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"As the world labour-markets thrash about in economic turbulence, companies are cutting staff and slashing benefits in order to meet their bottom line. This often leaves the remaining employees demoralized, disinterested and often quite demotivated to expend anything but the minimum effort in the workplace," advises Johan Wasserfall, forward-thinking CEO of Eduloan, South Africa's dedicated education finance provider. "So when it comes to motivating your workforce, you need to identify ways that will not cripple your company's budget, but will still provide incentive for your staff to excel. In a system of reward-based employment, why work harder if there's no personal motivation to do so? Why not consider giving your staff a real incentive - access to education - to improve their morale and future prospects? An astute manager realises that only by doing this can the vicious loop be nullified. Simply put, if your staff is happy, their productivity - and subsequently your company's profits - will increase."

Johan advises of various education-focused incentives that managers can offer their staff to keep them motivated and benefit the company's bottom-line in the long-term:

Educationally-based incentives...

• Sponsoring their studies completely - this is especially valuable if you have skills-gaps in certain areas but cannot afford to hire new staff-members to fill these gaps;
• Partial sponsorships via reimbursing successful studies - you provide an educational loan, conditional on the staff-members performance: whatever subjects they pass they get fully reimbursed for, whichever they fail comes out of their own pocket;
• Partial family sponsorships - even if your staff is not interested in upskilling themselves, you can offer to partially sponsor their children's studies, dependent on that staff-member's performance;
• Study leave - whether your staff undergo self- or company-subsidised study, give them the time needed to study and excel at it;
• Flexi-time - flexibility for your staff, in terms of studying and adequately managing both their work and family responsibilities, is a reward unto itself;
• Salary deductions - whether self- or company-sponsored students, you can ease your staff's admin burden by arranging to pay their monthly loan amount directly out of their salary.

Skills-shortage savvy...

Johan advises that, according to the 2008 Grant Thornton International Business Report survey, 48% of businesses in SA attribute the lack of availability of a skilled workforce as the biggest constraint to business growth. This is the third consecutive year that lack of skills has topped the survey as an issue crying out for attention and something clearly identified as needing to be critically addressed in 2009.

In 2008 South Africa also took part in the third annual Talent Shortage Survey conducted by the USA-based employment services industry world leader Manpower Inc., and 38% of the South African employers surveyed listed their top skilled shortages (in order of importance) as: skilled manual trades (especially electricians, carpenters/joiners and welders); engineers; accounting and finance staff; technicians; management/executives; teachers; drivers; sales representatives; IT staff and secretaries (including PA's, administrative assistants and office support staff).

"As we simultaneously cope with the paradox of plummeting economic markets, unstable labour markets and serious skills-shortages due to unbalanced education policies of the past and skilled emigration, education may well be the key that unlocks your staff's potential and keeps your company going," says Johan. "The Grant Thornton survey also revealed that, internationally, 21% of businesses have no plans to offer salary increases during 2009, and 3% anticipate salary cuts. Especially in light of this, by offering educational, as opposed to monetary, incentives to those staff members who are academically willing and able, but in need of financial assistance, you will motivate the employees most interested in self- and career-development - and the staff-loyalty created will ensure these valuable employees stay within your company, irrespective of future financial storms," advises Johan. "In this way, you fill your skills-gaps internally, a way that has been proven as more cost-effective down the line than retrenching unskilled staff now and resuming the hiring process for skilled staff when the economy stabilises, often to the detriment of your company's future growth."

Since its inception in 1996, Eduloan has provided in excess of 500,000 educational loans to the tune of R2bn. In this time, it has gained positive insight on how companies can ultimately contribute to their longevity by enabling education pathways for their staff as a benefit, thereby boosting morale, productivity and profit.

Eduloan is the only dedicated educational financial services company in South Africa, focusing on providing financial solutions to students with the goal of ensuring that tertiary education is accessible to all. Eduloan is firmly committed to contributing meaningfully to social and economic upliftment through education and is a responsible financial services provider with the interests of its students foremost in mind. For further information, contact Eduloan's Client Services Department on 0860-55-55-44.

Editorial Contact:
Keri-Ann Clark
Kezi Communications (Pty) Ltd
Tel: 011 616 1860
Keri-ann@kezi.co.za
www.kezi.co.za

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