By Max Matavire Metro Editor
IN an effort to retain the “scarce and critical skills” which are leaving the institution in droves, the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality has formulated a skills retention policy.
The policy was accepted yesterday at a corporate administration and human resources committee meeting, where five other draft policies were also adopted.
The latter policies cover adult basic education and training, study assistance, succession planning, external bursaries, recognition of prior learning and the integration of people with disabilities in the workplace.
Addressing the meeting, newly appointed human resources business unit manager Rio Nolutshungu said the skills retention policy was intended to provide a framework for retaining employees whose loss could have an adverse effect on service delivery.
The policy suggests offering such employees better remuneration than they could get elsewhere.
The policy also discourages the use of consultants instead of municipal employees. It says every effort must be made to use internal skills or create capacity within before engaging outside service providers.
Nolutshungu said the municipality should also re- hire retirees in special fields where recruitment was difficult to either offer mentoring to employees or be employed on a contractual basis. A special budget must be created for the project. The policy also calls for bursaries to be awarded in specialised areas.
Councillor Terry Herbst said council was concerned at the “serious‘‘ staff shortages in departments such as fire services, safety and security, health and environment and budget and treasury. “I think the mayor has not achieved her goal of making the filling of critical vacancies her priority,” said Herbst.