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The best companies to work for in SA

JobCrystal shows happiest employees and best places to work in South Africa - and surprisingly these aren't always at the same places.
The best companies to work for in SA

The second JobCrystal Happiness Indicator released on 10 June 2010, takes a look at which South African companies have the happiest staff and are the best places to work. The Auditor General has the happiest employees, with Shell Oil, CSIR, Softline Pastel and Anglo Platinum also performing well.

KPMG is rated as the best place to work in South Africa with Sanlam, Momentum, Pick n Pay and PricewaterhouseCoopers also getting the thumbs up from employees (see charts below).

The low correlation between companies where employees are the happiest and those rated the best place to work demonstrates an important takeaway for companies. Even if employees buy into the company culture, vision and environment and so rate the company as a good place to work, they also need to have their individual goals and requirements met in order to be happy.

(See data tables below). It's worth remembering that all these companies mentioned have a significant number of active and passive jobseekers, which have signed up on JobCrystal, www.jobcrystal.co.za, amongst their employees.

The JobCrystal Happiness Indicator data is compiled from the 100 000-strong JobCrystal database of jobseekers. Employees are asked how happy they are in their current position (miserable, frustrated, comfortable, happy) and also how they rate their employer (the best, excellent, fair, poor, awful) when they register on JobCrystal.

JobCrystal: Companies with the happiest employees
Company nameHappy employees1
1. Auditor General72.6%
2. Shell Oil 70.0%
3. CSIR69.8%
3. Softline Pastel69.8%
5. Anglo Platinum69.1%
Note: See the notes to editors for a sector breakdown.
1 Percentage employees rating themselves "comfortable" or "happy" in their current role when registering on JobCrystal.

JobCrystal: Top companies rated by employees "best"/"excellent" to work for
Company nameBest company to work for1 Happy employees2
1. KPMG75%62%
2. Sanlam71%48%
3. Pick n Pay67%54%
4. Momentum67%61%
5. PricewaterhouseCoopers66%56%
1 Percentage employees registered on JobCrystal rating the company "best"/"excellent" to work for.
2 Percentage employees rating themselves "comfortable" or "happy" in their current role when registering on JobCrystal.

The first JobCrystal Happiness Indicator, released in April 2010, (www.jobcrystal.co.za/blog/post/JobCrystal/2010/04/Press_02/) showed that fewer than half of South African employees are currently happy in their role. This latest data shows that employees experience a huge difference in the impact of the general company environment as opposed to the achievement of individual career ambitions on their happiness levels.

"It is clear that the companies that focus on gaining staff buy-in for company-wide goals and objectives, at the expense of meeting employees' individual career goals, are going to find it difficult to hold on to top talent," said Kevin Laithwaite, JobCrystal managing director. "The two go hand-in-hand in terms of attracting and keeping star performers."

JobCrystal compiles the Happiness Indicator from the data it collects when candidates enter their details on the talent management portal. One of the ways in which JobCrystal improves the recruitment process and the hiring success rate for companies is by using this and other data to make the best matches between candidates and vacancies.

JobCrystal focuses on candidates looking to earn R150 000 per year and more. It charges a flat fee per successful placement, with no upfront charges. Companies including Allan Gray, Santam, Standard Bank and Foschini are using JobCrystal to source candidates.

Companies with the happiest employees by sector
Sector & company nameHappy employees
Auditing
1. KPMG62%
2. Ernst & Young59%
3. PricewaterhouseCoopers56%
Banking
1. Standard Bank57%
2. Wesbank56%
3. ABSA Bank56%
Education
1. Tshwane University of Technology63%
2. University of Pretoria62%
3. University of Johannesburg61%
FMCG
1. BAT South Africa65%
2. Tiger Brands57%
3. Unilever55%
Government
1. Auditor General73%
2. CSIR70%
3. Department of Health69%
Insurance
1. Metropolitan63%
2. Momentum61%
3. Discovery Health57%
IT
1. Softline Pastel70%
2. IBM South Africa65%
3. Dimension Data64%
Public Enterprise
1. Transnet60%
2. SABC56%
3. Eskom55%
Retail
1. JD Group68%
2. Foschini Group60%
3. Edcon Group56%
Telecoms
1. MTN68%
2. Telkom61%
3. Vodacom61%

Company details are only displayed if there is a statistically significant data sample size.

About JobCrystal

JobCrystal aims to turn traditional hiring on its head by placing employers directly in touch with a pool of 100 000 passive jobseekers. The online service is highly automated and matches candidates with employers, and the company claims that this makes the interactive talent management portal faster, cheaper and more effective than any other way of recruiting.

The company was founded by Kevin Laithwaite and Karl Westvig and launched in August 2009, and is being used by companies including Allan Gray, Santam, Foschini, Mr Price, Ovations Group and Standard Bank to source candidates.

For more information go to www.jobcrystal.co.za (for jobseekers) or www.jobcrystal.co.za/talent (for employers)

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