As part of our efforts to enable all our employees to reach their full potential and transform our workforce at all levels, we invest in skills development. Education is one of our seven SEE impact areas, including internal employee development and external efforts to improve access to education and to support skills development opportunities in the broader economy.
SBSA scored 16.69 out of 23 (including 3 bonus points) on the skills development element of the scorecard. This is lower than the score of 17.62 in 2018, and 18.31 we achieved in 2017.
In 2019, we spent approximately 82% of our total skills development budget on the development of black employees across all levels of the organisation. Approximately 15% was spent on senior and executive management levels.
2019 | 2018 | 2017 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SBSA graduate programmes: % of black attendees | 92 | 91 | 89 | |||||||
SBSA graduate programmes: % of black African attendees | 77 | 75 | 40 | |||||||
SBSA learnership programmes: | 709 | 1 009 | 924 | |||||||
% of learnership students absorbed into permanent employment | 47 | 64 | 83 | |||||||
SBSA leadership training: total employees | 2 708 | 4 920 | 3 543 | |||||||
SBSA leadership training: % of black attendees | 71 | 75 | 68 | |||||||
SBSA leadership training: % of black female attendees | 43 | 46 | 35 |
We strive to attract and retain talented individuals to the banking sector.
Our graduate programme provides an entry point into the corporate world for university graduates, supporting skills development and on-the-job training, nurturing future skills within the bank and building a diverse workforce to drive South Africa's growth. It offers a variety of options that cater to students' interests, preference, area of study, and skills, and provides diverse development prospects. Participants are exposed to different departments and opportunities across the bank and work closely with a variety of senior colleagues. They also have opportunities to grow their networks through attendance at industry conferences and events.
To build a bridge for young people entering the world of work to address racial, gender and geographical challenges to educational advancement, and develop the kind of skills needed by SBSA, we introduced learnership programmes for unemployed young people in 2007.
The programmes provide a crucial opportunity to gain work experience. For many participants it’s their first job. Applicants are required to have matric, or to have partial or full tertiary qualifications, depending on the programme they’re applying for. They undergo a rigorous recruitment process to ensure the right fit for the role. Each learner is assigned a coach, mentor and line manager for support during the learnership programme.
SBSA participated in the government’s Youth Employment Scheme for the first time in 2019. The initiative was started to address the challenge of youth unemployment.
Businesses create 12 month paid work experiences for youth aged between 18 and 35. Our participation was guided by the following principles:
Of our 709 learnerships and internships for unemployed young people, 300 were recruited through the Youth Employment Scheme.
These young people were employed across various areas in the bank, with the intent of nurturing skills which are aligned to our strategic value drivers. Some of them have already been offered permanent roles either in SBSA or externally, testament to the high calibre of youth and the training they received on the programme. We will continue to participate in the Youth Employment Scheme in 2020.