Transforming our people

While our ability to meet our internal transformation objectives was curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have successfully adapted to an entirely new socio-economic and operating environment. Within the framework of our Recover and Sustain Strategy, we are implementing our People and Culture Strategy, which sets out realistic short- and medium-term transformation objectives.

The key objectives of this strategy are to design a smart and flexible organisation, energise our workforce, build high-performance teams with future-focused skills, entrench an ethical culture, enhance our carbon intelligence, and strengthen our commercial agility.

Black participation in the economy as a whole nevertheless remains a major challenge and requires urgent attention and coordination between all key stakeholders in order to identify and build partnership opportunities that will help to reduce unemployment and secure economic empowerment. The involvement and commitment of social partners is essential if we are to achieve our broader transformation goals.

We also acknowledge the important and significant role of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and co-operatives in the economy and are committed to investing in, supporting and developing SMMEs and co‑operatives that are owned and/or managed by Black people, especially Black women, young people and people with disabilities.

To ensure a focused and conscious approach, strategic objectives in four key areas have been identified as crucial to accelerating our transformation agenda.

In the previous period, the Human Resources division also led the process of developing our Revised Governance Framework and Operating Model (GFOM), which takes new realities into account. This was developed to enable us to become a leaner and more agile organisation without having to compromise our transformation agenda. It is being implemented with the support of the Human Resources division.

Management control

The CEO, CFO and other members of the Board provide the strong and consistent leadership necessary to navigate the many complex challenges we have to face as a business and as a significant contributor to the goals of the NDP. They are supported by the Group’s Executive Committee and the Management Committees in all of the operating units.

Further information about our governance structures and procedures is available in our Governance and Remuneration Report, which complements the Integrated Annual Report and is part of our reporting suite.

Employment equity

Budget constraints during the Covid-19 pandemic meant that we had to put all but the most essential appointments on hold and delay the implementation of certain company-wide initiatives to enhance employment equity. However, as soon as the State of Disaster was lifted in April 2022, we undertook a process of developing a successive EE plan.

In the 2024 financial year, our focus was on rolling out the EE plan for the year and this was reviewed during the fourth quarter to take into account a reduction in employee count. A revised version of the plan will be rolled out in the 2025 financial year. ACSA’s Employment Equity Report for the 2023 calendar year was submitted to the Department of Employment and Labour in December 2023.

The Human Resources division has been purposeful about integrating the solutions to employment equity barriers into the People and Culture Strategy to ensure that there is a consolidated focus on diversity and inclusion issues, especially those relating to gender, youth and people living with disabilities. Among others, these issues include accessibility, economic participation by Black businesses and skills development.

The objective of the plan is to drive a transformation mindset throughout the organisation by ensuring that we attain and retain a diverse workforce, support the development of Black-owned businesses and promote youth development.

As in all aspects of our business, we continue to consult closely with our employees and their union representatives regarding our transformation and employment equity targets.

Employee demographics

We are also dedicated to ensuring our workforce reflects the demographics of South Africa’s economically active population. The organisation is on the path of recovery and recruitment efforts are aimed at improving representation against the national targets for each demographic group. There are still areas needing improvement where there are high rates of under representation, such as the white male and white female employee population.

As at 31 March 2024, the total employee population was 2 765 (2023: 2 448), with Black representation being 96.8% (2023: 96.3%). This is 4.8% higher than the national employment equity target of 92%.

Employee demographics

Black males represent 51.9% of the employee population (2023: 49.77%) against a national target of 50%. White males and white females continue to be under-represented, with white males making up 2.40% of the employee population (2023: 2.2%) against a target of 4.5% and white females making up 2.40% (2023: 1.5%) against a target of 3.5%. The percentage of employees with disabilities is 1.99% and youth representation was 30.7% of the employee population.

A summary of our employment equity statistics is given in the table below:

Skills development

In compliance with Transport Education and Training Authority (TETA) requirements, we submitted a comprehensive Workplace Skills Plan for the reporting period. Drawing on input from line managers throughout the business, the plan focused on:

While young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are a primary focus for us, access to skills development and further education and training is available to all employees, up to and including those at executive level.

The realities of budget constraints nevertheless continued to be felt throughout the 2024 financial year, with only 62% of the proposed budget for training and skills development being approved.

ACSA’s Learning and Development Department has two delivery channels, namely the Training Academy, which focuses on commercial development initiatives for external customers, and a Skills Development Department, which is dedicated to employee development.

Training Academy

In line with our organisational strategy, the Training Academy is currently implementing a Commercialisation Strategy and, of the nine priority areas identified in the strategy, four were the primary focus during the reporting period. These were Accreditation, Qualification Development, Curriculum Development, and Customers and Sales.

In addition to our existing accreditations from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the ICAO, the Academy secured accreditation from the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA). This signifies that its training centre, materials and instructors meet SASSETA’s rigorous standards, supporting ACSA’s strategic objective of delivering exceptional safety and security training programmes for the aviation sector.

Further, in collaboration with ACI Africa, the Academy has embarked on a strategic partnership with the University of Cape Town to develop industry-specific qualifications, and both the data analysis and programme design phases have been completed. This collaborative project aims to offer accredited qualifications at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Levels 7, 8 and 9. SASSETA accreditation will ensure that the courses we offer are certified by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and will count as credits towards various diploma and degree courses.

In the area of curriculum development, the Academy conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to identify the specific knowledge, skills and competencies required by students in Aviation Security (AVSEC), Fire and Rescue and Safety. Based on this, it has strategically aligned learning solutions to each development stage, ensuring that the required courses for career progression are clear, well-defined and formally approved.

Finally, the Academy’s work to improve commercial agility through customer relationship management and sales was exceptional.

It significantly surpassed its projected revenue generation target of R2.2 million, closing the financial year with revenue of R5.4 million. This achievement was made even more remarkable given the resource limitations it had to contend with.

The Training Academy is the only aviation security training centre in the sub-Saharan region and has been accredited to provide training since 2004. With our business focus diversifying and shifting to concentrate on building non-aeronautical revenue, we recognise what a critical role it has to play in capacitating the organisation for future sustainability and success.

Workplace Skills Plan

A total of 1 965 training interventions were requested by 965 employees on ACSA’s Workplace Skills Plan. As at 31 March 2024, 1 464 of the requested initiatives had been implemented, representing an execution rate of 75% and an investment of close to R15 million.

In addition, 76 bursaries to the value of just over R9.5 million were awarded for the children of employees. Of the recipients, 84% are Black Africans and 46% are female. There were no applications from persons with disabilities.

As a result of all of these initiatives, our B-BBEE skills development score increased from seven points to 18 points. We aim to obtain the maximum 25 points in the 2025 financial year, which will help us to reach B-BBEE Level 1.