Organisations regarded as “employers of choice” are highly desirable to work for because of their compelling employer brand promise and reputation, the attractive benefits they offer, the opportunities for career progressio, and their ideal and model corporate culture. 

Leading organisations place emphasis and underpin the importance of setting strategic objectives and key initiatives focused on their employees. Building an effective and authentic Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is a vital objective for any organisation that would like to attain a competitive edge. 

GIPF as an organisation has moved away from the traditional paradigm of only focusing on benefits when defining EVP, but more focus and emphasis has been placed on the human part of it, hence the reason it introduced one of its strategic pilar of care to address this.  Entities that achieve their strategic intent can create shared value for their stakeholders and ultimately deliver socio-economic impact. This requires rigorous commitment to attracting and retaining top talent and promoting a reputation for ethical and inclusive practices. 

The fostering of an ideal working environment for skilled and engaged professionals requires organisations to take deliberate actions to focus on employees in strategic direction and intent. 

This can be achieved through a robust wellness programme that considers work-life balance, having a recognition and reward initiative programme in place that is driven and led from the top through strong and inspirational leadership. This leads to high levels of employee satisfaction. 

Employees value companies that assist them to grow and find a higher purpose. Human resources’ practitioners must drive employee engagement through an organisation’s mission, vision and values. This involves taking an employee-centric approach, prioritising the needs and interests of employees on the top of the organisation’s agenda as employees are key enablers for achieving objectives and ultimate success of any business. 

Committed and engaged employees execute strategy, achieve objectives and produce positive results through their day-to-day interactions on a consistent basis. 

Embodying the ethos of an “employer of choice” is demonstrated through programmes that drive talent management and development, fostering a positive culture, and ensuring alignment between individual and overall organisational performance. 

It is highly necessary for organisations to enhance inspirational leadership and management, strategy driven training and development and ensure vigorous employee wellness programmes that are tailor-made and impactful. 

Commitment to employee well-being reflects an organisation’s dedication to corporate professionalism. The benefits of a well-crafted and implemented employee wellness programme boost morale, mitigates stress and burnout, minimise absenteeism and disengagement, reduce healthcare costs, and ultimately enhance the productivity of an organisation. 

Dedication to employee well-being is not merely a moral obligation, but is a strategic investment in the long-term prosperity of an organisation. Those responsible for wellness should partner dedicated professionals and specialists to provide ongoing assistance at regular intervals. 

There is correlation between organisational efficiency and employee satisfaction. Institutions are, therefore urged to place emphasis and focus on employees as a key stakeholder to drive transformational change and a healthy organisational culture driven by a motivated workforce. 

The GIPF prides itself on being an “employer of choice” through its Employee & Organisational capacity strategic pillar, which is aligned to its value of ‘Care’. 

*Anselma Haushiku is the general manager for human resources at the Government Institutions Pension Fund.