This document discusses the author's role in establishing HR standards in South Africa and applying those standards at SARS. The key points are: 1) The author chaired the SABPP Board from 1999-2013 and mandated the new CEO to give meaning to establishing high professionalism and ethics in HR practice. 2) The HR standards can be a game-changer for HR and South Africa by applying the standards universally, even when moving between organizations. 3) Applying the standards at SARS provided an opportunity to put the new model and standards into practice and extract HR priorities from the business strategy through executive interviews. 4) The standards give a common language to discuss what needs to be done and validated existing good

1. 28th August 2014
Elizabeth Dhlamini - Kumalo
@SABPP1

2. My role as HR Standards
midwife
• Chair of SABPP Board1999 – 2013
• Mandated new CEO to give meaning to the
Board’s mission “to establish, direct and
sustain a high level of professionalism and
ethical conduct in Human Resource (HR)
practice.”

3. My dreams for the HR
Standards
• This can be a game-changer for HR,
and through them, for South Africa
• We can apply the HR standards
everywhere, even if you move to
another organisation like I did

4. My dreams for the HR
Standards
• We as HR have the opportunity to support
real transformation in our new democratic
dispensation
• If we play our role, we can change South
Africa

5. Applying the Standards at
SARS
• I was asked to look at their HR strategy
• We saw this as great opportunity to put our
new Model and Standards into practice

6. Applying the Standards at
SARS
• Used the Standards as framework to extract
HR priorities from the business strategy and
interview executives
• From there, put together a working paper
• HR Standards give a common language to
discuss what needs to be done

7. Executive interviews
• Per identified business strategic priority:
Current state vs what they would like to see
– Skills of staff in current position
– Engagement and values alignment
– Talent pipeline (future skills from current and
future staff)
– Performance management
– Line management empowerment to manage
their own people with advice and support from
HR Business Partners

8. Validating what was already in
place
• SARS HR practitioners had a lot of good
material in place
• HR Standards provided the framework to
review these and align and integrate where
necessary
• But it also challenges us to raise the bar –
the national HR standards can not be
watered down! Context and culture is no
excuse.

9. Learning
Check top executive alignment and
position HR policies in the governance
structures
• Too much of this good HR material was not
really on radar screen of top executives
• Insufficient debate on the people philosophy
and core people strategy

10. Learning
• Take HR stuff out of the HR department
to line managers
• We can not maintain our position as
top 10 revenue service without HR
standards

11. People philosophy
Executive team needs to really debate the
hard issues about what they really believe, for
example:
– Are people good or bad?
– Are people our greatest asset or our greatest
liability / threat?
– Is it worth our while to develop people or should
we just compete in the market for ready-
developed people?

12. “I would rather own 70% of a business that
runs at 100% of its potential than 100% of a
business that only runs at 30% of its potential.
People need to feel valued and involved and
they need to be rewarded”
Charles Back, wine entrepreneur Fairview Wines, winner of international
Lifetime Achievement Award in the wine industry, commenting about
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment
Do the executives in your organisation believe this fundamentally?
If not, what do they believe in?

13. Policies must be aligned and
address risk management
• Policies not all aligned and therefore some
lack of compliance
• Need to take a risk management
perspective
• The SABPP HR Risk Management standard
element provides the foundation for sound
people risk management

14. Early days
• HR Standards have helped to pinpoint
issues and improve alignment
• HR Strategy is not a piece of paper, it is
something everyone has to work with –
executives and line managers must do it
• The HR Standards are something to aspire
to and to work with, to improve
organisations

15. Real HR Professionalism
• Everyone has an opinion about how HR
should be done
• This can lead to nothing being done, or the
same thing being done differently in
repeated cycles
• Now we have the professional body saying,
this is good practice
• We all learn every day. The HR Standards
help us to structure our journey. Previously
there was no structure, only ideas.