Upskilling women to break the glass ceiling

Learning and Development is a key component in addressing and promoting gender equality to ensure that women have access to opportunities to affirm their role and contribution in all spheres of society including the workplace.

EnviroServ is committed to transformation in the waste management industry and as part of this, runs several training programmes incorporating internal staff members and unemployed people from the communities from which we operate.

These include internships and National Certificates in Business Admin and Generic Management, of which many participants are women.

Currently, twelve women are completing six to twelve month internships in our commercial, on-site, HR, logistics and compliance Departments. “These graduates enter the workplace to obtain practical experience in their chosen fields. It affords them the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in a practical workplace environment,” said Neville Moopanar, EnviroServ’s Group Training Manager.

The National Certificate in Business Admin Level 3 and 4, includes both twenty two unemployed and seven employed women recruited from communities surrounding the company’s landfill sites in Gauteng, Cape Town, KwaZulu-Natal and Gqeberha.  “We also have seven disabled women who are part of this programme”.

Ten women are attending the National Certificate in Generic Management Level 4 and 5, initiated by EnviroServ. “Level 4 targets junior managers, team leaders and supervisors providing them with entry level skills and knowledge into management. Generic Management 5 is more strategic and includes budget, strategy and risk.”

Finally, EnviroServ also implements Adult Education and Training programme for five women who have not completed matric. “This programme offers basic literacy and numeracy skills to our staff, opening the doors to future education and training initiatives.

“Enviroserv recognises that people are the key drivers of its strategic objectives. People development is therefore, a strategic imperative and at the epicenter of issues of strategic and operational importance for the company.” Learning is continuously driven at individual, team, and organisational levels.