Our people
We recognise that creating safe environments and opportunities for people to connect and have authentic and meaningful experiences depends on the wellbeing, skills, knowledge, expertise, productivity, motivation and behaviour of our employees and the leadership team.
Our human resources structure is designed to address the operational needs and demands of our business. The head office is situated in Rosebank, Johannesburg, with management teams are deployed at our shopping centres in South Africa, Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, ensuring efficient management, leasing and maintenance of our assets.
The Company complies with employment laws and is committed to protecting human rights. Our code of ethics and disciplinary code are communicated to all employees.
We encourage our people to live by our core values and employee code, which support a work culture that is transparent, respectful, non-exploitative, fair, dynamic, promotes open and constructive dialogue with management, involvement in decision-making, and working conditions that are safe. Hyprop believes in promoting an appropriate work-life balance.
Hyprop is committed to creating and maintaining an environment that provides equal opportunities to all employees. We aim to achieve equity in the workplace by promoting equal opportunities, fair treatment, eliminating discrimination and implementing measures to redress disadvantages in employment experienced by designated groups in order to ensure their equitable representation in the workplace.
Permanent employees profile
Employee diversity
Employment equity
Total number of employees reported in terms of the Employment Equity Act
| 30 June 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| Male | Female | Foreign nationals |
Total | ||||||||||||
| Occupational levels | A | C | I | W | A | C | I | W | Male | Female | A | C | I | W | Total |
| Top management(1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 12 |
| Senior management | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 21 | 33 |
| Professionally qualified and experienced specialists and mid-management | 9 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 29 | 60 |
| Skilled technical and academically qualified workers, junior management, supervisors, foremen and superintendents | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 23 | 64 |
| Semi-skilled and discretionary decision making | 23 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 15 | 2 | 8 | 65 |
| Unskilled and defined decision making | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Total permanent employees | 46 | 14 | 6 | 36 | 38 | 33 | 12 | 52 | 2 | 1 | 84 | 47 | 18 | 91 | 240 |
| Temporary employees | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 30 |
| Grand total | 46 | 15 | 6 | 39 | 53 | 40 | 12 | 56 | 2 | 1 | 99 | 55 | 18 | 98 | 270 |
| A: | African; C: Coloured; I: Indian; W: White; M: Male; F: Female; B: Black (Black includes African, Coloured and Indian). |
| (1) | Top management includes non-executive directors. |
Non-discrimination
Hyprop does not tolerate discrimination. Reported instances are immediately and appropriately dealt with under our code of ethics and conduct and related disciplinary procedures. No incidents of discrimination were reported during the year.
Employment equity policy and plan
Hyprop has recently reviewed its human capital policies to ensure that the environment in which our people operate remains relevant and continues to support the wellbeing, skills, knowledge, expertise, productivity, motivation and behaviour of our employees and the leadership team.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to re-examine the human capital policies during 2020 and to create an effective strategy on workplace flexibility.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Regular interaction with our employees is critical in creating an engaged workforce. There are several channels which enable communication from the leadership and forums through which our employees can provide feedback.
Employee forums
Human resource site meetings include employment equity forum meetings, and provide opportunities for employees to give feedback and ask questions of leadership. One site meeting per mall was held before the Covid-19 lockdowns were announced. During lockdown we used virtual technology to stay connected.
Employee self-service systems (ESS)
The employee self-service system is used to communicate all payslip, IRP5 and employee payroll information. The system integrates with the payroll and is used for performance reviews, leave applications and approvals.
Company employee newsletter
The newsletter encompasses information and input from all our management teams, highlighting achievements and Company values. It is a valuable tool for communicating events to various management teams, communicating staff wellness matters, policy updates and staff information notices, and contains information about changes, challenges and staff appointments.
Employee events
Annual year-end functions that include long service and service excellence awards are held to engage with our team members and to show our appreciation and recognise their contribution to Hyprop.
Twenty-two long service awards were awarded during the 2020 financial year and five Hyprop excellence awards were issued to teams or individuals who worked in an exceptional manner to complete an assigned task or that independently took on an improvement initiative supported by the Company.
Employee surveys
Annual surveys ensure we identify and address any issues concerning employee morale, productivity and turnover. During the year, one survey was conducted on labour practice and one on the strategy and culture of Hyprop.
Our fair practice survey indicated that 89% (target 90%) of employees currently feel the Company's benefits, processes and policies are implemented fairly and in a non-discriminatory manner. The survey covered our recruitment and disciplinary process, employee policy implementation and HIV and Aids education.
BUILDING VALUE FOR THE FUTURE
Succession planning
Succession planning forms part of the Group's risk management process, as well as being integral to the growth and development of our staff. Our primary objective is to identify key positions and ensure we have the necessary staff to cover these roles should the need arise unexpectedly; as well as to groom staff, including those from designated groups, for promotion. This is done by mentoring staff members and providing training focused on the requirements of specific positions, leadership training and development for senior management, technical and people skills training for management and junior management and structured training for support staff.
This has proved effective with 12 out of the 19 internal placements / promotions in the 2020 financial year being employees from designated groups.
