Companies can leverage learnerships as an effective tool to combat South Africa’s persistently high youth unemployment and equip young people with the skills they need to empower them to become employable, or to venture into entrepreneurship. By offering on-the-job training, learnerships empower young people with essential skills that cannot be acquired through traditional methods alone, says Natasha Louw, Group Training Manager at Servest.
Servest in partnership with the Services SETA (SSETA) recently inducted 150 unemployed young people into its learnership programme, focused on providing training across security, cleaning and landscaping services.
In addition, the company has enrolled 35 unemployed young people living with disabilities in various other learnership programmes. These programmes cover a wide range of qualifications including, a National Certificate in General Security Practices, a National Certificate in (Generic) Management, a National Certificate in Horticulture, a General Education and Training Certificate in Hygiene and Cleaning, and a (National certificate) in Professional Cookery.
The learnership opportunities are open to unemployed youth aged between 18 and 35 years.
The learnership programmes are provided through Servest Academy, which is a SETA-accredited training provider, and all learnerships are aligned with the National Qualification Framework (NQF) and range from levels 2 to 6, depending on the field of studies.
The learnership programmes provide young people with the essential skills they require to launch them into the world of work. The programmes equip these young people with both theory and on-the-job training through Servest’s nine business units.
According to Natasha, while Servest usually only provides the training, in most cases, the company is able to offer some of these young people permanent positions within the company.
Within the catering industry, a total of 10 learners actively engaged in professional cookery learnerships, where they undertook a comprehensive 12-month course at NQF Level 4. Notably, all these young people are now permanently employed within the company. Encouragingly, two of these learners demonstrated exceptional progress and were subsequently promoted to managerial positions.
Some of the learners have been assigned to work with Servest’s landscaping team, specifically on turf management at prestigious venues like FNB and Orlando Stadium. Others have been offered permanent positions across various divisions within the company, with a few even receiving promotions to managerial roles.
Servest’s latest enrolment of learnerships comes as the country prepares to commemorate Youth Day on June 16, where the spotlight will be on the challenges faced by young people.
Youth unemployment in South Africa remains one of the highest globally, raising concerns among observers that it is a ticking time bomb that needs to be diffused as a matter of urgency.
According to Stats SA Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate was 63,9% for those aged 15 – 24 and 42,1% for those aged 25 – 34 years, while the current official national rate stands at 34,5%.
“Government cannot address the challenge alone, the business sector has a responsibility to support in tackling some of these pressing socio-economic challenges in the country, among them, the escalating levels of youth unemployment and underemployment. We need dedicated efforts to equip and upskill young unemployed people with the necessary skills they need enter the workforce successfully,” says Louw.
She says, “Learnerships and internships offer that opportunity, as they enhance the employability of young people by imparting relevant skills and experience across various fields. This not only fulfils the requirements that prospective employers seek but also empowers them to explore entrepreneurial endeavours based on the skills they have acquired.”
Louw explains that the latest intake of learnership is part of the group’s organisational strategy and culture where it offers opportunities to unemployed young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with learners throughout its diverse business units comprising Catering, Cleaning, Landscaping & Turf, Security, Integrated Technical, Office Services, Marine, and Parking Management industries.
Those who successfully complete the learnership are either onboarded within the company or are encouraged to apply for available vacancies within the company.
To raise awareness about these learnership opportunities, Servest partners with local community councillors in targeted communities and also posts available learnership opportunities on its website and LinkedIn page.
Louw notes that there are some companies that want to participate in driving these learnerships, however, may face obstacles in implementing such initiatives due to inexperience or uncertainty about where to begin.
“To bridge this gap, we have fine-tuned our learnership programme to provide support to such companies and can offer training across the facilities management value chain – which offers young unemployed people a diverse range of entry-level opportunities into the workforce,” says Louw.
Louw emphasises that “To address the current unemployment crisis, we need closer partnerships between the public and private sectors.”
“The private sector should shift its perspective on learnerships and consider them not merely as a compliance issue but as an opportunity to impart valuable skills and an integral component of future planning,” Louw concludes.
