Barloworld breaks mould to ensure diversity, inclusion are the company status quo:
Teressa Qhu, HR Systems Administrator at Barloworld and Tebogo Lengwati, Junior Assistant Company Secretary at Barloworld
A diverse and inclusive workplace, while offering the vibrancy of difference, also produces numerous advantages for an organisation and its employees.
Such a workplace not only reflects the people of the country, but shows how an organisation is transforming and keeping up with workplace demands.
“A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that not only has employees of different cultures, religions, races, genders and disabilities, but goes out of its way to recognise, include and in fact embrace employees for their differences. It is something we work hard on at Barloworld, and something I believe we are getting right,” said Barloworld Human Resources, Strategy and Sustainability Group Executive Sibani Mngomezulu.
Mngomezulu believes that in today’s business environment organisations need to plan on how diversity and inclusion are primary objectives when building a workforce. Barloworld, a distributor of leading global brands, is on a journey to completely reflect South African society.
Mngomezulu refers to two Barloworld employees who really embody the company’s ethos and are good examples of the diversity Barloworld strives for. Both Teressa Qhu and Tebogo Lengwati began their journey in the group on the Barloworld learnership programme. Although they were drawn in to an inclusive and diverse workplace, their individual experiences have been very different.
Teressa Qhu, now an HR Systems Administrator at Barloworld, lost her sight at the age of five, she did not allow blindness to define her. After high school her family advised her to become a switch board operator, because she was not required to see and it would therefore be a safe career path. But Qhu was determined to do something else, and not something defined purely by her blindness.
After matric she went on to study and graduated with a BA in Psychology from the University of Westville.
“Teressa applied to our learnership programme and was selected for an interview. During the discussion she was asked what assistive devices she would need to perform her job and was tasked to find out the cost of the Job Access with Speech (JAWS) system she would need for an office job. This is a computer screen reader programme for Microsoft Windows that enables her to follow the content on her screen with a text-to-speech output,” explained Mngomezulu.
Qhu’s position also required her to attend meetings. Her colleagues prepared notes for her before meetings to help her to follow discussions. In instances where nothing was prepared in advance for her, those in the meeting would explain and even describe images or graphics on presentation decks.
“This kind of inclusion is valued by Teressa, and makes a huge difference as it gives her a good understanding of the sessions she is required to attend,” he said.
Tebogo Lengwati, a Junior Assistant Company Secretary at Barloworld, like Qhu, is visually impaired. When he was younger he was repeatedly told that he shouldn’t study law because it required a huge amount of reading that he would be unable to do, and would therefore not be able to pass.
This feedback simply fuelled Lengwati in his ambitions, spurring him on to beat the odds: “I had something to prove to everyone who told me that I shouldn’t study law. I chose to study law and graduated in record time.”
When Lengwati was interviewed for the Barloworld learnership programme, no mention was made of his visual challenges – possibly because he is not completely blind.
“It was only on my first day on the job that I was asked whether I need any changes to be made to my office to make it easier on my eyes,” he said.
Lengwati’s job requires him to write reports and to sit in on board meetings and presentations, so he needed a device that could amplify texts. As with Qhu, Lengwati was tasked to find out what equipment he needed to perform his job well.
The device he found was a ‘transformer’. “It acts like a magnifying projector, it is able to zoom in and out. I use it every day when I’m sitting in boardrooms, or for whatever reason,” said Tebogo.
Mngomezulu said these two select cases are part of many and indicate Barloworld’s approach. “We at Barloworld are not only willing to sign-off on the costs of the assistive devices that our employees need to do their work well, we are also interested in how they work and what else we can do to ensure that they are not hampered by their disabilities,” Mngomezulu said.
“There are programmes to ensure that diversity and inclusion filters throughout the business. The group’s Corporate Connect Committee is a platform for employees to come together and share their opinions. Everyone in the organisation is involved, from the CEO to the maintenance staff,” Qhu said.
Both visually impaired employees have climbed the corporate ladder since they joined Barloworld as learners. Qhu’s confidence has grown, and she has a knack for recognising people’s voices – something that often surprises her colleagues.
Lengwati’s determination to succeed earned him a nomination for the company’s CEO Awards during his time as a junior company secretary, welcome recognition of his tenacity in overcoming immense challenges.
“Lenqwati and Qhu have both managed to overcome their challenges and are performing well. It is our duty to help them realise how much they are capable of achieving and – like every other employee – to succeed in whatever they put our minds to,” said Mngomezulu.
“They are passionate go-getters with a can do attitude, and are an inspiration to their colleagues and co-workers.”
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