Decent jobs for youths
Published On August 19, 2015 » 1345 Views» By Davies M.M Chanda » Features
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Labour & Employment ForumTHE Zambian youth have always been looking for the next great productivity tip, and it certainly has come by way of the 2015 youth policy and action plan for youth empowerment and employment launched recently by President Edgar Lungu.
With the youth policy and action plan, which was launched on August 12, 2015 in Lusaka, the youth will now have an opportunity to let unproductive things in their lives fall by the wayside in favour of empowering themselves through serious work.
This is the first ever action plan for youth empowerment and employment, and offers evidence of Government’s determination to see young people become productive citizens.
What makes the revised youth policy unique is that it emphasises the need for responsive programming to address the transition from adolescence to youth.
President Lungu said the policy also puts in place effective exit strategies that prepare young people to be self-reliant.
The youth employment and empowerment action plan provides a practical and comprehensive job creation and empowerment strategy.
It is undeniable that creating a good number of decent jobs for the young people will be a sure way to cementing Zambia’s future.
If the youth are engaged in productive work, the added benefit for the country, apart from empowering them, will manifest in the drop in anti-social behaviour.
As Mr Lungu rightly indicated, it is important that young people who make up the majority of Zambia’s population play a pivotal role in the country’s development process.
It is true that no meaningful development can take place without the involvement of the youth, for they are indeed the ‘trustees of posterity’.
The import of both the youth policy and action plan for youth empowerment and employment is that they provide measures for addressing both vocational and educational training needs, as well as employability and empowerment.
They will thus serve as a major milestone in providing the youth with new opportunities for jobs, and economic and social empowerment.
This development, Mr Lungu said, will not only guarantee jobs for the youth but secure better quality employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and income to improve living standards.
Implementation of the strategy will culminate in the increase of options and opportunities for youth empowerment and employment, while also creating an enabling platform for youth innovation and entrepreneurship.
The ultimate goal for the Government is to reduce poverty and ensure sustainable development and social inclusion among the youth.
The cardinal features of the plan include the national apprenticeship and internship schemes which should create employment for the unskilled youth within participating companies, and expansion of low-interest credit facilities targeting new and growing youth-led enterprises.
Others are the provision of ongoing business support services, including mentorship to youth-led businesses, as well as the provision of incentives through annual awards to deserving youth-led businesses.
The national awards will recognise companies that are targeting the youth for empowerment.
Mr Lungu observed that youth programmes are a cross-cutting issue. Therefore, there is need to mainstream young people’s concerns and empowerment needs throughout Government and non-governmental programmes and activities.
I concur with the call for youth mainstreaming at all levels as that is in sync with the Government’s decentralisation policy.
The President’s directive to all line ministries and sectors to offer preferential treatment to qualified youth-led enterprises in awarding of contracts and in the public procurement process is spot-on.
I implore the implementing officers to treat these documents seriously so that they can form the fulcrum for real employment creation for the Zambian youth who are eager to transform their lives for the better.
Similarly, young people should also reflect deeply on their lives and seek to make valuable contributions to national development at the same time that they are improving their living standards.
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I have lately received mail from some workers in companies that are threatening to lay them off for a number of reasons, among them shrinkage of business and the increased load-shedding which has affected production.
There is, understandably, a veritable cost explosion in electricity-dependent industries which are losing many hours of production on account of not having power.
In such situations, company managements are compelled to make hard decisions to keep their businesses afloat.
Accountants and others in related fields refer to this as cost-benefit analysis. The benefits of a given situation or business-related action are summed and then the costs associated with taking that action are subtracted.
Unfortunately, workers are targetted for retrenchment when times are hard, but it is absolutely important for company managements to follow the right procedure when arriving at such decisions.
The BusinessDictionary.com indicates that retrenchment is a strategy used by corporations to reduce the diversity or the overall size of the operations of the company.
This strategy is often used in order to cut expenses with the goal of becoming a more financially stable business.
Typically, the strategy involves withdrawing from certain markets or the discontinuation of selling certain products or services in order to make a beneficial turnaround.
Redundancy occurs once a position and/or duties are no longer considered vital to the company due to a merger, bankruptcy or new technology.
This can lead to retrenchment (where you lose your job), re-deployment (where you move positions in the company) or re-skilling, whereby you learn a new skill set to contribute to the company in a different way.
Retrenchment can occur due to several different reasons and requires a set procedure through which the employer needs to have exhausted all other options.
The reason for retrenchment must be fair, lawful, reasonable under the circumstances, justifiable (provable) and based on sound business rationale.
Retrenchment also entitles you to severance pay in connection to the duration for which you worked for the company, as well as reasons for retrenchment and the proper notice period.
Not long ago, I discussed the circumstances under which an employee could be declared redundant, and I outlined the procedure employers should follow.
Whenever an employer intends to terminate a contract of employment for reason of redundancy, the employer will provide notice of not less than 30 days to the labour office or union of the employee on the impending redundancies.
The labour office and/or union should be informed of the number of employees to be affected and the period within which the termination is intended to be carried out.
The union to which an employee belongs should be afforded an opportunity for consultations on the measures to be taken to minimise the effects of termination and adverse impact on the employees.
It is also a requirement for the employer to submit to the officer the reasons for the redundancies, the number of categories of employees likely to be affected, as well as the nature of the redundancy packages.
An employee whose contract of service has been cut by reason of redundancy will be entitled to such redundancy payment as agreed by the parties, or as determined by the minister through the Statutory Instruments, thus two months basic pay for each year served.
The redundancy benefits must be paid not later than the last day of duty. When an employer is not able to pay the redundancy benefits on the last day of duty of the employee, the employer will continue to pay the worker full wages until the benefits are paid.
However, this will not apply to a company in liquidation, a casual worker, and an employee engaged for a fixed term and the redundancy coincides with the expiration of that term.
The provision also does not apply to an employee who is on probation, and one who has been offered alternative employment and has unreasonably refused the offer.
It is worth noting that it is illegal for an employer to use redundancy as a way of dismissing someone for reasons relating to the employee’s bad conduct or poor performance.
Dear readers, let us keep the link open as we share issues on labour and employment.
(This column is an initiative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. For comments or questions, email info@mlss.gov.zm or niza12001@yahoo.com)

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