One of the core elements of true empowerment is skills development and it measures the extent to which, employers carry out initiatives designed to develop the competencies of black employees. It is often construed that only training that is provided by an outside training provider falls within the definition of skills development. Skills development can take the simplest form of on job training or external training and learnerships.

Skills development does not only earn you points for BEE, it can tremendously contribute to the performance of your business. In the long run skills development seeks to address the skills barrier on black workers and job seekers. Moreover it has the overall effect of reducing the skills shortage gap. The country has been experiencing a shortage of skills and it has often been said that the problem in the country is not of unemployment but that of unemployability. With a proper skills development plan organisations and the economy as whole can grow. So as we begin the year it is imperative for organizations to think about their skills development plans in terms of the BEE points targets for the year and also in terms of the business sense.

The Skills development maximum points available for a Generic company are 15 points whilst for a Qualifying Small Enterprise (QSE) its 25 points. The targets are 3% of payroll for generic companies and 2% of payroll for QSEs. Skills development spend on black female will certainly earn you more points.

The targets are reasonably easy to achieve however most organizations lose points on skills development because they do not have a proper documentation or a proper information logging system. The EconoBEE V3 and Econolog is there to help with logging your BEE information, ensuring that you earn the points you deserve and instant calculations. So register today on www.econobee3.co.za or contact us for assistance.