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NEWS | CRITICAL SKILLS SURVEY EXTENDED AHEAD OF RELEASE OF CRITICAL SKILLS LIST BY DHA

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The list forms part of a drive to attract critically deemed skills to underpin efforts to regenerate the economy. In support of this important process, Xpatweb is extending its Critical Skills Survey until 1 March 2021 to give industry stakeholders an opportunity to participate in the upcoming immigration change in South Africa.

“Xpatweb’s Critical Skills Survey takes place annually and has established itself as an important way of measuring the skills needed in the economy. We were honoured to be asked to present our cumulative findings to the Departments of Home Affairs and Higher Education and Training late last year, and so contribute to the draft list that will be released for public comment,” says Marisa Jacobs, Director at Xpatweb.

“We will be making the research, which is currently in the field and with over 200 participants, available to the Government as part of our comment on the draft list.

“Keeping the survey open for a further two weeks will give industry players a better chance to make their skills needs known.”

Global Competition for In-Demand Skills

In today’s sophisticated and highly competitive economies, countries are competing for skills to help them stay abreast of fast-moving technologies and rapidly changing business models. A growing number of countries are using their immigration policies to attract these skills to their shores.

For example, Britain recently announced favourable visa conditions for much-needed healthcare workers, and Mauritius has introduced a special fast track for investment professionals as it cements its position as Africa’s financial hub.

In addition, multinationals operating in various geographical areas need to be able to expedite the transfer of skilled individuals to their subsidiaries as needed. Accordingly, the implementation of skills transfer plans have become vital due to Covid-19 greatly inhibiting the mobility of foreign skilled workers, thus ensuring locals receive necessary training on these particular skills.

Thus far, this year’s Xpatweb Critical Skills Survey shows that occupations in the Engineering and ICT sectors remain most in demand, followed by occupations such as Foreign Language Speakers, a range of Artisans and C-Suite Executive-level Management.

“Attracting the skills we need is vital if we are to increase economic output and get the economy back on track,” Ms Jacobs says.

Last Chance to Make an Impact

“Government’s initiative to fine-tune our immigration system to make it easier for companies to attract the skilled people they need is admirable, and clearly the more data it has to work with, the more accurate the list will be. We’ve already had record participation in this year’s survey, which indicates how important an issue this is. We are urging companies to take advantage of the new closing date to make sure their voices are included in the process of compiling the final critical-skills list.”

Xpatweb’s Critical Skills Survey remains open until 1 March 2021 and can be accessed here.


AUTHOR
Marisa Jacobs
Marisa Jacobs
Director

NEWS | CHRO COMMUNITY CONVERSATION LEARNS WHICH SCARCE SKILLS ARE BEING IMPACTED BY COVID-19

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In this week’s CHRO Community Conversation, Xpatweb shared findings from their critical skills survey, which is helping to shape the national migration debate in South Africa.

Xpatweb MD Marisa Jacobs said, “The Xpatweb critical skills survey started five years ago to determine the extent of critical skills in SA and the role of foreign nationals in addressing these shortages.”

Last year, Xpatweb submitted a comprehensive response to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) request for feedback on its Occupations in High Demand (OIHD) list.

“We presented our results to a panel of interdepartmental government representatives from the departments of Trade and Industry, Labour, Higher Education and Training, and Home Affairs. There was strong debate on the skills included and not included in the 2020 OIHD list,” said Marisa.

“With the involvement of Department of Higher Education and Training and the Department of Home Affairs, the Xpatweb 2020/2021 Critical Skills Survey results will reflect the needs of employers and ensure that we continue to compete globally for the acquisition of skills,” she explained.

The survey aims to address challenges that HR leader face when recruiting critical skills and can be used as a platform to lobby for a skill to be included in the critical skills list.

Skills transfer

A key takeaway from the 2019 survey is that 82 percent of organisations see succession planning as a business priority.

Moeketsi Seboko, immigration manager at Xpatweb, said, “The survey addresses challenges that HR leaders face in recruiting critical skills. Skills transfer is an important recruitment tool as skills are being brought here to develop South Africans.”

