Although South Africa has been at the forefront of some of the best labour legislation in the world which is protective towards the employees and well structured in the hands of the Dispute Resolution Bodies we find that some of our outlook with regard to job creation is retrogressive and destructive.

Our new changes to the labour law which became effective from the 1^st April this year have created an enormous amount of angst in the minds of future employers and in particular small businesses.  We know that small businesses are the engine room for job creation and we also know that small businesses do not have large teams of human resource management and labour lawyers.  The war on temporary jobs and casualisation of employment is going full steam ahead in South Africa.  We understand that labour brokers can account for almost two million jobs in South Africa and it is well believed that much more than this are in temporary employment.  The first world are moving away from traditional employment and in the USA for instance it is believed that over thirty million workers are either part time or provide services as independent contractors.  Furthermore, we understand that almost 30% of the workers in the United States are not in a formal full time employment.  Studies tell us that this figure is going to grow great giving both the employers and the employees flexibility to suit their own purposes.  There will always be employers that abuse the situation and it is up to the labour legislation to strike out the abuse.  To destroy the entire system because a few rotten apples abuse the situation is like “throwing the baby out with the bath water”.

I spend an enormous amount of my professional time drawing up contracts of employment and letters of appointment for new employees.  Invariably these new contracts are for atypical employment conditions.  My finding on an anecdotal basis is that most of the well paid jobs are not nine to five jobs on a permanent basis.

Michael Bagraim