Blog Post
Opportunities for growth created by the fourth industrial revolution
Driekus Oosthuizen • Oct 28, 2019
Earlier this month the employees of the banks of South Africa had a scheduled strike regarding the fear of job loss as a result of automation, which was stopped by intervention from the court. The South African banking industry, due to a world-wide shift in the way that people use financial services, needs to continually evolve to adapt to international consumer standards. As a result of this migration, many banks are forced to restructure and sometimes reduce their number of staff.
South Africa’s six major banks have grown in staff by more than 4 000 employees over the past four years, proving that the banking industry remains a key employer in the South African market. Understandably, workers across all industries feel threatened by technology that can participate in business processes, but should rather view this evolution as an opportunity to upskill and attain a more rewarding employment status with a higher salary and better opportunity for growth. As any industry becomes more electronically-driven, it creates opportunities in ICT, data analysis, business intelligence, UX design, UI design, graphic design, etc.
However, this participation cannot come from employees alone, management should encourage and equip their employees with the right tools for them to make the shift. Employers cannot simply expect their current employees to suddenly adjust, they need to be properly trained to be able to adapt and fully buy in to drastic changes in their working environment.
Safe Working Practice has developed i-Manage Safety in response to the growing demand for a comprehensive health and safety management system. We provide our clients with an electronic safety management tool to revolutionise their Health and Safety systems, as well as the proper training to upskill their employees to adapt to the growing requirements for Health and Safety and Food Safety. The system is accessible from anywhere in the world and allows our clients to effortlessly monitor and manage their legal compliance by means of a dashboard. Our team understands the importance of onboarding in the success of any management system, and do our best to ensure that there is full buy-in from all parties.