Zeitschrift für Aktien- und Devisenhandel
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Does social entrepreneurship result from layoff/retrenchment

Lana-Ann Brady

In South Africa, “training to retrench has become a reflection of the economic climate” (Brady 2018), with the government in 2009 responding to the economic crisis by introducing its Training Layoff Scheme (TLS) as expanded on by Ramutloa (2009). While the scheme was created as a ‘strategy for staff retention’ through the offer of incentives to employers, when they engage in skills training initiatives, employees who choose retrenchment or have to be laid off due to the company being in distress, now find themselves undergoing training prior to becoming unemployed. In effect, the TLS seems to be feeding the new-entry market to the entrepreneurial sector and requires study to determine its impact. Various training options for training of distressed companies’ workers facing retrenchment and layoff (linked to employers' skills needs where possible), are dependent on the nature of the businesses, workers’ positions at risk, and employers’ future economic opportunities (Brady, 2018). By way of explanation, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA 2016) states that “The menu of training options [offered through the TLS] may include apprenticeships, learnerships and skills programmes of shorter duration. Training may also include generic workplace skills, such as Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) courses and other generic skills that may further personal development”. Regrettably, it has nonetheless been highlighted by labour minister, Mildred Oliphant, that mining companies are not utilising the TLS, which has a fund of more than R2bn to up-skill retrenched workers.” The minister was quoted in an exclusive interview with Business Day (12 Sept. 2018) as stating that this was due to the mining companies threatening existing larger enterprises, as well as municipal infrastructure and services.