Mark Kensley, Exxaro’s Strategic Workforce Manager supported this approach. “We definitely need to transfer skills locally. In South Africa, there is also lots of imbalance in terms of gender and race. We need to identify the required skills and develop or engineer the talent that we want,” he said.

During the Community Conversation, Marisa revealed that the top 10 most difficult occupations to recruit in South Africa are:

  • Engineers
  • ICT specialists
  • Artisans
  • C-Suite executives
  • Senior financial executives
  • Healthcare professionals
  • Media and marketing specialists
  • Foreign language speakers
  • Science professionals
  • STEM teachers

According to Dylan Price, client engagement manager at Xpatweb, occupations on the critical skills list must fulfil three criteria, namely they must be in acute shortage and aligned to South Africa’s strategic priorities; require high-level skills or advanced qualifications; and require a long lead time to develop a domestic supply pipeline.

The Covid-19 effect

After the presentation, the floor was opened to the CHRO’s in attendance. Marlize Kriel, chief people officer at Hellman Worldwide Logistics, highlighted an interesting trend of ex-pats returning to South Africa due to the negative economic effects of Covid-19.

“As a consequence of the impact of Covid-19 on employment markets across the globe, we have noticed that a number of South Africans working abroad have lost their permanent employment and had to take up contract positions in more junior roles, and in some cases are considering returning to South Africa,” she said.

Xpatweb has also picked up changes in skills demand and supply due to Covid-19 as well. Marisa elaborated:

“Ex-pats have declined projects because of Covid-19, however there remains a continuous movement of South Africans abroad. In terms of skills shortages internationally, there are massive overlaps with South Africa’s critical skills list and that of the UK, particularly in healthcare, engineering and ICT can overlap those lists.”

As an example, she said that the UK is competing for nursing staff internationally and has issued visas for these roles. “We are going to see South African nurses, doctors and specialists being poached and we already have a shortage of those.”

Remote working revolution

Another interesting trend that HR leaders should keep on their radar is the evolution of the work-from-home concept.

“Remote working space destinations are also emerging on the immigration front. Mauritius has a one-year visa where people can live in Mauritius and contribute to its economy while being employed in another country,” Marisa explained.

Source: CHRO South Africa

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NEWS | FOUR KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN RELOCATING TO MAURITIUS

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Applications for the Premium Visa are submitted in Mauritius through the Economic Development Board. It takes 5 to 7 days to obtain a Premium Visa, and the main requirements include health insurance and proof of accommodation.

Property Acquisition

Mauritius has implemented irresistible investment options to attract foreigners, mainly South Africans. Property acquisition provides an avenue to obtain a 20 year Permanent Residency Permit.

The Mauritian Government currently offers an exquisite residency program for foreigners who would like to obtain permanent residence based on property purchase. To qualify, foreigners must purchase property within a designated scheme (IRS/RES/PDS or SC) put in place by the government.

Purchasing a property is one of the simplest options to relocate to Mauritius. Previously, foreign nationals were required to invest $500,000 in a property. This threshold has now been reduced to $375,000.

Compared with South Africa, where a South African is allowed to purchase a property as a freehold or through a 99-year lease agreement with the option of renewal, the title of the deed of Mauritius’s property remains under the property holder’s name from the onset. Many of Tax Consulting’s clients have begun to consider their property options. The company has facilitated a number of acquisitions done remotely, subject to visiting Mauritius and confirming the sale.

Exiting South Africa Correctly

It is essential to ensure that you remain tax compliant when exiting South Africa. The South African Revenue Service has become far more aggressive in recent years with South Africans living and/or working abroad – especially those that have not done a compliant exit.

The first step is to determine what type of exit you will make from South Africa. The two simplest options (with various iterations in between) are:

  • Leaving South Africa permanently, to relocate elsewhere; and
  • Leaving South Africa temporarily, with South Africa remaining home base.

The difference between the two comes down to tax residency and how it must be dealt with. As a tax resident of South Africa, a taxpayer is taxable on worldwide income and assets. As a non-resident for tax, one is only taxable in South African on South African sourced income and assets.

