Natasha Joseph recently joined our team in Johannesburg, South Africa.

We are delighted to welcome Natasha to Friisberg & Partners International.

She joins us as a Senior Associate with an impressive background in Executive Search and Management Consulting.

With 17 years’ experience, Natasha has carved a formidable reputation of outstanding service delivery and excellence with her clients. She is a passionate Head-Hunter who enjoys imparting specialised knowledge and headhunting skills to fellow colleagues and new employees. Natasha is extremely adept at sourcing, attracting and placing hard to find skills specifically, but not limited to, Financial Services.

Zoltan Petho, Chair of Friisberg, said, "Natasha has extensive experience in Executive Search, and the strength of her client relationships, combined with her people-focused skills means that she is a valued addition to our team."

In her spare time, Natasha enjoys all sorts of  indoor and outdoor activities and also loves cats - especially her beloved pet Katniss.

She is delighted to be joining Friisberg, South Africa and is looking forward to working closely with the firm’s clients and Partners.

Proactive diversity is necessary.

Globalization and other major world events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall (consolidation of East and West Europe), wars in countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan etc, the aging populations and low birth-rates in major economies of the world have facilitated massive movements of talent from one place to another - mainly to the West.

From a microscopic perspective, in South Africa, where I live, we have seen massive transformation of workplaces since the fall of apartheid in 1994.

This transformation is facilitated by the introduction of employment equity laws, resulting in women and people of colour slowly moving into senior positions that were previously occupied by white males.

All these megatrends point to a dire need for proactive diversity management programs to help organizations manage and leverage on these changes.

In the workplace diversity management is a process of creating a working environment that is both inclusive and diverse.

It values what every employee brings to the table as unique so that the organization can grow and succeed accordingly. The overarching theory is that when employees come together from different backgrounds, creative problem-solving processes grow in turn. This is thanks in part to an increased number of varying perspectives.

A diverse workplace can help organizations in variety of ways.

Mainly, it can serve as a reflection of a diversifying world - thanks to demographic changes, globalization and a digitalizing workplace, diversity can help teams to be better attuned to the many needs of their customers.

A study by Glassdoor shows the following advantages of a diversified workforce:

• Ethnically diverse and inclusive companies are 33% more successful.
• 1,7 times more likely to become innovation leaders in their field.
• Have better odds of attracting top talent, as 67% of job seekers care about diversity and inclusion.

Originally diversity management was primarily about discrimination in recruitment and promoting tolerance within the company. But over time, things have evolved to where companies recognise the importance of diversity in the workplace as a key competitive advantage.

Here are some tips on how companies can craft their diversity programmes:

• Include it in your business plan- set goals and how these will be achieved and rewards for achieving them.
• Recruit candidates from outside your networks.
• Start from the top with inclusive leadership.
• Determine job candidates’ perspectives on diversity during hiring.
• Take action right away-in many companies diversity issues tend to be more theoretical in workshops rather than in actual action.
• Design your staffing approach around diversity and inclusion

Themba Mthombeni
Partner, South Africa

CURRENT TALENT  TRENDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Despite the impact of Covid-19, and a slowing economy, executive search activities are still brisk in South Africa.

Friisberg South Africa has observed:

• Search and recruitment strategies now focus on digital transformation, automated software solutions, employee branding and employee diversity.
• Attracting and sourcing high-skilled talent remains the top priority for employers despite the notorious shortage of skills in the country.
• The company’s positive branding and image appeal improves the success rates of attracting and employing the best talent in the market.
• Online job portals and social media (specifically, LinkedIn) remain the preferred digital channels for recruitment, with companies showing increased interest in social media for HR.
• The most important change is that search companies are embracing digital solutions and moving from manual candidate screening and sourcing to recruitment management systems capable of automating and speeding up these tasks.
• Companies are investing in AI-enabled HR software and intelligent business solutions to optimise their requisition-to-hire processes and cutting down recruitment costs.

Friisberg South Africa seeing high demand

• Demand for professionals in marketing, warehousing & logistics as well as manufacturing & assembly are showing the first signs of recovery.
• Naturally, the demand for medical and health professionals is growing with the increasing number of Covid-19 positive patients.
• The IT and Finance professionals are the most sought after.
• There is also high demand for senior and general management skills.