Dimension Data is among the top 10 in the LinkedIn Top Companies 2022 findings, listed among industry leaders in the financial and ICT sector in South Africa. Although the company has been running this survey for the past six years, this year was the first time they audited companies on the continent.
“Employee wellness is critical in this ever-changing working world,” says Michaela Voller, chief human resources officer at Dimension Data. “Every aspect of our employees’ lives have changed. Disruption has changed the appetite for an office environment and has also forced employees to re-evaluate the impact and purpose driven by their employers. This recognition is testament to the effort made by our employee experience team constantly innovating to drive the best experience, employee retention strategies and ways to grow our talent.”
Voller explains that, despite everyone’s initial excitement about remote working, the recent 2021 NTT global workplace report revealed that while 84% of organisations believe that employees prefer remote working, just 30% of employees actually do want to work from home full time. Another 30% would be happy with a hybrid approach, while 39% want to go back to the office full time.
When working from home became the norm, Dimension Data transformed the company’s approach to how the various teams were led to ensure that the protection of their wellbeing and mental health remained the guiding light of the decisions taken within the business.
Dimension Data built support programmes that focus on the wellbeing of employees, extending beyond physical wellness to employee assistance programmes that offer access to confidential emotional support, legal guidance, financial information, and general support.
The implementation of flexible working policies, now slightly revised for the return to a hybrid working environment, continue to enable employees to work where, when and how they want – wherever they feel they are best able to deliver their best work.
With a natural attrition rate of under 10% for the last year, this too signifies that the employees in the staff contingent are happy and satisfied with their working environment; which also attributes itself to the leadership in place within the business.
“Our leaders are more compassionate, supportive and have a commitment to nurturing mental wellbeing as much as physical wellbeing- creating a culture where vulnerability it accepted. Wellness is no longer just a perk, or another line item tacked on to the end of a job description for window dressing. Wellness is the golden thread that ties an employee’s workplace experience together, whether it’s something as simple has having an ergonomic mouse and keyboard, or something as important as having a transformed leadership experience,” concludes Voller.