Free web tool to facilitate labour relations

THE Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) have collaborated to launch a free-to-use web tool that is dedicated to helping smaller businesses with labour relations processes and matters.

The joint initiative is one of the flagship projects outlined in the Presidential Jobs Summit Framework Agreement, and has gone live following intensive testing and content mapping.

The project germinated from a Busa study conducted in 2015/16, which showed that small businesses struggled with labour relations, and that this was a key impediment to their formalisation and willingness to employ.

Also of concern – and a key spark to conceptualising the tool – was that CCMA statistics reveal that an estimated 80% of the institution’s dispute cases originate from small businesses.

The joint CCMA-Busa web tool has up-to-date information including the recent amendments to employment law that factor in the National Minimum Wage Act, as well as contract templates, information sheets and guides regarding labour law requirements.

Small-business owners can utilise the user-friendly tool to source information about how to recruit, how to manage employees and build sound workplace relationships, how to end the employment relationship in a fair manner, and much more.

The CCMA and Busa believe this web tool will go a long way in unburdening small businesses from having to navigate through regulatory hoops.

WHAT THE WEB TOOL DOES:

Cuts red tape and associated costs of labour relations compliance for small business. Contributes to workplace stability for small business owners. Improves employer and employee understanding of the employment laws.

Provides step-by-step guidance on employment law compliance requirements, and is a self-help tool that demystifies labour relations.

Minimises the need to find and pay consultants or labour lawyers for basic industrial relations processes.

The tool can be accessed at: www.smelaboursupport.co.za

THE WEB TOOL COVERS:

Contracts of employment and basic conditions of employment for full-time, part-time and fixedterm contracts. Misconduct, incapacity and operational requirements processes and templates.

Union representation and organisational rights steps. Strike or lockout steps and processes.