Some of the changes that government are proposing include ensuring that the make up of the workforce reflects the demographics of the country region. The biggest short coming of this is that it doesn’t take into account the availability of skills in a particular industry. Many firms would be forced in a situation of having to leave posts unfilled especially where their is a shortage of candidates from designated groups and an over supply of candidates from non-designated groups. This is hardly the way to go about generating all the jobs that the country needs.

Another aspect to consider is that the likely result is large job losses for qualified employees to make way for unqualified employees from designated groups. The negative impact on productivity is likely to further hamper job growth in the South African Economy.

The Bill also introduces the concept of state involvement in the hiring of new employees. The Bill proposes that all new vacancies need to be registered with a local work center. All suitable” job “seekers registered with that work center will be referred to the company. The Bill will require that the company respond within 14 days why any candidates referred from the work center were not successful. Its always a bad idea to have state interference in the decision making processes of business. The Government is barely able to do what tax payers pay it to do anyway – Eskom , SABC and the appalling crime problem are  excellent examples of the skills of the ANC government.

Can you imagine what a disaster it will be liaising with incompetent work centers – it will take companies months to fill vacancies further impacting on productivity and job growth. The mindset in government and organised labour is one of the biggest impediments to job growth.

Consider the disincentive many small business owners face , if you are successful in your business you are likely to have to deal with the following:

• excessive taxation without any reasonable service delivery
• red tape and government corruption making the small business environment  even tougher
• poorly qualified workforce – the South African workforce is one of the least productive labour forces in the global economy
• complying with employment equity issues while still trying to run a profitable business – thats tough
• and to crown it all , if you become successful and grow your business  , you will eventually  face pressure to implement BEE and be required to give away a percentage of your business to a parasite.

Competing in the tough business environment is tough and the proposed employment equity legislation makes it even tougher for small business owners.

Implications Of The Employment Equity Bill For Small Business is a post from: Start-up