JPS Africa | News
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News

11 Sep

Posted at 11:20h in News

The incidence of toxic leadership and organisations is on the increase and if not addressed it will most definitely negatively impact the world of work, employees, organisational well-being as well as organisational performance, sustainability and outcomes. It is thus, important that we understand the nature, dynamics and evolution of toxic leadership and organisations, in a holistic and systemic way.[1] “Toxic Leadership is characterized by mistreatment of subordinates in a corporate structure, resulting in a destructive and harmful working environment”. The toxic leader will think “I am always right”, it is always about “I, me and myself”,” turning a blind eye” when work needs to be done, has “clique mentality” by having small inner circle of followers and often heard saying “I meant it then, but not anymore”.[2] Dr Paul Vorster from the Ethics Institute, South Africa defined the following characteristics of toxic leadership:[3] Toxic leaders intentionally make decisions that benefit them and harm their followers and organisations over the long-term.Toxic leaders prefer to coerce followers and be in...

27 Aug

Posted at 11:11h in News

The HR function has evolved since the introduction of social media.  Social media posts are no longer just a way of expressing one’s personal views.  It also gives great insight into the professional conduct and character of a prospective employee.  The recruitment process no longer starts with just reviewing a CV, it has also expanded to viewing social media and LinkedIn profiles.  It is at this point where employers can already gage whether prospective employees will fit in with the company’s culture, share the same values and have a professional network that will benefit the company.  The individual responsibility when posting online is therefore not just personal but also professional. Online recruiting is all about finding quality candidates and connecting with them.  Social media is where people hang out online to express ideas and interact with each other. Employers however need to tread carefully when using social profiles for background checks.  The...

22 Aug

Posted at 09:17h in News

We summarise an outline of a practical competence profile which can be adopted and used for appointment, development and evaluation of overall committee effectiveness. There is an appreciation that REMCO members might not have all the competences and experience, but as a collective would complement one another.[1] For an effective competence profile the REMCO position paper 8 recommended that broad categories as recorded in the table below be used: CATEGORY KEY CONSIDERATIONS KNOWLEDGE What people know – technical and/or professional information needed to perform job activities EXPERIENCE What people have done – practical application of knowledge COMPETENCES What people can do – a cluster of technical and behavioural competences required PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES What people are – personal dispositions and motivations that relate to job satisfaction, job success or failure KNOWLEDGE: This would include and not limited to the following: Internal and external challenges experienced and how they can be used to the advantage of the organisation. Governance matters and including King IV recommendations. ...

19 Aug

Posted at 12:23h in News

Background Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) reduces men’s risk of acquiring HIV through heterosexual intercourse by approximately 60%. As more men become circumcised, fewer will become infected with HIV. VMMC indirectly protects men’s female sexual partners from HIV, because HIV-negative men cannot infect their female sexual partners. However, for HIV-positive men, VMMC does not reduce their risk of transmitting HIV to their sexual partners. Furthermore, if men who are already HIV-positive become circumcised, it will not reverse their HIV-positive status. UNAIDS and PEPFAR have estimated that scaling up VMMC in men aged 15–49 years in 14 southern and eastern African countries will require 20.3 million circumcisions in five years in order to reach 80% coverage of the eligible population. Using this level of coverage over the next 15 years, mathematical modelling suggests there is the potential to avert up to 3.6 million new HIV infections and generate a potential cost...

16 Jul

Posted at 09:37h in News

The latest 5th HSRC[1] survey reports that the annual HIV incidence in 15-49 year old is 0.79% in the population and in females is 0.93% and 0.69% in males respectively which corresponds to 199 700 people newly infected in 2017. HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 years in South Africa was reported to be 20.6%, 26.3% among females and 14.8% among males. Five (NWP,MPU,FS,EC and KZN) out of nine provinces were reported with prevalence higher than 20% ranging from a low of 22.8% in Mpumalanga to a high of 27.0% in the Free state. Nationally, only 31.8% of males aged 15-64 years were reported being medically circumcised. 43% of males aged 15-24 years were reported medically circumcised. This study reveals a need to reach more men in this age group with more demand creation efforts to reach the 90-90-90 targets for HIV epidemic control. JPS Africa in 2018 used the...

