African Journal of Employee Relations (formerly South African Journal of Labour Relations)

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• Covid-19 Pandemic: Perspectives on Employee Engagement, Work From Home and an Employee Wellness Programme in a Debt Collection Organisation in Gauteng, South Africa

  The Covid-19 pandemic rapidly changed and is still changing the way people live and work on a global scale. During the pandemic, most organisations are forced to implement a work-from-home solution, irrespective of employees' preferences, abilities, and the nature and extent of jobs. In this research, we aimed to explore perspectives on employee engagement, work from home and an employee wellness programme in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic among employees of an organisation that focuses on outsourced debt collections. The study was conducted within a positivistic research paradigm. A quantitative cross-sectional, survey design was employed. Total population sampling was used. Data were collected from 95 respondents through a webbased survey using a coded questionnaire. From the results of study, it became evident that the proactive approach taken by the leadership of the organisation early in 2020, in anticipation of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in positive outcomes for the organisation. The results indicated that the employees were, to a great extent, engaged in the workplace, mainly owing to organisational and leadership support, the flexibility allowed in the work-fromhome model and organisational concern for the health and wellness of employees. However, the employees were subjected to challenges generally experienced by homeworkers during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as increased workloads and working hours, loneliness due to isolation, and inadequate office infrastructure. The results of the study are important to inform business decisions regarding the work-from-home model as a temporary or alternative working arrangement in the organisation under investigation and may benefit organisations operating in similar contexts.

• Covid-19 Pandemic: Perspectives on Employee Engagement, Work From Home and an Employee Wellness Programme in a Debt Collection Organisation in Gauteng, South Africa

  The Covid-19 pandemic rapidly changed and is still changing the way people live and work on a global scale. During the pandemic, most organisations are forced to implement a work-from-home solution, irrespective of employees' preferences, abilities, and the nature and extent of jobs. In this research, we aimed to explore perspectives on employee engagement, work from home and an employee wellness programme in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic among employees of an organisation that focuses on outsourced debt collections. The study was conducted within a positivistic research paradigm. A quantitative cross-sectional, survey design was employed. Total population sampling was used. Data were collected from 95 respondents through a webbased survey using a coded questionnaire. From the results of study, it became evident that the proactive approach taken by the leadership of the organisation early in 2020, in anticipation of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in positive outcomes for the organisation. The results indicated that the employees were, to a great extent, engaged in the workplace, mainly owing to organisational and leadership support, the flexibility allowed in the work-fromhome model and organisational concern for the health and wellness of employees. However, the employees were subjected to challenges generally experienced by homeworkers during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as increased workloads and working hours, loneliness due to isolation, and inadequate office infrastructure. The results of the study are important to inform business decisions regarding the work-from-home model as a temporary or alternative working arrangement in the organisation under investigation and may benefit organisations operating in similar contexts.

• Determinants of Employee Physical and Mental Health: The Role of Career Adaptability and Workplace Attachment in the South African Public Service

  The South African public service is noted to be in a state of flux with challenges affecting employee health. The study investigated the influence of career adaptability on the relationship between workplace attachment and employee health. Employee health was measured through two facets, namely physical and mental health. The study formulated four hypotheses. Data to test these proposed hypotheses were collected through a survey making use of a selfadministered questionnaire among a sample of 214 public service employees. The findings indicate support for a relationship to exist between workplace attachment and facets of employee health. However, no evidence existed to support the moderating role of career adaptability on the relationship between workplace attachment and facets of employee health. Based on these findings, a range of interventions targeted at employees and the public service are suggested.

• Determinants of Successful Coaching Outcomes: Case Review of Eskom's Matla Power Plant, South Africa

  Workplace health and safety is an important aspect of the success of organisations as it considers the well-being of both employees and the company. Present research is based on the impact of coaching on a perception of developing a health and safety culture. In this regard, the qualitative study has been conducted to assess the role of coaching in developing the health and safety culture for Eskom's Matla power plant in South Africa which is prone to workplace risk. The outcomes of the study are based on both the primary and secondary data wherein 20 middle managers of four plants of Eskom's Matla have been selected. The analysis brought forth the outcome that coaching is the effective way to provide the practical experience related to a health and safety environment among new employees. However, existing managers faced the issue of consumption of time in coaching and workload. Subsequently, it was found that coaching makes it easy for the business to reduce the gap between employees and management which leads to set the safety culture in the right manner and to reduce the risk. Coaching can therefore be provided for adopting the changes in the current practices of imparting knowledge to employees and for enabling them to support the organisation to ensure its long-run survival.

