to accelerate and companies looking to use technology to deliver, not only performance improvements, but also competitive differentiation. The challenge is that leaders are generally not thinking broadly enough about what truly creates digital success. Investing in technology is critical to…

In the last century, change has been the only constant. How does an institution survive this? “Embrace change and strive for independent thinking,” explains Brenda Howden, Headmistress of Park Preparatory School. This October,Auckland Park Preparatory School (APP), a private girls’ school in Johannesburg, will do what most institutions, schools and businesses strive for but rarely achieve – reach a century of success. Why has the school not only survived a century but thrived? The answer may be in Howden’s perspective. On reaching a milestone, she does not rest on it as a guarantee for future success but looks to developing…

With only around 29 per cent of South Africans vaccinated against Covid-19 (at time of writing) and the threat of a fourth wave of infections looming, the debate around mandatory vaccination in the workplace is hotting up. Databuild CEO Morag Evans believes there is a case to be made for compulsory vaccinations in the construction industry. “The Occupational Health and Safety Act stipulates that employers must provide and maintain a safe and healthy working environment, free from risk to employees,” she says. “This includes putting measures in place to protect employees from infectious disease such as Covid-19. “Owing to the…

Bad, disruptive or illicit behaviour can result in instant dismissal from your job, and impact your reputation The past year has been tough. People are struggling. Organisations are battling. And tensions are high. In July 2021 this boiling pot of frustration, stress and anxiety exploded, and South Africa faced extensive damage as looters swept across the country. For many, it was a time of immense sadness as they watched the economy burn, but for those who took part in the looting there were serious repercussions to their careers and futures because, according to Nicol Myburgh, Head: HCM Business Unit at…

By Lizelle Fourie, Applications Consultant at DAC Systems In my experience, the corporate environment today is a much more enabling one for women than in the past. Even though the gender breakdown still favours men, the general attitude towards women has certainly changed for the better. Of course, there are still some men who find it difficult to take orders from women, but I do not think that is ever going to completely go away. However, what is still a significant challenge is the expectation that women and men work the same number of hours. Unfortunately, this does not account…

By Ralph Berndt, sales and marketing director of Syrex Even though workforce mobility has always been important, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has made this even more critical. The hard lockdown experienced in South Africa and other parts of the world made adapting to a distributed work environment a business priority. In fact, when combined with work from home policies, workforce mobility will become part of the standard operating procedure of organisations well into the future. Of course, the extent at which this is done will largely be guided by company requirements and the industry it operates in. Where…