With both options, a solution must be found to ensure protection from double taxation. Generally, with a permanent move abroad, one will use financial emigration to cease tax residency of South Africa formally. With a temporary move abroad, one would use the Double Taxation Agreement between South Africa and Mauritius.

It is important to understand the “exit tax” from South Africa when ceasing tax residency. The exit tax is mainly unknown among laymen, but this declaration and payment must be made to SARS, to ensure that the exit regulations are concluded.  If this step isn’t taken, SARS may argue that one has not fulfilled the exit formalities and thus remain taxable in South Africa on worldwide income and assets – never mind the potential for SARS to raise penalties and interest in this scenario.

Financial Emigration: The New Process

After years of South Africans successfully ceasing tax residency by using the financial emigration process, the Government has decided to remove the process as we know it and replace it with a more stringent verification system and risk management test. The practicality of the new process has yet to be announced.

Financial emigration applications under the current legislation will only be processed until the end of February 2022, if they have submitted prior to 1 March 2021. After that, the uncertain new process – which promises to be more stringent from a tax perspective and less so from an exchange control perspective, will begin.

This deadline gives South Africans little time to submit their applications. In the future, South Africans need to be cognisant of a more cumbersome process on the horizon.

Preliminary Critical Skills List Now Available

NEWS | PRELIMINARY CRITICAL SKILLS LIST NOW AVAILABLE

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“The list is publicly available from the DHET’s website and companies should start reviewing it in anticipation of a round of public commentary before it is finalised,” says Marisa Jacobs, Managing Director at Xpatweb.

Jacobs confirmed that Xpatweb’s own research was used as a reference of input for the DHET Occupations in High Demand (OHID) report and, subsequently, informed the preliminary Critical Skills List by the DHET.

Availability

The current Critical Skills List was published in 2014. Significant macroeconomic events have affected the country’s foreign skills demand since then, like the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the impact of COVID-19. This makes the new list vital to enabling the recruitment of emerging business-critical talent internationally to promote economic growth.

Jacobs anticipates that, with the recent publishing of the OIHD report from the same research base, the momentum of that work will carry forward to the finalisation of the new Critical Skills List.

“The new List is likely to be published in early 2021,” reports Jacobs.

Exclusions

Notably, several occupations on the current Critical Skills List have been excluded from the preliminary list. These include corporate general manager; risk assessor; certain ICT designations; electrical and chemical engineer; toolmaker; pressure welder; boilermaker; certain trades, such as millwright, pipefitter, double-coded welder and rigger; foreign language speaker; and business analyst.

This may concern employers who have difficulty sourcing these skills locally. Visas for foreign nationals listed on the Critical Skills List are typically processed two to six months faster. This puts companies who urgently need to replace scarce workers not on the List at a disadvantage.

“To make their needs heard, organisations must provide feedback proactively as the opportunity to comment becomes available,” says Jacobs. This will ensure the finalised list aligns with actual national business requirements.

Input

As the only private company invited to present its findings in an interdepartmental session to develop the OIHD, Xpatweb provided research from its own Critical Skills Survey, taken annually over the last five years. This research is also incorporated into the DHET’s preliminary Critical Skills List.

Jacobs believes Xpatweb’s participation can be attributed to the quality of its Survey data. “Of the 32 occupations listed in our report, 24 were already included in the preliminary List, so there was a significant complementary overlap in the research” she says.

The Survey provides a channel for organisations to pre-emptively participate in initiatives like the development of the national Critical Skills List. “Instead of waiting for the public comment process, they can contribute to the early stages of policy formulation,” says Jacobs.

Conclusion

Jacobs urges organisations to become active players in the final Critical Skills List. “This will help ease immigration constraints that may limit access to occupations essential to economic growth,” she says.

She also commends the DHET and DHA for their outstanding work and for openly engaging the private sector.

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NEWS | SOUTH AFRICA MUST BE COGNISANT ATTRACTING SKILLS HAPPENS AGAINST BACKDROP OF GLOBAL DEMAND

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She emphasises that it is important to be reminded that skills are globally sourced for the economic benefit of those countries and South Africa has to compete for scarce skills.

