An overview of Africa’s Top Employers 2020 Certification Programme.

Headquartered in the Netherlands, Top Employers Institute is the global HR authority on certifying excellence in employee conditions. For over 26 years, our firm has been dedicated to accelerating the impact of people strategies to enrich the world of work through certification, benchmarking and connecting Top Employers around the world. Through our HR Best Practices Survey, we enable organisations to assess and improve their workplace environment. We believe employees make the organisation and, when they are empowered by excellent people practices, they thrive. Recognition through our programme for these people practices helps companies elevate their status as an employer of choice.

We certify organisations in single countries, different continents and globally. We recognise Top Employers based on a global four-stage programme governed by a strict standardised process. The leading-edge international research conducted by Top Employers Institute each year determines whether an organisation meets the required standard of excellence for certification as a Top Employer.

It gives me great pleasure to share an overview and some of the main research highlights from Africa’s Top Employers 2020 Certification Programme:

• 230 organisations in Africa officially registered to participate in the Certification Programme. 210 organisations spanning 32 African countries and 23 industry sectors achieved the Top Employers 2020 Certification. 96 certified organisations will carry the South African certification, while 114 certified Top Employers from other African countries outside of South Africa have been certified.
  86% of the certified population in Africa are multinational corporations, while the remaining 14% are national companies.
• The top five countries with the most certified organisations are: South Africa (96), Nigeria (13), Egypt (9), Kenya (9) and Ghana (8).
• The industry sectors in Africa with the greatest representation are: FMCG, Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics, Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals and Financial Services.
• 17 organisations made up of 117 operations have earned the right to carry their country-specific and the continental certifications. The coveted Top Employers Africa Certification is earned when an organisation is certified in a minimum of four or more African countries in the same research period.
• These international organisations have proven they are able to offer a consistently harmonised development experience for their employees, no matter where they are located on the continent.
• According to our research, Africa’s top five HR Priorities are: Talent Strategy, Employee Engagement, Cultural and Organisational Change, Leadership Development and Career & Succession Management
  Excluding non-certified organisations, the average overall score achieved by this year’s group of Top Employers is 84%. This impressive score doesn’t come as a surprise based on the high calibre of brands certified.
• The top three best performing topics in our HR Best Practices Survey are Talent Strategy (89%), Workforce Planning (89%) and Career & Succession Management (87%). While the three topics requiring the most improvement are Talent Acquisition (75%), Compensation & Benefits (79%) and Learning & Development (82%).
• A high absenteeism rate can negatively impact an organisation’s bottom line and is a clear sign of underlying engagement issues. The collective Top Employers average absenteeism rate is a meagre 4%. This important HR metric and impressive statistic proves that employees at these reputable organisations have high levels of productivity which can be attributed to the world class people strategies and practices used to drive engagement.
• 64% of Africa’s Top Employers measure their leadership satisfaction trend annually and indicated that their organisation is: stable (21%), slightly improved (19%) or strongly improved (16%). 85% measure their employee satisfaction trend annually and indicated that their organisation is: stable (19%), slightly improved (32%) or strongly improved (18%).
• Drawing a comparison over the last five years, these Top Employers have indicated the following: Revenue growth is stable (20%), slightly improved (29%) or strongly improved (36%). Market share is stable, (25%) slightly improved (30%) or strongly improved (24%). Profitability is stable (19%), slightly improved (28%), or strongly improved (35%). Customer satisfaction is stable (30%), slightly improved (26%) or strongly improved (32%). These organisations ensure the development of their people is a top business priority and invest accordingly. Based on the statistics shared, it’s clear this employee-centric strategy plays an imperative role in achieving successful business results over a sustained period, driven by a highly engaged and motivated workforce.
• Perhaps the most important and meaningful statistic is that this year’s group of Top Employers positively impact the lives of approximately 643 000 employees in Africa with the world-class HR conditions they currently have in place (and the improvements that will be made through our benchmarking process).

These high-performing organisations were officially certified at the annual Certification Dinner on 21 November 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa. They became part of an exclusive global ‘employer of choice’ community and can credibly lay claim to having achieved certified excellence in employee conditions for the next year.

I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Africa’s Top Employers for 2020. These are organisations of the highest calibre, continuously working hard to create, implement and advance their people strategies and practices. This group of Top Employers provide an outstanding workplace experience, empower employees and make the world of work a greater place.

Billy Elliott is the Regional Manager: Africa at Top Employers Institute.