Aug 12 2018

Reduce the cost of absenteeism in your company

Would it surprise you to know that the average cost of employee absence from work result to an equivalent of 35% of your employee’s salaries? The net cost of absenteeism in terms of productivity is 19%, according to a study conducted by MERCER. Statistics South Africa estimates that the cost of absenteeism amounts to roughly 12 billion rand per year. In a market that is taking particular strain under the current economic conditions, high rates of absenteeism can cost your company financially as well as through lowered productivity, be it a small company, medium business or a large corporate organisation. While the cost of absenteeism and the corresponding loss of production can be quantified, the issue around how to manage leave and absenteeism within your company is less measureable. With the inevitable split between HR departments and systems and those of payroll, within many organisations, calculating the cost of leave management is an area which is particularly affected as a result.

Leave Management is typically an HR function. Systems need to be put in place so that employee’s absenteeism can be correctly accounted for, accurately managed and effectively monitored. Your human element in your company does not easily align itself to systems and procedures. Humans are more erratic and incidents will happen on a daily basis which will affect the running of your business as a result of absence from work and loss of productivity. HR are the eyes and ears of the business, looking for signs of habitual leave takers and leave abuse but the actual stats of the cost of this will come from your payroll Department or system. Companies with an interest in effectively managing the leave processes will be impressed to finally find a way to perform all of the functions required to manage staff leave, in one united and coherent system.

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Aug 25 2016

Football at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Olympic sports are sports contested in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games . The 2016 Summer Olympics included 28 sports, with five additional sports due to be added to the 2020 Summer Olympics. The 2014 Winter Olympics included seven sports. The number and kinds of events may change slightly from one Olympiad to another.

Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation (IF). The International Olympic Committee (IOC) establishes a hierarchy of sports, disciplines, and events. According to this hierarchy, the Olympic sports can be subdivided into multiple disciplines, which are often assumed to be distinct sports.

Examples include swimming and water polo (disciplines of aquatics, represented by the International Swimming Federation ), or figure skating and speed skating(disciplines of skating, represented by the International Skating Union ). In their turn, disciplines can be subdivided into events, for which medals are actually awarded.

A sport or discipline is included in the Olympic program if the IOC determines it is widely practiced around the world, that is, the number of countries that compete in a given sport is the indicator of the sport’s prevalence. The IOC’s requirements reflect participation in the Olympic Games as well—more stringent toward men (as they are represented in higher numbers) and summer sports (as more nations compete in the Summer Olympics).

Previous Olympic Games included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like polo and tug of war. These sports, known as “discontinued sports”, were later removed either because of lack of interest or absence of an appropriate governing body.

Archery and tennis are examples of sports that were competed at the early Games and were later dropped by the IOC, but managed to return to the Olympic program (in 1972 and 1988, respectively). Demonstration sports have often been included in the Olympic Games, usually to promote a local sport from the host country or to gauge interest and support for the sport. Some such sports, like baseball and curling , were added to the official Olympic program (in 1992 and 1998 , respectively). Baseball, however, was discontinued after the 2008 Summer Olympics .


Sep 15 2015

Japan proved nothing is impossible

World Cup Rugby fever has gripped the nation with some incredible highs and lows over the past 10 days.

The 2015 Rugby World Cup is the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship.The tournament is hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Twickenham Stadium in London will host the final.

England was chosen to host the competition in July 2009, beating rival bids from Italy, Japan and South Africa. The competition’s organisers, Rugby World Cup Limited, had recommended England to the International Rugby Board (IRB; now known as World Rugby).

Of the 20 teams competing at the 2015 World Cup, 12 of them qualified by finishing in the top three places in their pools in the 2011 World Cup. The other eight teams qualified through regional competition. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was only one change – Uruguay replaced Russia. This is the first World Cup since 1987 with no new teams.

Springboks emerge battered and bruised from 46-6 victory over Samoa

Springboks emerge battered and bruised from 46-6 victory over Samoa

BIRMINGHAM, 26 Sept – South Africa’s 46-6 Pool B victory against Samoa helped heal the emotional wounds of their defeat by Japan but left the Springboks with battered and bruised bodies.

“How long is the press conference?” coach Heyneke Meyer joked when asked to offer an update on the walking wounded, which included the impressive Eben Etzebeth and captain Jean de Villiers, who almost missed the tournament with a fractured jaw.

“I’m not sure because a lot of guys have gone for X-rays,” he added.

WALKING WOUNDED

“Jean is one of them. There are five or six other players with injuries. It’s his other jaw. We just hope and pray that he’s right. There’s a long list.”

It looked like being another long and difficult afternoon for the Springboks when Mike Stanley sent over two penalties to give Samoa an early 6-3 lead.

But the Samoa fly-half handed South Africa the initiative in the 15th minute when his misjudged pass was picked off by JP Pietersen (pictured above), who raced away to score the first of his three tries.

Young fly-half Handre Pollard converted four first-half penalties before Schalk Burger, Schalk Brits and Bryan Habana went over to confirm a bonus-point win.

Habana’s try took his World Cup total to 11 and moved him to within striking distance of Jonah Lomu’s all-time record of 15.

FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS

But there was no doubt Pietersen’s opener laid the foundation for the success.

“It is always special scoring a try for your country, but a hat-trick is very special and I’ll remember it for ever,” said the wing.

“We had to win, if we didn’t win today it we would have been in a very difficult situation to qualify for the quarter-finals.

“We were open about it all week, on the situation that we were in, and the only way to get out of the situation was ourselves. We told ourselves that if we win our remaining three games then we will definitely qualify.”

This result does not have a huge impact on Samoa’s hopes of qualifying, however, with Japan and Scotland still likely to be their key fixtures.

Stephen Betham’s side showed signs of promise in the opening stages. And they were on the front foot before Pietersen’s interception try punctured any growing momentum.

COSTLY INTERCEPTION

“That intercept in the first half cost us for the whole game,” said their captain, Ofisa Treviranus.

“If that intercept hadn’t gone, the game was really tough, and we would have had a really tight game. After that intercept, some of the boys were heads down.”

Samoa’s heads were down but they do not consider themselves out of contention in Pool B.

Coach Betham said: “At the moment I think our pool is still wide pen. It’s anyone’s game. We lost today but we still have a chance.”