High-profile Deloitte survey draws record number of entries

Engen has emerged as the most sought-after employer in the South African petrochemical industry, the prestigious Deloitte Best Company To Work For survey has revealed.

Now in its eighth year, the survey is an exhaustive investigation into employee satisfaction at participant companies, most of them among SA’s most admired enterprises.

“Having battled it out with other industry greats for one of the highest accolades possible, we are humbled by this honour,” says Rashid Yusof, Engen managing director and CEO.

In a statement issued by Deloitte to announce the results, the firm noted that it takes courage to enter a high-profile survey of this nature. But the companies that excel stand to use the insights gained as the basis for best-practice human capital programmes that will position them as employers of choice in the midst of a deepening global talent crisis, it assured would-be entrants for next year’s run.

“A definite trend that has emerged this year is that by far the most entrants have aligned their survey participation with their HR strategies, and many are even linking their survey performance to the personal performance metrics of senior managers and executives,” said David Conradie, principal for Human Capital at Deloitte.

“This suggests a growing realisation among participating companies that employee commitment and engagement have a direct impact on business performance.”

In recognition of the increasing diversity in the employee populations of participating companies, the survey introduced additional demographic criteria this year (‘age’ and ‘tenure’) to complement previous years’ criteria (‘gender’, ‘race’ and ‘job level’).

“The companies that have performed well across this broad spectrum of criteria are those that have successfully come to terms with the challenges of managing a diverse workforce, characterised by ever-changing employee expectations,” Conradie said.

The 2007 survey recorded the highest number of participants ever – 131 from 16 industries. The Awards function was held at Sandton Convention Centre.