Constitution of the training committee

A training committee must have a constitution in place with  the  given mandate and should be performance-driven to ensure commitment.

The committee should, aside from its legal obligations in terms of the Employment Equity Act and recommendations of the Skills Development Act, be committed to:

• Improving the quality of life of all workers, their prospects of work and mobility,

• Improving productivity in the workplace and the competitiveness of the organisation,

• Increasing the levels of investment in education and training and improving the return on that investment.

A training committee should represent the interests of all sectors of its workforce and should consult on the implementation and monitoring of its skills development plans in terms of the relevant Acts and the organisation’s requirements.

1   Scope and objectives of a training committee

The scope of the committee comprises the activities in the organisation, as these have been decided in  consultation  with  staff, as identified and described in the Employment Equity act (EEA), recommended in the SDA and the Skills Development Levies Act (SDLA) (1999) and any regulations, codes of good practice, directives and administrative guidelines published in terms of these Acts.

The committee is responsible for making recommendations to the leadership of the organisation, for example the Management Board, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Managing Partner.

The training committee is not responsible for the implementation of its recommendations. It is responsible for monitoring of the implementation of the goals and objectives of the forum. In addition, the training committee may not be utilised as a forum in which to raise grievances and or demands not related to its scope and objectives.

The first objective of the committee is to promote the objectives of the SDA within the organisation by:

• Promoting skills development, by assisting and advising on the development of competency levels of employees so that individual and team performance can be improved, and the objectives of the Employment Equity Plan (EEP) realised.

• Proposing actions to continuously enhance the skills level of employees so that technology, process and structural changes can be effectively implemented.
• Developing a WSP.

• Monitoring and reporting on the progress made in implementing the WSP i.e. the ATR.

• Facilitating employee mobility through outcomes-based education and training.

• Assisting employees in utilising the opportunity to use workplace skills development as a mechanism to achieve nationally recognised unit standards and qualifications.

• Enhancing the organisation’s quality of education and training.

• Addressing the organisation’s past discrimination and imbalances.

• Contributing to the personal development of learners.

• Optimising the levy rebates, incentives and interventions funded by the Seta.

Although not in the mandate of the SDA, where the training committee and employment equity committee are combined, the second objective of the committee could be to promote the objectives of the EEA within the organisation by:

• Conducting analyses  of  its  employment  policies,  practices,  procedures  and  the  working environment, in order to identify employment barriers which adversely affect people from designated groups.
• Developing of an employment equity plan which will achieve reasonable progress towards employment equity in the organisation’s workforce.
• Giving input into the preparation and compilation of the reports required to be submitted to the Director-General (DG) of the Department of Labour (DoL) and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).
• Assisting with the  internal procedures to resolve any dispute about implementation of the EEP.

The training committee

It is strongly recommended that for organisations with more than 50 employees, a training committee is established for the purposes of consultation on training matters. This committee, as a whole, should reflect the interests of employees from all occupational categories in the organisation’s workforce.

A consultative forum should be established or an existing forum used if this is appropriate. For example, an existing diversity committee, affirmative action or employment equity forum may be utilised.

1    Composition of the training committee

All stakeholders should be included in this forum, for example:

• Representative trade unions

• Employee representatives from designated groups, non-designated groups, all occupational categories  and  levels, responsibility and senior management, including the managers  assigned  with

This forum should engage in proper consultation. Proper consultation includes:

• The opportunity to meet and report back to employees and management

• Reasonable opportunity for employee representatives to meet with the employer

• The request, receipt and consideration of relevant information

• Adequate time being allowed for each of the above steps

Ongoing interaction with and accessibility to senior management with regard to workplace skills issues is critical to the success of this process.

The frequency of consultative forum meetings will vary from employer to employer depending on size, sophistication, existing levels of diversity, and what has already been accomplished in the workplace with regard to skills development. Meetings should take place regularly and employers should allow time off for these meetings.

2   Role of the training committee

The role of a training committee is to:

• Drive and direct the skills development process.

• Ensure that representative consultation takes place regarding up-skilling of employees.

• Authorise and sign off the grant application to the Seta.

• Ensure that the SDF is leading the way with the SD process.

• Support the SDF in the efforts of ‘spreading the word’ regarding training and up-skilling.