We recently undertook the human resources practices in Zimbabwe survey. The purpose of this research was to gather and analyse human resources related statistics and practices in Zimbabwe. The information that we have presented in our final report is designed to be a tool to help Zimbabwe organisation’s to evaluate decisions and activities that affect how they manage their organisation’s human resource. The intention is that, on a yearly basis, we track the changes in human resources practices in the country, commenting and justifying them where possible and allow executives to dialogue on critical issues and assess how these issues can be managed.In this article I will highlight some of our key findings. Over the next 4 weeks I will continue to outline some of our other important findings and critical interventions that we recommend management to take if you are going to maximize your return on your human capital.1. On average, participating companies made more revenue in 2014 compared to 2015. There was a 33% decrease in revenue from 2014 to 2015.2. The average operating profit for 2015 ($1 595 223 .22) was higher than that for 2014 ($906 974.32). The operating profit for most of the organisations increased by 76% from 2014 to 2015.3. Both the average and maximum staff costs for most of the companies in 2014 were not different from that for 2015.4. The average age of the participants’ board chairperson is 58 years.5. On average, 3 executive directors sit on participating company boards and a maximum of 12 directors sit on the boards.6. 75% of the board of directors are composed of male directors compared to female directors (25%).7. 71% of the executive management is composed of male directors.8. Most of the participants’ permanent employees are male (63%) and 37% of them are female.9. The results show that the percentage of males in participants’ organisation is decreasing as we move from the executives to the non-managerial employees. The trend is opposite for the female participants.10. The average span of control for Managers/Supervisors with people reporting to them in 2015 is 6. This means that, on average, most organisations’ departments have 6 supervisors with people reporting to them.11. The average number of subordinates that report to managers in each department is 10.12. In 2014, most companies spent 14% less than they had budgeted for in the human resources budget. Most of companies exhausted their human resources budget in 2015.13. Most of the employees in the human resources department are in the payroll department, followed by those who are generalist. On average, the number of employees in these departments did not change from 2014 to 2015.14. Most organisations’ employees (66%) are registered with a trade union.15. Most participants said the influence of trade unions in their organisations is detrimental, 32% said its cooperative and 32% are not sure.16. 27% of the disciplinary cases pending were being handled by an internal disciplinary committee.17. Most of the industrial relations cases resolved in 2015 (78%) were handled by the internal disciplinary committee.18. The average number of work stoppages for most of the companies was 1. Some companies did not have any work stoppage while others had up to 3.19. An analysis of the days lost due to unplanned absenteeism shows that, 62% of the days were lost due to sick leave, 12% were lost due to absence without official leave, 7% were lost due to compassionate leave and 19% were lost due to other reasons.20. Most of the participants (55%) said they restructured their businesses in 2015 while 45% said they did not.21. Most participants said they achieved what they set to achieve in 2015 while 32% did not achieve.22. 69% of the participants said they did not retrench before the Supreme Court ruling, while 31%, said they had retrenched previously.23. 42% of the participants said they retrenched after the Supreme Court ruling and 58% said they did not retrench after the Supreme Court ruling.24. For those organisations that retrenched after the Supreme Court ruling, 85% said they did not apply for an exemption from the Ministry of Labour on the payment of retrenchment packages while 15% applied for exemption.For the full report – State of Human Resources in Zimbabwe Report, contact Memory Nguwi. He is the Managing Consultant of Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or email: <span id=""cloak22451""><a href=""mailto:mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com"">mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com</a></span> or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com

Few decisions are as important as selecting the talent needed to take the organisation into the future.  A valid testing system takes the guesswork out of building a pool of talented candidates. Hiring or promoting people who are unsuitable costs time and money and errors made by poor performers jeopardize potential business. Carefully developed and administered psychometric tests can provide organisations with a way to decide systematically and accurately which people have the ability to perform well on the job, have the capacity to be developed for higher positions and will not engage in counter productive behaviour.  Selecting and developing the right talent separates winning organisations from the rest. Our psychometric tests focus on aptitude and personality profiles. We also use Assessment and Development Centers for selection and development of Graduate Trainees, Senior Managers and Executives. (Detailed Brochure on Psychometric Testing is available on request).If you need assistance in this area please feel free to <a href=""http://ipcconsultants.com/contact/"">contact us</a>

You will agree with us that strategy execution remains one of the top priorities for any successful business. Crafting a strategy alone does not guarantee you success. We work with businesses wanting to craft viable business strategies and ensuring that the strategy is executed.  At the center of our strategy formulation approach is innovation in every aspect of your business as we believe this will drive current and future growth. The model we will eventually use in your business strategy formulation and execution will depend on your unique circumstances. We put mechanism in place to support you to ensure your strategy is fully implemented as per your aspirations.  We have the expertise to help our clients review, redesign or develop strategies that work in their own business circumstances.If you would like one of our consultants to get in touch with you regarding this, please <a href=""http://ipcconsultants.com/contact/"">contact us </a>

Most executives and employees have the mistaken assumption that if you make a profit you are productive. Our experience show that this is not always the case. Executives who make decisions based on this mistaken assumption see their organisations coming from being profitable to the brink and in some cases bankruptcy. Employees honestly demand better wages based on this mistaken assumption further pushing the organisation into bankruptcy.  We help you discover whether your profits are driven by productivity or by price recovery. Knowing what drives your profitability helps you make better decisions in deploying cash coming from your profits.  Traditional profit analysis does not lead to the same conclusions you will make if you use this approach. We work with organisations who would want to increase their productivityWhen organisations start focusing on productivity measurement and enhancement they create more value for shareholders, customers, the community and employees.   Based on productivity study findings we recommend interventions to enhance productivity.We assist organisations to collect and analyse productivity data. The data is analysed to assist organisations gauge whether their profitability or lack of it is productivity driven or price driven. It is important to note that Profitability = Productivity + Price Recovery.  Price recovery driven profitability is not sustainable.If you would like one of our consultants to get in touch with you regarding this, please <a href=""http://ipcconsultants.com/contact/"">contact us</a>

The ChallengeWe approached a major fast moving consumer goods company (FMCG) operating in Zimbabwe with the intention to help them understand why some of their retail outlets performed above expectation while others performed below expectations. The aim was to identify controllable factors and non-controllable factors that influence the performance of each outlet. The identification of controllable factors would then lead to strategies around manipulating those factors such that each retail outlet’s performance is optimised. More specifically, we sought to answer the following questions:1. Does the diversity of product lines in each outlet influence sales performance? Some outlets had one product line while others had over a thousand product lines.2. Does location have an impact on the sales of each retail outlet?3. Does the presence of certain employees (sales representatives, merchandisers, merchandising supervisors) have an impact on the sales of each retail outlet?4. Does the psychometric profile of employees influence the performance of their respective retail outlets?5. Does the brand name of each retail outlet attract more (or less) customers leading to differences in sales?Answers to the questions above would lead to informed decisions when deploying merchandise, taking into consideration the effects of location, product diversity, presence of and profile of human capital as well as whether or not some brands of outlets should have more attention than others.How we intervenedWe worked together with the retailer’s Human Resources Department and gathered data to incorporate in our analysis. The initial stage of our analysis involved building a descriptive analytics model using regression techniques to identify the major drivers of the differences in sales performance of each outlet. The second stage involved interrogating further the factors identified by the descriptive analytics model as contributing more to the differences in sales performance. The third stage involved matching insights with appropriate recommendations aimed at improving the retailers’ overall performance.Download the full case study below:<a href=""http://ipcconsultants.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Key_Drivers_of_Retail_Sales_Performance.pdf"">key_drivers_of_retail_sales_performance</a>

We recently undertook the human resources practices in Zimbabwe survey. The purpose of this research was to gather and analyse human resources related statistics and practices in Zimbabwe. The information that we have presented in our final report is designed to be a tool to help Zimbabwe organisation’s to evaluate decisions and activities that affect how they manage their organisation’s human resource. The intention is that, on a yearly basis, we track the changes in human resources practices in the country, commenting and justifying them where possible and allow executives to dialogue on critical issues and assess how these issues can be managed.In this article I will highlight some of our key findings. Over the next 4 weeks I will continue to outline some of our other important findings and critical interventions that we recommend management to take if you are going to maximize your return on your human capital.1. On average, participating companies made more revenue in 2014 compared to 2015. There was a 33% decrease in revenue from 2014 to 2015.2. The average operating profit for 2015 ($1 595 223 .22) was higher than that for 2014 ($906 974.32). The operating profit for most of the organisations increased by 76% from 2014 to 2015.3. Both the average and maximum staff costs for most of the companies in 2014 were not different from that for 2015.4. The average age of the participants’ board chairperson is 58 years.5. On average, 3 executive directors sit on participating company boards and a maximum of 12 directors sit on the boards.6. 75% of the board of directors are composed of male directors compared to female directors (25%).7. 71% of the executive management is composed of male directors.8. Most of the participants’ permanent employees are male (63%) and 37% of them are female.9. The results show that the percentage of males in participants’ organisation is decreasing as we move from the executives to the non-managerial employees. The trend is opposite for the female participants.10. The average span of control for Managers/Supervisors with people reporting to them in 2015 is 6. This means that, on average, most organisations’ departments have 6 supervisors with people reporting to them.11. The average number of subordinates that report to managers in each department is 10.12. In 2014, most companies spent 14% less than they had budgeted for in the human resources budget. Most of companies exhausted their human resources budget in 2015.13. Most of the employees in the human resources department are in the payroll department, followed by those who are generalist. On average, the number of employees in these departments did not change from 2014 to 2015.14. Most organisations’ employees (66%) are registered with a trade union.15. Most participants said the influence of trade unions in their organisations is detrimental, 32% said its cooperative and 32% are not sure.16. 27% of the disciplinary cases pending were being handled by an internal disciplinary committee.17. Most of the industrial relations cases resolved in 2015 (78%) were handled by the internal disciplinary committee.18. The average number of work stoppages for most of the companies was 1. Some companies did not have any work stoppage while others had up to 3.19. An analysis of the days lost due to unplanned absenteeism shows that, 62% of the days were lost due to sick leave, 12% were lost due to absence without official leave, 7% were lost due to compassionate leave and 19% were lost due to other reasons.20. Most of the participants (55%) said they restructured their businesses in 2015 while 45% said they did not.21. Most participants said they achieved what they set to achieve in 2015 while 32% did not achieve.22. 69% of the participants said they did not retrench before the Supreme Court ruling, while 31%, said they had retrenched previously.23. 42% of the participants said they retrenched after the Supreme Court ruling and 58% said they did not retrench after the Supreme Court ruling.24. For those organisations that retrenched after the Supreme Court ruling, 85% said they did not apply for an exemption from the Ministry of Labour on the payment of retrenchment packages while 15% applied for exemption.For the full report – State of Human Resources in Zimbabwe Report, contact Memory Nguwi. He is the Managing Consultant of Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone 481946-48/481950/2900276/2900966 or email: <span id=""cloak22451""><a href=""mailto:mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com"">mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com</a></span> or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com