FKE yesterday launched an initiative to recognize organizations that promote and encourage best practices in Performance, People Management, and Industrial Relations. Dubbed, Employer of the Year Awards (EYA) the annual fete will conduct a survey among its’ members to establish minimum standards of responsibility to and among employees who run the organizations.
“It is generally acceptable that employers take care of the business value chain, hence require no individual recognition of their initiatives. What EYA seeks to do is turn this perception and focus on the holistic development of the organization that focuses on both the employee needs and the enterprise at large” Said Julius Korir, the Principal Secretary for Investment and Industry, Trade, and Cooperatives.
In a survey that will be carried out by PWC, employers will be assessed on eight key areas covering: Leadership and Governance, Corporate Performance, Responsible Business Conduct, Inclusiveness and Diversity, Work Environment, Learning and Development and Human/ Industry Relations.
“As most will observe, the most important factor of production of an enterprise is its workforce and to this, they need motivation, recognition, and value. While this is critical, we also need to look at those employers that are putting extra investment to develop and nurture capabilities so that we can learn from them, to set industry benchmarks that we can measure against,” said Jacqueline Mugo- Executive Director & CEO, FKE.
Largely, the market has been without an industry framework that employers can refer to and learn from to improve productivity. The findings of this initiative will be consolidated into guidelines that are expected to help employers as well as incorporate their role within the framework of business reforms in the country.
Last year, the Kenyan job market was made up of 15.1 million people up from a previous 14.3 million in 2014. Of this, 713,600 were employed in the formal sector and 128,000 in the informal sector.