Performance management meetings
The performance appraisal process is an opportunity for each manager and employee to reflect on the employee's performance over a period, review whether previously discussed performance expectations and goals have been met, discuss professional development opportunities and identify opportunities to develop additional skills and knowledge to foster performance improvement and career growth.
Additionally, the performance appraisal provides appropriate documentation to support any recommended merit increases and/or other performance-based awards.
Training and development
Our training and development programme is based on the operational requirements of the business and takes into account skills shortages in our industry and transformation imperatives.
Training needs are identified during employee reviews, while the Group's skills base is assessed to identify focus areas for training in the year ahead.
Our training strategy aims to:
- Enhance the Company's knowledge and skills base
- Enable employees to contribute to our business and growth
- Encourage further education to enhance competence in current positions and increase eligibility for promotion
- Support employment equity initiatives.
| Training spend by topic (R) | June 2020 |
June 2019 |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadership | 543 064 | 792 011 | ||
| Strategy workshop | – | 748 246 | ||
| Business operations | 175 210 | 362 659 | ||
| Degree/Diploma | 152 318 | 143 450 | ||
| Green building principles | 17 365 | 95 850 | ||
| Leasing | – | 14 900 | ||
| Learnership | – | 117 000 | ||
| Trade qualification | 59 000 | 253 600 | ||
| Health and safety | 139 817 | 17 788 | ||
| HIV and Aids | 22 319 | 56 812 | ||
| Total | 1 109 093 | 1 602 317 |
We continued to promote our graduate and trade qualification programme during the year, and it has become a key element in implementing our employment equity plan. Eight (2019: 22) employees are currently enrolled in various degree and trade qualifications. Green building and management principles focused on water and energy efficiency training, and national lease training was presented in all regions.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
We value our employees and our policy is to create a safe and healthy working environment, with procedures to manage occupational incidents and compensation claims, in line with legislation.
Scott Safe provides safety consultancy services to Hyprop and carries out a health and safety audit twice a year, in May and November.
We aim to provide a high-quality health and safety programme that is continuously reviewed and improved when required. The programme complies with statutory provisions for health, safety and environmental matters relevant to all our stakeholders.
This programme is communicated to our employees so that they are properly informed of their responsibilities for health, safety and environmental matters and are able to discharge them effectively. Training and resources are provided to empower employees to prevent accidents and preserve health.
Each management team is responsible for executing the health and safety programme on-site through its operations manager. At Group level, the national facilities manager is responsible for biannual audit reports, drawing on submissions from each centre.
Health and safety consultants are appointed to construction projects to represent Hyprop and monitor activities on-site. On large and complex projects, the contractor has its own health and safety officer managing contractor teams and subcontractors.
HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING INITIATIVES
| Initiative | HIV/Aids | First aid | Fire-fighting | Covid-19 training |
|
| Training by external suppliers |  |
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| Health day consultations |  |
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| Information distributed via newsletters/electronic |
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| Employee awareness days |
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| Voluntary testing and counselling | |
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| Internal training per management office | |
| # | Postponed due to Covid-19 lockdowns |
HIV Aids
HIV/Aids could affect the wellbeing of our employees, leading to emotional distress, absenteeism, employee turnover and lower productivity. A formal risk assessment determined that the likely impact of HIV/Aids on the Group is negligible. Accordingly, Hyprop does not have targets for addressing the direct impact of HIV/Aids, nor does it have strategies for addressing indirect business risks (e.g. effect on customer base/supply chain).
Our HIV/Aids policy provides guidelines on creating a non-discriminatory workplace, dealing with HIV testing, confidentiality and disclosure, providing equitable employee benefits, dealing with dismissals and managing grievance procedures. It ensures affected employees' rights to confidentiality. The status of employees who willingly disclose their status is kept confidential. Hyprop offers counselling, acceptance and support.
Harassment
The Company is committed to creating and maintaining a climate where all employees and stakeholders are treated with dignity and respect. Harassment in the workplace is not tolerated under any circumstances and disciplinary procedures are followed with any perpetrators. Grievances will be dealt with timely, sensitively and confidentially and no person who raises a grievance about harassment will be victimised.
No grievances relating to harassment were reported during the year.
HYPROP ETHICS LINE
The Company values its reputation and recognises that over and above any financial damage suffered, fraud may reflect adversely on our reputation.
Our aim therefore is to limit Company exposure to fraud by taking firm action against any individual or group perpetrating fraud against the Company. We encourage our employees to be vigilant and to report any suspicion of fraud, providing them with suitable confidential channels of communication and ensuring sensitive information is treated appropriately.
The Company always expects employees to act with integrity, comply with financial regulations and to report concerns as soon as any impropriety is suspected.
The Hyprop Ethics Line, our anonymous tip-off line, is operated by an external service provider, Whistle Blowers Proprietary Limited, and reports to the Audit and Risk committee. All employees are made aware of this facility and reporting is on an anonymous basis with feedback provided and action taken to remedy the matters raised.
No calls were reported during the year.
MANAGING RESOURCES
The Head of Human Resources is responsible for employee relations. An employee, disciplinary and grievance policy governs these relations and is available on request, in hard copy at each management office, and on the website at www.hyprop.co.za.
There were nine disciplinary cases during the year, primarily for misconduct, which resulted in two terminations of employment.