Vox celebrated an extra special Women’s Month with the graduation of 10 female employees, who have furthered their expertise through the company’s internal skills development programme, and enrolment of the next batch of employees – all women.
“There is a strong culture of skills development and training within the company. We have different learning programmes including internships, learnerships, product and systems training, and much more,” says Caster Seakamela, Skills Development Facilitator at Vox. “While completion of the course means that these ladies have a National Certificate, even more importantly they now have academic credits they can further build on.”
Vox regularly carries out training needs analysis across the company and its subsidiaries to identify areas where new or additional skills are required, and then puts together training programmes to upskill employees and fill those gaps. In addition, there are internal training programmes certified by relevant organisations and industry vendors, such as CompTIA and MikroTik.
The company has been working with external training providers to provide lectures for three consecutive days per month, over the course of the year, with the outcome being an accredited certification ranging between NQF 3 and NQF 5.
“Classes are held onsite at the Vox campus in Waverley, meaning there are no transport costs incurred, while the employees have access to personal computers or laptops, connectivity and learning material,” says Seakamela.
“Four years ago, we started with a NQF level 3 Business Administration qualification for selected employees. Our success with these efforts has seen the learnership programme evolve over the years, to offer an NQF level 5, Project Management qualification opportunities that are in line with the needs of the business,” says Seakamela.
The learnership opportunities are advertised on the company’s intranet, through emails to staff members, and at internal events. Candidates are identified through three ways: interested employees submit their CVs, employees can nominate their colleagues, and department managers can nominate employees that they have identified based on their growth potential and earmarked for development.
According to Seakamela, some of the selected ladies were held back in further education efforts not only due to financial constraints, but also through a fear of having to study while being employed full time. “However, the knowledge that there are people who believe in their ability, and being able to share the experience with other women, gave them the confidence to take on the course.”
The ladies who graduated come from a range of departments and roles – right from receptionists all the way to administrators and project managers – and differing educational qualifications, and the challenging nature of the coursework means that they further have to build relationships and rely on teamwork in order to progress.
“There has been extremely positive feedback on the learnership programmes from both employees and their line managers. Vox stands to benefit from having a better skilled workforce, and improved employee performance and loyalty, which in turns results in better service being provided to our customers,” says Seakamela.
About Author
