OUR OVERVIEW

Our culture and our people – transforming SANBS

OUR OVERVIEW

Our culture and our people – transforming SANBS

Reflections, celebrations and 21 years of being purposeful and building organisational resilience through investment in our people

Reflections, celebrations and 21 years of being purposeful and building organisational resilience through investment in our people

We recognise the importance of empowering our people to execute on the iHEALTh strategy and strive to create an environment where our employees can flourish, grow and innovate – living up to our purpose of being ‘Trusted to save lives’. The magnitude of such a mandate places considerable responsibility on each and every employee to operate at a level of excellence, and even greater responsibility on SANBS leaders and the Board to plan for the future and mitigate any people risks.

 

SANBS drives performance and targets and operates like a commercial business and for the most part achieves these stretch targets. This creates a culture of “go go go”  but, we are also  a NPO with  purpose. In attempting to balance high performance with kindness at the workplace, the leadership are guided by our THREAD values and use the phrase “candour with care” as we remain focussed on achieving our strategic objectives.

 

Our success can be attributed to the following factors which have been fundamental to transform our organisation.

We recognise the importance of empowering our people to execute on the iHEALTh strategy and strive to create an environment where our employees can flourish, grow and innovate – living up to our purpose of being ‘Trusted to save lives’. The magnitude of such a mandate places considerable responsibility on each and every employee to operate at a level of excellence, and even greater responsibility on SANBS leaders and the Board to plan for the future and mitigate any people risks.

 

SANBS drives performance and targets and operates like a commercial business and for the most part achieves these stretch targets. This creates a culture of “go go go”  but, we are also  a NPO with  purpose. In attempting to balance high performance with kindness at the workplace, the leadership are guided by our THREAD values and use the phrase “candour with care” as we remain focussed on achieving our strategic objectives.

 

Our success can be attributed to the following factors which have been fundamental to transform our organisation.

Where we were

Where we
are

how this is
achieved

Management

Leadership

SANBS embarked on a 360-degree review process to help leaders manage more effectively through constructive feedback, resulting in:

  • Formalised Personal Development Plans to grow our leaders of the future
  • Learning and Development initiatives to improve leadership traits
  • Placing leaders in roles that speak to their strengths
  • Coaching opportunities

 

We monitor the strengthening of the leadership depth and talent management through progress with development programmes that have been formalised following the outcomes of the #360 Leadership Assessments.

Employment
equity

Diversity and inclusion

  • Our transformation is evident in our long track record of achieving our set targets.  These have constantly been maintained around 89% representation of Black employees in the workplace
  • Gender diversity is achieved with a 59/41% split in favour of female employees
  • Our Exco comprises of 50% women and 50% men and is representative of South Africa’s demographics
  • Our Board is made up of 55% women and 45% men and also has diverse racial representation
  • SANBS develops young people with disabilities, with a potential to be absorbed into SANBS

General employee engagement

Focused and measurable employee engagement to transform SANBS

  • This has been achieved through a deliberate and thoughtful culture change project which started in 2018. In collaboration with our employees, we co-created an aspirational culture, called our DNA where all staff were given an opportunity to vote on the things we should do more and less of – enablers vs. disablers
  • Such is its importance that engagement is included as a corporate scorecard item (what gets measured gets done)
  • In addition, the SANBS Ethics Management Strategy and Plan has been enhanced with the appointment of ethics ambassadors to ensure a seamless integration into the purpose, vision and strategic goals, reinforcing the THREAD values

Where we were

Management

Where we are

Leadership

how this is achieved

SANBS embarked on a 360-degree review process to help leaders manage more effectively through constructive feedback, resulting in:

  • Formalised Personal Development Plans to grow our leaders of the future
  • Learning and Development initiatives to improve leadership traits
  • Placing leaders in roles that speak to their strengths
  • Coaching opportunities

 

We monitor the strengthening of the leadership depth and talent management through progress with development programmes that have been formalised following the outcomes of the #360 Leadership Assessments.

Where we were

Employment equity

Where we are

Diversity and inclusion

how this is achieved

  • Our transformation is evident in our long track record of achieving our set targets.  These have constantly been maintained around 89% representation of Black employees in the workplace
  • Gender diversity is achieved with a 59/41% split in favour of female employees
  • Our Exco comprises of 50% women and 50% men and is representative of South Africa’s demographics
  • Our Board is made up of 55% women and 45% men and also has diverse racial representation
  • SANBS develops young people with disabilities, with a potential to be absorbed into SANBS

Where we were

General employee engagement

Where we
are

Focused and measurable employee engagement to transform SANBS

how this is achieved

  • This has been achieved through a deliberate and thoughtful culture change project which started in 2018. In collaboration with our employees, we co-created an aspirational culture, called our DNA where all staff were given an opportunity to vote on the things we should do more and less of – enablers vs. disablers
  • Such is its importance that engagement is included as a corporate scorecard item (what gets measured gets done)
  • In addition, the SANBS Ethics Management Strategy and Plan has been enhanced with the appointment of ethics ambassadors to ensure a seamless integration into the purpose, vision and strategic goals, reinforcing the THREAD values

Where we were

Where we
are

how this is
achieved

Human
Resources

Human Capital Management

  • The Human Resources team embarked on its own game changer journey of reflection to ensure that the team remains agile and responsive to business needs
  • The Human Capital Management division partners with business to attract, retain and grow talented people to deliver trusted blood products and services in innovative ways

External focus on recruitment/talent searches

Building internal capacity to create promotional opportunities

 

