Labour law | Human resource management functions

By Carol Tissiman

If you are interested in this topic, take a look at our University of Cape Town (Law@Work) Practical Labour Law course.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations that deals with labour issues. One of the principal functions of the ILO is setting international labour standards covering a broad spectrum of labour-related subjects. These are sometimes referred to as the International Labour Code.

Since South Africa was re-admitted as a member of the ILO in 1994, a greater focus has been placed on following correct employment practices and human resource (HR) management. Under current legislation, no organisation is too small to be required by Law to have employment relationships protected by fair systems, procedures and contracts.

Looking at South African Labour Laws and regulations, employers are required to manage a complex range of Human Resource functions, such as:

What often happens is that business managers ignore or underestimate the complexity of these HR functions, focusing more comfortably on operational or technical aspects of their business. For example, to implement the Human Resourse process such as a Performance Management System that effectively and regularly evaluates an employees performance, would involve the following process and key objectives:

Many leading organisations have realised that their success is, amongst other things, a result of a focus on sound employment practices, policies and procedures with members of staff. Sound employment practices are the foundation of healthy employment relationships, where expectations of both the employer and employee are clear. To be successful, organisations need satisfied, well-managed employees who will, in turn, keep customers happy.