Artificial intelligence is no longer simply boosting productivity and saving time at work, it is fundamentally reshaping the nature of work, leadership, and employee experience, according to new survey data from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Nearly...
By Aditi Lachman, Head of Youth Programmes, Youth Employment Service (YES) The world of work is changing faster than our education systems can track, which means preparing for a single career or a fixed set of skills is, paradoxically, one of the...
In Part 3 of Rethinking Performance, written by Camille Rabier, Consultant at 21st Century, the series shifts from diagnosing the gaps in performance systems to exploring how they can be redesigned. The article examines how behavioural expectations...
By Mark Mc Kerr, Managing Executive at Paracon by Adcorp The conversation around AI is often dominated by speculation about job losses. Yet this focus distracts from a more immediate and measurable challenge: South African businesses are investing in...
A recent Microsoft Work Trend Index report has revealed that employees are interrupted every two minutes on average by meetings, emails or messages. But the bigger issue is not just interruption. It is what all that activity may be hiding: slow...
Beyond compliance: Why South Africa’s QCTO shift demands a more human approach to skills development
As South Africa accelerates its transition to the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), a critical tension is emerging within the training and development sector: the disconnect between compliance-driven learning and meaningful skills...
In today’s ever-evolving workplace, culture is often understood as little more than the odd team-building exercise organised by HR or dismissed as a corporate buzzword. However, for leading South African organisations operating in 2026, culture is...
Most employers believe that having employee benefits in place means they are doing right by their people. Retirement funds exist. Risk cover is provided. Medical options are offered. On paper, everything looks fine. But, in many cases, the paper...
Part 1 argued that performance systems are incomplete when they privilege outcomes over the conditions through which those outcomes are created. In this second article, written by Camille Rabier from 21st Century, we explore why behaviour is so...