• An assessment of factors affecting absenteeism : case study of a major South African manufacturer

  Absenteeism is a major problem globally and, in South Africa, costs the country and companies millions of rands each year. Given the financial constraints on businesses at present, it is necessary to understand the causes of absenteeism in order to determine possible interventions to reduce these causes. A quantitative research design was used to investigate the factors that influence absenteeism at a major South African manufacturer. An exploratory factor analysis was used to reduce the number of factors. The study found that there were seven major factors that had an impact on absenteeism, namely, external factors, management factors, illness, family responsibilities, personal development, working conditions, and motivation. These factors were found to affect different employees differently, and were mainly dependent on the demographic characteristics of the employees. This study provides insights into absenteeism in a typical South African situation. The study finds that because factors that have an impact on absenteeism are different for various employees and are dependent largely on demographic and related attributes, organisations need to develop diverse strategies to deal with the absenteeism issues of different employees in organisations. Future research should investigate the efficacies of various interventions to determine which are most likely to meet the needs of the various groups of employees and thereby reduce absenteeism levels.

• Determinants of Successful Coaching Outcomes: Case Review of Eskom's Matla Power Plant, South Africa

  Workplace health and safety is an important aspect of the success of organisations as it considers the well-being of both employees and the company. Present research is based on the impact of coaching on a perception of developing a health and safety culture. In this regard, the qualitative study has been conducted to assess the role of coaching in developing the health and safety culture for Eskom's Matla power plant in South Africa which is prone to workplace risk. The outcomes of the study are based on both the primary and secondary data wherein 20 middle managers of four plants of Eskom's Matla have been selected. The analysis brought forth the outcome that coaching is the effective way to provide the practical experience related to a health and safety environment among new employees. However, existing managers faced the issue of consumption of time in coaching and workload. Subsequently, it was found that coaching makes it easy for the business to reduce the gap between employees and management which leads to set the safety culture in the right manner and to reduce the risk. Coaching can therefore be provided for adopting the changes in the current practices of imparting knowledge to employees and for enabling them to support the organisation to ensure its long-run survival.

• Determinants of Employee Physical and Mental Health: The Role of Career Adaptability and Workplace Attachment in the South African Public Service

  The South African public service is noted to be in a state of flux with challenges affecting employee health. The study investigated the influence of career adaptability on the relationship between workplace attachment and employee health. Employee health was measured through two facets, namely physical and mental health. The study formulated four hypotheses. Data to test these proposed hypotheses were collected through a survey making use of a selfadministered questionnaire among a sample of 214 public service employees. The findings indicate support for a relationship to exist between workplace attachment and facets of employee health. However, no evidence existed to support the moderating role of career adaptability on the relationship between workplace attachment and facets of employee health. Based on these findings, a range of interventions targeted at employees and the public service are suggested.

• Retail Workers in the Context of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and Lockdown Regulations: An Analysis of Shoprite Workers in South Africa

  Many sectors of the South African economy have felt the effect of the coronavirus, except for a few companies such as the Shoprite Group. The Shoprite Group kept its stores open during the Covid-19 lockdown levels and regulations in South Africa, except for its liquor stores owing to lockdown regulations that prohibited the sale of alcohol. The Shoprite Group did not retrench its workforce, but created thousands of jobs since Covid-19 hit the country. Retail workers such as Shoprite workers are deemed essential workers and are allowed to go to work during the Covid-19 lockdown periods. The retail giant is required to provide protective equipment such as face masks and hand sanitisers to its workforce. The workforce at Shoprite consist of full-time permanent workers and sub-standard workers (i.e. temporary, labour brokers and casual workers). This article highlights that Covid-19 provides an opportune time for both government and Shoprite to revisit the employment status of some workers, particularly sub-standard workers. They should recognise them as essential workers and give them essential, decent full-time permanent jobs with decent salaries, protection and benefits.

