If you lead a small company in Africa, by now, you’ve gotten the memo. Educational systems are failing and the pipeline for talent is shrinking.

The few “good” staff are either being scooped up by bigger firms or are leaving the country (“Japaing”).

And, this generation of employees ain’t loyal. You’ll recognize it from their CVs. They spend 2 or 3 years in organizations before moving on. So, once you train them, there’s a high probability they will leave.

Then, there’s the uptick in anxiety and impostor syndrome plaguing young workers. The harsh macro-environment, wave of technology addiction and fracturing families are contributory factors.

So, what are you to do as a CEO?

What Simon Sinek Thinks

The first time I heard @SimonSinek speak about generational workplace issues, I balked at the implications for Africa. What I took away was that leaders would increasingly do the work parents should have done at home (but didn’t do).

And so, in the evolving workplace, mentoring, and coaching must be prioritized. As a CEO, your main headache will no longer be the technical work but the personal baggage that people bring to work.

In other words, you will be dealing with stuff that should’ve been dealt with at home, or personally.

Case in point: companies want staff that are street smart but in an average privileged middle-class African home, children never do the following on their own – use public transport, haggle at a local market or cook for an entire family – until they are shipped off to College.

In the west, camping is not just a parental bonding exercise. It’s an excuse to teach children survival skills. What is the equivalent in middle-class Africa now?

The rich typically use internships in the companies that they own, and prestige sports to hone independence and socialization in their children.

Social Issues as Business Challenges

Some of the issues plaguing young workers are societal:

1. Incessant consumption of bad news and the proliferation of click bait.
2. Use of technology devices all-day every day.
3. Excessive peer comparison on social media, and online bullying.

These things are causing shorter attention spans, increased anxiety, low self-esteem, impostor syndrome and a lack of socialization, resulting in loneliness.=

How are small organizations supposed to cope with what parents, educators, governments and self should have addressed before people resume for work?

Double-barreled Problems

How does a growing company compete with large firms for top talent and then be expected to take on the additional burden of social deficits?

If the biggest companies are having to poach from their peers to fill their talent pipelines, what is a small entity to do?

Something has to give because as a CEO, if you don’t address these issues, your company will find it difficult to attract good talent, and even when you do, you will experience high staff turnover and poor productivity.

Hire Interns to Fill Your Associate Cadre

If you’re a CEO in parts of Africa, by now you’ve realized there’s not much difference between hiring an Associate (3 years post-university) and an intern.

You’re still having to train people from scratch, anyway. So why not reduce your upfront costs and cultural mismatches through internships?

Just start at the beginning of the employment pipeline and groom your own people internally.

Developing an Internship Program: Here’s How You Do It

1. Come to terms with the fact that people will come and go. Then still commit to genuinely training, coaching and mentoring people, even if they won’t stay for long. It’s your contribution to your industry and those who leave will become brand ambassadors.
2. Design a process driven organization, where everything is documented and tracked. That way, it’s faster to onboard and offboard interns.
3. Build redundancy. Train many interns because only some will stay after they’ve been promoted to Associates. Choose the best of the best and keep your training costs low by letting non-performers go quickly.
4. Invest in the career goals of your team. People remain committed to an organization that’s helping them to achieve their personal goals. There’s a confluence of self-interest.
5. Use a Learning Management System (LMS), so training is automated and self-paced. For in-person training, bake it into your organizational calendar and budget so you can plan ahead.
6. Create clear career paths, so people know where they are going and can track it. Your staff must feel a sense of career momentum. If they come in as interns, it must be clear to them how they can become CEO in future, and how long it will take.
7. Hybrid work is now the most practical option for SMEs. You will save on utilities, while your team will save on transport expenses.

But you must ensure each staff has a conducive home to work from. Is there electricity? Do they have privacy for video meetings or high-speed WiFi?

In our company, we’ve had to support some staff with rechargeable battery packs that can power a laptop, phone and fan.

Concluding Thoughts

HR for SMEs must now be heavy on training, process and performance. You can no longer afford to just wing it.

Coaching and defined career pathways are now compulsory. Put them in place.

Thank you for reading.