Hotel operation The Don Group has once more topped the charts to become this year's winner in the employment equity category of the 2008 Top Empowerment Companies (TEC) survey.
The group achieved an employment equity score of 13 out of 15, marginally beating its runner-up within the employment equity factor of the broad-based BEE scorecard.
It is clothing and textile manufacturer Seardel Investment Corporation that occupies the second spot with an employment equity score of 12,74. In third spot is financial services group Coronation Fund Managers with 11,7.
The employment equity factor has become a sore point within the broader BEE debate. This is one factor that reflects the rate at which black people are entering the mainstream economic sectors. It measures the broad representation of black people in enterprises and serves to further dissect this representation across different levels in the workplace. This excludes the top management layer, which is separately covered in the management factor of the scorecard.
Figures provided by the Employment Equity Commission, which is housed in the department of labour and monitors national employment equity trends, tend to paint a less than desirable picture. According to the commission's 2006/2007 annual report, black representation at top management level reached 22,2%. That is a far cry from the 40%-50% target set in the BEE scorecard. Black women representation at top management level stood at 6,6%.
The report also showed that at senior management level, black representation stood at 26,9% during the same period. Black women in this category were found to make 8%.
Most disappointing was the limited adherence to employment equity at professionally qualified and middle management level, while the hiring of people with disabilities also lagged behind targets.
The number of disabled persons hired fell from a measly 1% to 0,7% during this period.
Commenting on these figures, commission chairman Jimmy Manyi - who is also president of the Black Management Forum (BMF) - said it was time that government focused on the enforcement and compliance mechanism of the Employment Equity Act.
In light of these numbers The Don's figures, as captured in this TEC survey, are worth noting. Most interesting is the fact that The Don has managed to promote BEE among its ranks while it was tidying up its loss-making operations.
Headed by Thabiso Tlelai, who took over the chain of hotel suites in 2000 when the group was on the verge of liquidation, the company is now making a profit.
The 2006/2007 financial year was a particularly good one as revenue grew 27% to R62,2m from R49,2m and operating profit shot up 74% to R15,2m.
The Don also managed to convert a R5,3m loss into a R5,1m profit, asserting Tlelai's belief that the potential of the group's nine hotels in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Sandton and Pretoria was at last being fully realised.
According to the group's annual report, more than 50% of its employees at management level are from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act. Across all occupation levels the figure is more than 90%.