• The Effects of Psychological Contracts, and the Breach thereof, on Innovative Work Behaviour

  The literature is clear that maintaining psychological contracts between employers and employees is important, and that psychological contract breach often leads to negative outcomes, including the withdrawal of discretionary activities such as innovative work behaviour. Although most literature suggests that a psychological contract breach affects the desired outcomes negatively, the same literature is silent about under which type of psychological contract these outcomes occur. This research aims to empirically determine the way in which psychological contract breach affects the relationship between different psychological contracts (relational and transactional) and innovative work behaviour. A cross-sectional survey design was used, with respondents answering questions on psychological contracts, psychological contract breach and innovative work behaviour. Three results were dominant: transactional psychological contract did not correlate with innovative work behaviour, whereas relational psychological contract did so in a significant way; psychological contract breach correlated positively and significantly with transactional psychological contract and negatively and significantly with relational psychological contract, but not with innovative work behaviour; and psychological contract breach did not moderate the relationship between relational psychological contract and innovative work behaviour. The psychological contract type (relational psychological contract) therefore has a direct effect on innovative work behaviour, but psychological contract breach did not relate significantly to innovative work behaviour. Managers are alerted to the importance of relational psychological contracts when innovative work behaviour is the desired outcome, given the omnipresent psychological contract breach. Researchers are encouraged to investigate through which mechanisms psychological contract breach influences innovative work behaviour, as this link seems well supported by the literature.

• Employees' Perceptions of the Effects of Retrenchment on Job Stress and Organisational Commitment in a Mining Company

  Over the past decade, South African organisations have had to cope with an ever-increasing rate of local and global changes. There have been considerable and ongoing socio-political changes, resulting from new government regulations. Most organisations have experienced some type of downturn, whether due to external business factors or poor internal performance. A typical response to organisational decline is retrenchment. This study seeks to outline employees' perceptions of the effects of retrenchment on job stress and organisational commitment in a mining company. The study is located within a quantitative research paradigm. Four research hypotheses are posited and data collected from a sample of 400 surface mining employees, including management, administrators, engineers and artisans, in one region. The results indicated that the effects of retrenchment did not have a negative impact on job stress (time stress and anxiety). This may be owing to the fact that the mining company in question had a planning and consultation process in place for the employees prior to the retrenchment process. The results also indicated that job stress (time stress and anxiety) is negatively associated with organisational commitment. Implications of the findings are discussed, limitations of the study are mentioned, and future research directions are given.

Featured documents

• Customer service improvement through engagement : a study of the semi-skilled, frontline workforce in the retail industry in South Africa

  In economically challenging times, business needs to focus on all elements of operation to improve profitability. Engagement has been identified as an emerging theme that is successful in increasing profitability by creating a workforce that is more dedicated and actively present. Within the ...

• The development of a change agent identification framework for South African change agents

  The main aim of this research project was to develop a theoretical change agent identification framework that could enable organisational change management specialists to identify change agents more effectively in large organisations that are undergoing change. To date, little research has been...

• Return-to-work experiences of female employees following maternity leave

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• A generic competency framework for labour relations practitioners in the South African public service
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  This article contributes graduate destination survey (GDS) evidence to the debate about graduate unemployment in South Africa. There has been lively contestation on the topic for several years, including several contributions from the commercial press arguing that graduate unemployment is very high....

• The impact of minimum wages in the environment and culture sector of the expanded Public Works Programme

  The Public Works Programme initiated during the Great Depression in the United States was known for its ability to stimulate economic activity through employment creation. Its aim of alleviating poverty and reducing inequality finds an echo in one of the primary objectives of South Africa's...

• Covid-19 Pandemic: Perspectives on Employee Engagement, Work From Home and an Employee Wellness Programme in a Debt Collection Organisation in Gauteng, South Africa

  The Covid-19 pandemic rapidly changed and is still changing the way people live and work on a global scale. During the pandemic, most organisations are forced to implement a work-from-home solution, irrespective of employees' preferences, abilities, and the nature and extent of jobs. In this...

• The effects of organisational commitment and employee perceptions of equity on organisational citizenship behaviour in Zimbabwean SMEs

  Organisational commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour have been extensively researched from the perspective of antecedents and outcomes. Literature shows that employee perceptions of equity relationships in organsations have been less extensively chronicled in research, especially in...

• The effect of race on CEO pay-performance sensitivity in South Africa

  South Africa's labour policies and the growing societal calls to better explain executive remuneration create a unique opportunity to examine the effects of race on CEO pay. This empirical research study sought to investigate the effects ofrace on the sensitivity of executive pay to corporate...

• Factors driving changes to remuneration policies in South Africa

  This study was conducted in 2012 and replicates Bussin and Huysamen's (2004) work, conducted in 2003, on remuneration policies. It investigates the factors driving remuneration policy in South Africa and determines whether these factors have changed since 2003. Anonymous e-mail questionnaires were...