Truworths strives to be the South African retail employer of choice for people who identify with the company’s Purpose and Values. The business continually invests in attracting, developing and retaining talent while enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction levels.

The key human resources focus areas are:

• ensuring employees understand and live by the Truworths Values;
• maintaining the investment in training and development despite the challenging trading and working environment;
• investing in employees’ financial and broader well-being to ensure sustained engagement levels; and
• managing employee retention in a tough economic environment.

The Truworths workforce comprises a core component of full-time employees and a smaller component of flexi-time employees whose working hours are dependent on business requirements. The number of flexi-time positions has continued to reduce through natural attrition and this has enabled Truworths to avoid retrenchments in the reporting period. This continued responsible and cautious approach has ensured that Truworths remains a stable employer for the many loyal and high-performing employees in the business.

*Contract employees include interns, and fixed-term and post-retirement contracted employees.

EMBEDDING OUR VALUES

The Truworths Business Philosophy, comprising our Purpose, our Values and our Vision, permeates the corporate culture and underpins the human capital management strategy and the goal to be the South African retail employer of choice. These elements have been central in guiding the business through the current challenging trading environment and assisted in navigating the ongoing impact of the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Management endeavours to foster a culture of innovation and high performance by encouraging employees to share their ideas and by recognising and rewarding excellence. The business continually invests in attracting, developing and retaining talented employees who live our values and are ambassadors of our brand.

The values are incorporated into everyday working life at Truworths through employee engagement, recognition programmes, performance reviews and employee development. We remained focused on embedding our values throughout the business during the period to ensure that there is continuity and common understanding of how each person can contribute to the success of the business by living our values.

REMUNERATION AND RETENTION

Truworths’ remuneration strategies consider financial and strategic project performance as well as the performance of teams and individuals. All management and specialised full-time employees are remunerated on total guaranteed packages which enable these employees to tailor their cash and benefits to suit their personal needs. In addition, tailored incentive structures are aimed at driving reward for performance in all areas across the business. Rewarding and retaining high-performing employees has never been more challenging as there is a strong demand for talent and scarce skills in the market. There is equally a strong drive to contain costs and to protect jobs to ensure the long-term sustainable performance of the business and our ability to continue employing and rewarding people. Our challenge is to find the balance where all stakeholders are considered and can benefit.

Due to higher claims experience, disability premiums for Alexander Forbes Retirement Fund members who qualify for disability benefits increased from 0.6% to 1.08% of pensionable salary. Employees contributing to the SACCAWU National Provident Fund experienced an increase from 1.06% to 1.16%. 71% of all Truworths’ employees are members of retirement funds.

There have been no other material changes to remuneration practices in the reporting period.

Owing to changes in business operations and trading patterns, 27 stores were closed in the reporting period, with no resultant retrenchments, as all affected store employees were absorbed into nearby stores.

TRANSFORMATION

Truworths is committed to transformation and meeting the objectives of the South African Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Act and Codes. We maintained our BBBEE scorecard rating of Level 8 in 2021 and despite the tough climate improved our BBBEE score from 57.15 to 63.68 points. Truworths remains committed to steadily improving its current BBBEE score in the year ahead.

The BBBEE points for ownership improved due to an increase in our black and black female shareholding in our Mandated Investments. The improvement in our Management Control points was due to an additional black non-executive director being appointed to the Truworths International board and the consolidation of the Truworths board, taking into account forthcoming retirements and subsequent promotion of several divisional directors to directors.

The skills development score increased as we maintained our investment in the learnership programme, with over 1 200 learners registered on accredited training programmes with the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&R SETA). The focus on employing unemployed youth, disabled people and the employment of learners post completion of their learnership programmes has benefited the skills development score and is firmly aligned with our Business Philosophy.

Management’s success in engaging suppliers on their BBBEE status, and highlighting that BBBEE compliance is a requirement for a continued business relationship with Truworths, positively impacted the enterprise and supplier development pillar.

To accelerate transformation in the business the Truworths Transformation Committee has been restructured and a director has been allocated responsibility for managing each of the five pillars of the scorecard. The CEO has assumed the role of chairperson of the committee. The committee will continue to meet quarterly to review strategy and measure general transformation activity and progress relative to the BBBEE scorecard. The committee will continue to seek advice from external consultants on opportunities to improve the BBBEE score and to highlight associated risks.

SUCCESSION, TALENT AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

Truworths’ Values encourage employees to learn and share, and there is a strong culture of guiding, coaching and mentoring throughout the business. In 2021, 9 656 employees participated in 120 training programmes, of whom 9 511 were trained in South Africa.

The training programme has been adapted due to COVID-19, with innovative learning solutions being applied, including the development of online resources and greater use of blended development interventions.

Over 40 training interventions were offered on the e-learning platform, TRULearning. The high rate of completion, measured by those employees who pass the assessment that forms part of every intervention, reflects employees living the Truworths Values and embracing the opportunity to learn and contribute more effectively. The e-learning platform is aimed at high-volume training interventions and content is developed internally, allowing for quick response interventions that are targeted, fit for purpose and cost-effective.

The graduate training programme is crucial to our succession pipeline in scarce skills areas of our business, which includes the merchandise buying and planning, garment technology, sourcing design and credit risk departments.

The training programme uses a blended learning approach, combining theoretical, practical and on-the-job training, supported by individual mentorship and coaching for every trainee. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the training, the training material was redesigned for the new learning environment. This approach has been especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic which has been particularly challenging for new entrants into the workplace.

Opportunities have been created for unemployed learners and youth through the implementation of learnerships and internships in entry-level positions. The internship programme provides opportunities for unemployed graduates to gain workplace experience and has also become a talent pool for recruiting for flexi-time and full-time entry-level roles. Participants in the one-year learnership programme are placed in the credit and store environments and on completion of the programme qualify with a National Certificate in Wholesale and Retail Operations. Following the success of this programme in the retail, credit and human resources departments, the internship programme will be extended to other key scarce skills departments in the 2022 financial year.

The bursary programme further demonstrates Truworths’ commitment to its employees as it provides mentorship and financial support to those who plan to enrol for tertiary academic studies.

Truworths continues to offer leadership-focused development programmes for managers to ensure succession in merchandise, operations and support departments. In 2021, 1 275 employees attended these leadership development programmes (2020: 1 959), despite the constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic.