By Cat Pritchard
When we hear the word “empowerment” it’s usually followed by the phrase “previously disadvantaged”. What about people who are currently disadvantaged? Those people, who by virtue of their physical disabilities, have fewer opportunities to become economically contributing citizens of our country. Who is looking after them?
The South African Employment Equity Act was passed in 1999. It stipulates that any company with more than fifty employees must employ people with disabilities. You only have to look around any big open-plan office to see how well this is being implemented. Exactly.
So when it happens that a company is doing its bit to level the very uneven playing field, we need to give them their due credit.
Take Santam – that short-term insurance business. Having been voted South Africa’s Best Company to Work for in 2009, Santam is once again on top of the awards’ pile again – but this time for creating opportunities for people with disabilities.
In December, the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) held its National Disability Awards, and Santam was honoured as joint winner with Glenrand M-I-B in the Company Award category for organisations that have created opportunities for people with disabilities.
The national awards are a first for the insurance sector in the country, which hopefully will hopefully shake this up a little in the future. (There’s nothing like a little bit of competition to get a company to change.)
In 2008, after years of success with its learnership programme for unemployed black matriculants, Santam introduced a learnership programme exclusively for black people with disabilities. 14 learners were placed on the programme of which nine graduated and seven became permanent employees of Santam.
What makes this, as many such programmes successful is that of mentorship. Learners are assigned mentors to guide them through the programme which exposes them to a formal working environment while giving them a year’s work experience in a certain field. Each learner receives a full insurance qualification which is registered with Inseta and SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority).
You can only guess that if Santam is being recognised for its disability programme of 14 strong, how bad it really is out there. We really have a long way to go.