Black professionals need real jobs, right now The fairytale scenario goes like this: a major SA company embarked three years ago on a programme of affirmative action and employed a sprinkling of blacks, some as trainees, some in professional roles. By now, the black employees have been accepted by their white colleagues, the corporate culture is more tolerant and sensitive to the diversity of this country and the black employees are grateful to the company for the opportunity and advancement.So much for the fairytale scenario - reality is often harshly different.
In the real-life scenario being experienced by many SA businesses, the results after three years of affirmative action initiatives have led to little social integration and a new cultural phenomenon: "management apartheid". Whereas management used to be all white, it is now stratified - white at the top, a few blacks in mid-management, and a large number of blacks in trainee and lower management posts. A disillusioned black professional described it to me as "SA Irish coffee - the top remains white".
Some of the black professionals who were recruited have left after relatively short stays, prompting disillusionment among white staff who increasingly see black professionals as uncommitted, ungrateful, highly mobile job-hoppers exploiting the sellers' market.
Worse still, black professionals who leave, and even those who remain, are often cynical, saying the company was never really committed to change, was only window-dressing and that they "never really had a real job".
What started out as an ambitious, progressive strategy has turned into a failed experiment, which has hardened attitudes on all sides.
I often meet black professionals who condemn employers that one would imagine to be liberal and socially responsible, while having nothing negative to say about conservative companies that have not yet dabbled in affirmative action. Simply put - those companies that have not implemented affirmative action have not made the classic mistakes that infuriate black professionals, while those companies that pioneered black advancement are criticised. To those who started with good intentions, it seems unfair and disillusioning.
What goes wrong, and how can this scenario be avoided?
The root of the problem always seems to come back to the issue of paternalism versus profitability. White management feel they are doing black professionals (and the country) a favour by employing them. They use words like advancement, mentorship, training, development, equal opportunity, affirmative action, equity and a host of buzz-words which come from a noble motivation but are often poorly received. They convey a non-business message: "We are doing this to help you unadvanced, underdeveloped, disadvantaged, charity cases." The accent is on welfare and social reconstruction, rather than on business's only real bottom line - profit.
It would be better for a business to say to a black professional: "We want you to work for us because we believe you can make us more money. Let's get to work!"
Such a message acknowledges a black professional's value to the company now, and not at some future date. It says: perform now, or move on. It says: we respect you for your professionalism and see ourselves as the recipients of your expertise. You are doing good work for the company, and earn a good salary in return for results, not for your black presence or for some expected future increment.
The focus here is on short-term objectives and results.
Objectors will say this is a short-sighted, heartless, capitalist policy which does not recognise that black people need to have opportunities to make up for the disadvantages suffered under apartheid.
Yes, there are millions of black South Africans who need education, advancement, mentorship and training. But there is a growing sector that needs nothing more than a real job with an immediate bottom-line performance requirement. Black engineers, accountants, retailers, computer persons and general managers want real jobs right now, not paternalistic speeches and "career paths".
There is a common perception that top black professionals are job-hopping for ever-increasing salary packages. This is not true. Many black professionals complain they are leaving their companies because they simply have nothing to do at work. Sounds unreal? Ask them about the endless trainee syndrome or the school from which one never graduates.
This does not mean companies should not train blacks. But what qualified black professionals need is what their white counterparts need - real responsibility in a real job, right now.
There is a lot that black professionals can do for a company in terms of access to new markets, product development, production management and so on.
You can assess if your company is on the right path by applying the paternalism/profitability litmus test. If the company is employing Monde for some vague future benefit to him, the country or the company, that is paternalism. If the company want Monde to work flat out, adding measurable value right now and in the future, that is profitability. Profitability rewards achievement while fostering mutual respect. Black professionals win, and the company's bottom line wins.