On November 26, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Dr Blade Nzimande held a media briefing to launch the 2020 National List of Occupations in High Demand (OIHD).

Nzimande also formally published the Government Gazette containing the list of OIHD.

Jacobs says that, when looking at the results in their entirety, it is evident that there is a continued lack of critically skilled individuals available in South Africa and key stakeholders need to address these problems collectively in an effort to reinvigorate the economy.

She explains that the OIHD alerts tertiary education institutes, professional bodies, employers and other stakeholders to occupations currently in short supply and for which there are indications that there will be relatively high employment growth in the present and future.

She notes that this allows these bodies to establish courses and internal skills development programmes to alleviate future shortfalls in business-critical competencies.

Jacobs informs that the list shows growth in industries such as media and marketing, information and communication technology (ICT) and healthcare.

The gazette also gave special mention to the organisations that were consulted in the process, including Xpatweb.

Jacobs explains that Xpatweb was invited by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to present its findings from the yearly Critical Skills Survey as part of an interdepartmental session, which also comprised the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the Department of Labour and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC). This includes the methodology used and impact on employers.

The Xpatweb Critical Skills Survey, now in its fifth year, comprises inputs from the DHET during the above consultation sessions, with the 2019/20 survey also more in-depth in that it unpacked feedback from the participants, notes Jacobs.

“There is a continued lack of critically skilled individuals available in South Africa and thanks to survey participants, which include large multinational and South African organisations, we are able to provide valuable inputs and guide the government’s Critical Skills List (CSL) shaping the decisions that will help local businesses reinvigorate the South African economy,” she acclaims.

Jacobs says the DHET is working alongside the DHA to update the existing national CSL, which was last updated in 2014.

The current CSL was established when the Immigration Act was amended in 2014 to replace the then Quota Work Permit with the new Critical Skills Work Visa. The list was developed in conjunction with the OIHD and the skills lists from DHET, explains Jacobs.

The main objective of the Critical Skills Work Visa is not only to provide South African employers the ability to recruit and attract skilled foreigner nationals for their organisations, but also to assist government in support of the national infrastructure programme, strategic infrastructure projects and key national strategic projects in support of the DTIC, she notes.

“The CSL enables South African employers to recruit critically skilled resources internationally which cannot be sourced within the country,” Jacobs informs.

She mentions that candidates recruited for a critical skill can get their visas processed on average two to six months faster than those not represented on this list.

Jacobs mentions that Xpatweb’s research suggests areas that will present most opportunities include occupations in the growing oil and gas sector, ICT skills and science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers.

“Our results further show that ICT specialists and engineers continue to be one of the most sought-after skills, with 19% and 21% of participants respectively indicating same. This is supported by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, which stated in 2019 that South Africa continues to lose hundreds of engineers year on year who emigrate with their families. This “brain drain” continues to contribute to skills shortages in the engineering sector,” she indicates.

Moreover, and based on the company’s survey results, certain occupations have been re-included within the preliminary CSL that would have been omitted initially, for example, network analyst, quantity surveyor, actuary and nurse, notes Jacobs.

However, she notes that it is not yet confirmed if the aforementioned will be included in the new CSL, as it is at the discretion of the DHA.

The list is expected to be published in early 2021 and will incorporate occupations that have recently emerged following input received from the relevant stakeholders involved during the inter-departmental sessions.

Jacobs says with the impact the pandemic has had and the operational changes organisations are undergoing, it is anticipated that with the gazetting of the OIHD list the momentum will carry forward and the CSL looks to be on schedule for release early next year to support South African economic growth at this crucial time.

“There are thus active and ongoing engagements with regards to the new CSL, whereby a preliminary CSL report has already been introduced and it is currently undergoing internal engagements with the Home Affairs Minister.

“We are expected to received feedback from these discussions in due course, following which we look forward to the opportunity to again give input based on the latest Critical Skills Survey which is currently running and due to close in January,” she says.

Source: Engineering News