An important amendment to the broad-based black economic empowerment codes of good practice has made it possible for firms to improve their scorecards between one and two levels by investing in youth work experiences through the Youth Employment Service programme.
The organisation, which is a joint initiative between business, labour and government, aims to address South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis by creating 1 million work experiences for youth between the ages of 18 and 35 over the course of the next five years. “We don’t have great social mobility and unemployment tends to be self-perpetuating – the biggest barrier to getting a job is not having one. Structurally we have locked people out. We need to give people opportunities to prove what they can do, give them a foot in the door. YES gives youth one year to express their potential and allows the gems to shine,” she continued.
By doubling their YES targets and absorbing 5% of their YES youth employees, companies can move up two levels on their B-BBEE recognition level. Five companies registered with YES, including consumer healthcare multinational Johnson & Johnson, have levelled up their B-BBEE scores on this basis. As a foreign-owned multinational, Johnson & Johnson was previously unable to achieve a score higher than level five.
She gave examples of Deutsche Bank’s cohort of YES youth who have been deployed into township communities to work for a non-profit organisation; while Nedbank and MTN have assigned their youth to act as community agents to build their relationships with their expanding market.
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