Being BEE compliant will enable a business to obtain better contracts, in addition it provides credibility for the company. Training staff members is also very beneficial for the company.

 

There are a number of benefits for implementing B-BBEE within a company, but when training has occurred, there are more employable people as training has taken place and staff members have improved their skills competence. One of the ways a company can improve their B-BBEE scorecard is to implement training, as training and development spend earns 20 points on the BEE scorecard. In addition to the 20 points, companies are entitled to claim up to 40% on any staff training costs.

 

The general benefits of training are:

  • Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees
  • Increased employee motivation
  • Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain
  • Increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods
  • Increased innovation in strategies and products
  • Reduced employee turnover
  • Enhanced company image, e.g., conducting ethics training 
  • Risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training

 

The following are typical reasons for employee training and development:

  • When a performance appraisal indicates performance improvement is needed
  • To "benchmark" the status of improvement gained in a performance improvement effort
  • As part of an overall professional development programme
  • As part of succession planning to help an employee be eligible for a planned change in a role within the organisation
  • To "pilot", or test, the operation of a new performance management system
  • To train about a specific topic (see below)
    • Communications: The increasing diversity of today's workforce brings a wide variety of languages and customs.
    • Computer skills: Computer skills are becoming a necessity for conducting administrative and office tasks.
    • Customer service: Increased competition in today's global marketplace makes it critical that employees understand and meet the needs of customers.
    • Diversity: Diversity training usually includes explanation about how people have different perspectives and views, and includes techniques to value diversity.
    • Ethics: Today's society has increasing expectations about corporate social responsibility. Also, today's diverse workforce brings a wide variety of values and morals to the workplace.
    • Human relations: The increased stresses of today's workplace can include misunderstandings and conflict. Training can help people to get along in the workplace.
    • Quality initiatives: Initiatives such as Total Quality Management, Quality Circles, benchmarking, etc., require basic training about quality concepts, guidelines and standards for quality, etc.
    • Safety: Safety training is critical where working with heavy equipment, hazardous chemicals, repetitive activities, etc., but can also be useful with practical advice for avoiding assaults, etc.
    • Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment training usually includes careful description of the organisation's policies about sexual harassment, especially about what are inappropriate behaviours.

It is imperative though, to ensure that all training is recorded so that it can easily be submitted for the BEE audit.

 

How to benefit from training?

Skills development is one of the easiest elements to gain points.  Succeeding in this element will not only assist with the BEE score, it will assist the company with the skills that is required as well as potentially reduce unemployment.

  • 8-points can be earned if the company invests 6% of payroll in the training of black people.
  • An additional 4-points can be earned of 0.3% of the total payroll when spent on learning programmes for disabled black employees.
  • By participating in learnerships, apprenticeships or internships, a company can claim an additional 4-points if 2.5% of the employees are enrolled on such programmes, and an additional 4 points if 2.5% of the company’s headcount are black unemployed learners.
  • An additional 5-bonus points can be earned if all the unemployed learners are gainfully employed on the conclusion of the learnership.

 

There are additional benefits under the latest codes that relate to training and development.  These are as follows:

  • The training costs of unemployed learners can be claimed.
  • The salaries of learners enrolled on learnerships, apprenticeships or internships can count towards training expenditure.
  • The cost of the Skills Development Facilitator can be claimed as a training expense.
  • 15% of training spend can consist of internal non-accredited training.
  • There is a R60 000.00 tax-break per participant registered on a learnership.

 

As can be seen above there are a number of incentives to train employed and non-employed persons.  


There are a number of registered qualifications as well as short learning programmes offered by both the private providers as well as public institutions that can assist in meeting a company’s training needs. The ICB has a number of registered learnerships that can assist companies in addressing the training and development requirements. For more info, follow this link.