04 Jul

Posted at 08:51h in News

Retention efforts must start on the employee's first day of work which means having a good Orientation Plan. The purpose of Orientation is to make sure that employees know what to do and how to do it.  The objectives of Orientation are therefore: To reduce anxiety: Introduce employees to their new work environment and colleagues. Help understand the organisation and its culture: Share the organisation’s background, values and strategic overview and key policies. Share basic Information/Work Behaviour: Working hours, Dress Code, Initial meetings with management. Convey what is expected from the job: Discuss job descriptions, roles and expectations, outline objectives of personal performance management plan including 90-day review. Tips to Retain Your Best Employees:   Select the right person, for the right job as the starting point. Offer an attractive, competitive, benefits package with components such as pension –and medical aid contribution. Provide opportunities for people to share their ideas and knowledge via...

25 Jun

Posted at 14:41h in News

If you’re working, it’s important to understand how your employment contract establishes the rights and responsibilities for both yourself and your employer as your rights at work are also affected by your employment status. Employees often assume that their obligations under their employment contract cease when they stop working for their employer. This is not always the case. Ordinarily, restraint of trade, confidential information and intellectual property clauses will continue to bind you even after you have terminated your employment contract and moved to a new job. Most employment contracts create restraints of trade. Restraints of trade restrict your ability to start and work for new businesses once your employment has ended. They include: ‘Non-compete’ clauses, which prevent you from setting up or working for a competitor who operates within a defined geographical area for a particular period of time. ‘Non-solicitation’ clauses, which prevent you from contacting your employer’s clients to seek...

20 Jun

Posted at 13:43h in News

Are you grappling with team members or co-workers that consistently ignore reasonable instructions?  Miss deadlines? Take credit for work you have done? Act like a know-it-all? Constantly criticising? Blaming other for things that go wrong? How we lead our teams contributes to program and organisational success. Involving co-workers is critical to get buy-in and cooperation. In a team setting, people are encouraged to give ideas and make decisions.  This means more decision making power must move down from the leader to the co-workers. When this is carried over to the program team, this means the leader must create decision makers, not order takers. This calls for supportive supervision, transferring of skills and succession planning within teams. The core emotional need of people is to feel valued and valuable. When we feel devalued it is easy to assume the role of victim and blaming others for inadequate program performance as a form of...

19 Feb

Posted at 22:43h in News

The Basic Conditions of Employment Act has been amended to include the insertion of Section 25A, 25B and 25C relating to the introduction of the following new Leave Types: Parental Leave:  If the Bill is passed, parental leave would allow for an employee who is the parent of the child to be entitled to a minimum of 10 consecutive days of parental leave. The employee would be entitled to take leave days for the birth of the child; the day the adoption order is granted; as well as when the child has been placed in the care of the adoptive parent by court order. The Bill also stipulates that the employee has to notify the employer in writing a month prior to commencing leave, also indicating when the employee will commence leave and when the employee intends on returning to work. In cases where it is not practically reasonable to provide...

19 Feb

Posted at 22:39h in News

The three principles that underpin the VMMC work of JPS Africa (JPSA) is a person centred approach to improve health seeking behaviour and informed decision making of adolescent boys and men, gender discourse to reflect and address the health of men and the impact on women’s health, and collaborative partnerships to facilitate linkage to care and services across sectors and structures. With these principles in mind JPSA enthusiastically continued the journey within the MMC programme. Our values of hard work, quality and safe clinical practice soon contributed to unusual discomfort amongst VMMC partners and other role players. JPSA is perceived as a “disruptor” in the VMMC space in SA. If so, our intent is to disrupt in a positive way. We are not afraid of tension and complexity in the VMMC space. Disruption happens in any competitive environment, thus in the VMMC space too but does present challenges as role players...