Specialist skills are sourced externally where required

  • Talent management and succession planning are strategic imperatives at SANBS, in line with our governance requirements to ensure business continuity
  • SANBS manages talent risk by having multiple successors for each priority role, with a specific people development focus on building internal capacity and with a target of filling 70% of vacancies with internal candidates. During FY22, 83 employees were promoted
  • Our succession planning has created a number of success stories so far. These include the appointment of internal staff for priority roles such as the CEO, Medical Director, Executives for the Donor and Transfusion Medicine divisions, and several senior managers, all of which reflect the ROI of the process thus far
  • Reflective in the long tenures of many of our people and the low staff turnover over the 21 years is employee commitment and their fulfilment from the contribution and associated acknowledgment of individual and collective contributions. In the period under review, our turnover was 6,89% against our KPI of 8%

Identifying development needs and training

Life-long
learning
  • With 56% of our employees being below 40 years of age, SANBS is purposeful in keeping our youthful employees engaged
  • SANBS created a formal learning academy to develop a digital learning roadmap, promoting an ethos of life-long learning, offering employees the support they need to grow their knowledge and expertise through the Research, Advisory and Development (RAD) Academy. It services both internal and external requirements
  • People development continues to be a key focus area with many opportunities being afforded to staff to study and bursaries are also being granted to children of qualifying staff members. This has led to several internal staff being promoted and appointed to senior positions
  • Our high standards of testing and quality shows our commitment to investing in our people

Compliance driven Occupational Health and Safety

Holistic wellness and wellbeing

  • Cultural change at SANBS showcases our direct efforts on social change at the workplace and the communities in which we operate
  • In line with worldwide focus on the wellness and wellbeing of people, we have an Employee Assistance Programme, ICAS, that is well utilised
  • ICAS provides emotional and psychological support to help maintain productivity, build employee loyalty and minimise business disruption

We pride ourselves as an organisation in which there have been no real job losses over the last 21 years, including during the amalgamation of blood services.  This is largely attributable to us performing well against our strategies and effective execution of our financial plans/budgets over the years, including strict management of costs and appropriate investment in strategic projects and reskilling/reallocating resources to create an agile business.

 

We believe that it is through the committed, passionate and purposeful people of SANBS, and the investment of SANBS in its people that the journey, over 21 years, has had many positive outcomes.

Where we were

Human
Resources

Where we are

Human Capital Management

how this is achieved

  • The Human Resources team embarked on its own game changer journey of reflection to ensure that the team remains agile and responsive to business needs
  • The Human Capital Management division partners with business to attract, retain and grow talented people to deliver trusted blood products and services in innovative ways

Where we were

External focus on recruitment/talent searches

Where we are

Building internal capacity to create promotional opportunities

 

Specialist skills are sourced externally where required

how this is achieved

  • Talent management and succession planning are strategic imperatives at SANBS, in line with our governance requirements to ensure business continuity
  • SANBS manages talent risk by having multiple successors for each priority role, with a specific people development focus on building internal capacity and with a target of filling 70% of vacancies with internal candidates. During FY22, 83 employees were promoted
  • Our succession planning has created a number of success stories so far. These include the appointment of internal staff for priority roles such as the CEO, Medical Director, Executives for the Donor and Transfusion Medicine divisions, and several senior managers, all of which reflect the ROI of the process thus far
  • Reflective in the long tenures of many of our people and the low staff turnover over the 21 years is employee commitment and their fulfilment from the contribution and associated acknowledgment of individual and collective contributions. In the period under review, our turnover was 6,89% against our KPI of 8%

Where we were

Identifying development needs and training

Where we are

Life-long learning

how this is achieved

  • With 56% of our employees being below 40 years of age, SANBS is purposeful in keeping our youthful employees engaged
  • SANBS created a formal learning academy to develop a digital learning roadmap, promoting an ethos of life-long learning, offering employees the support they need to grow their knowledge and expertise through the Research, Advisory and Development (RAD) Academy. It services both internal and external requirements
  • People development continues to be a key focus area with many opportunities being afforded to staff to study and bursaries are also being granted to children of qualifying staff members. This has led to several internal staff being promoted and appointed to senior positions
  • Our high standards of testing and quality shows our commitment to investing in our people

Where we were

Compliance driven Occupational Health and Safety

Where we are

Holistic wellness and wellbeing

how this is achieved

  • Cultural change at SANBS showcases our direct efforts on social change at the workplace and the communities in which we operate
  • In line with worldwide focus on the wellness and wellbeing of people, we have an Employee Assistance Programme, ICAS, that is well utilised
  • ICAS provides emotional and psychological support to help maintain productivity, build employee loyalty and minimise business disruption

We pride ourselves as an organisation in which there have been no real job losses over the last 21 years, including during the amalgamation of blood services.  This is largely attributable to us performing well against our strategies and effective execution of our financial plans/budgets over the years, including strict management of costs and appropriate investment in strategic projects and reskilling/reallocating resources to create an agile business.

 

We believe that it is through the committed, passionate and purposeful people of SANBS, and the investment of SANBS in its people that the journey, over 21 years, has had many positive outcomes.

Employee Testimonials
Employee Testimonials

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Head Office

  • 1 Constantia Boulevard Constantia Kloof, Roodepoort, 1709
  • (011) 761-9000
  • customerservice@sanbs.org.za

Main Links

Ⓒ 2022 - All Rights Are Reserved. SANBS Integrated Report. Created by Joshero (Pty) Ltd.

Head Office

  • 1 Constantia Boulevard Constantia Kloof, Roodepoort, 1709
  • (011) 761-9000
  • customerservice@sanbs.org.za

Main Links

Ⓒ 2022 - All Rights Are Reserved. SANBS Integrated Report. Created by Joshero (Pty) Ltd.