Zimbabwe: Africa Needs Own Brand To Retain Expertise

Harare — LAST week, the Herald Business carried an article in which we tried gaining access to public perception on ways of halving the problem of intellectual and technical skills flight, known otherwise as brain drain. From responses gained, one factor came out clear: Zimbabwe will not be able to stop brain drain, mostly notably in the medium term.

It would also be very difficult for an economy that has lost significant GDP in the past decade to try and stop expertise from seeking greener pastures elsewhere.The aggregate impact of the skills crisis on national economic development is adverse in the medium to long-term. Mukonitronics chief executive officer Mr Lovemore Mukono feels Africa has not done enough to create own brands to attract and retain expertise. And so, he predicts skills will continue flying away until such a time Africa has "something to call its own".

However, in trying to find answers to the skills flight problem, Herald Business applied a situation: In view of the skills crisis, what are the prospects Zimbabwe would be able to fulfil its Millennium, Development Goals by 2015? While we had a variety of possible solutions to brain drain on Zimbabwe's economy, this paper has selected a mini-question and answer conducted with a Harare-based human resource consultant, Mr Anthony Jongwe of Global Workforce Solutions.

From what you will notice in the following paragraphs, the problem of brain drain can be solved by adding new knowledge to existing employees. Additional training is key, according to Jongwe.
Higher incentive will help to stem brain drain, but this will not work in the long run.

Below is an excerpt from the interview. Interviewer, Jeffrey Gogo is represented JG and Anthony Jongwe (AJ).

JG: What is your assessment of the human resources base in Zimbabwe at current? I mean, local industry and commerce has come under severe strain, as a result of brain drain, what impact does this have on economic performance?

AJ: There is no doubt that post-independent Zimbabwe invested significantly in human capital development. The phenomenal expansion in the higher and tertiary education sectors since 1980 and the correspondingly high input-output ratios of that expansion bear testimony to this fact. It is now common knowledge that a country's human resource base can be a major source of national competitive advantage. Sadly, post-2000 Zimbabwe has witnessed accelerated skills flight in a trend generally known as 'brain drain'. Although the loss of skills can also be attributed to the deleterious effects of the HIV/Aids pandemic, voluntary emigration by skilled professionals has largely been responsible for the 'brain drain'. This loss of valuable skills is a threat to national economic performance both in the medium to long-term. Already, many sectors of the economy are grappling with a skills crisis manifesting itself in the form of skills gaps and skills shortages. Skills gaps are defined when employers believe that their employees are not fully proficient to carry out the requirements of the job role. Skill shortages are defined as a lack of applicants for vacant posts with the right skills and qualifications. There is anecdotal evidence that skills shortages account for the majority of hard-to-fill vacancies among professional staff and skilled trades in various sectors of the economy. Although the skills crisis is not unique to Zimbabwe as other countries within Sadc are also grappling with the issue, it is imperative that all key stakeholders put their heads together and come up with a credible national response to what is now a national crisis.
Research shows that the impact of skill shortages and skill gaps reflects in increased workloads, customer service difficulties, loss of business, delay of new products, increased operating costs, quality problems, and difficulties in introducing new working practices.
The mining sector has been hardest hit by the skills crisis. RioZim and Bindura Nickel have each reported on the negative effects of the skills crunch on productivity and safety outcomes respectively in their financial statements.

JG: What can Zimbabwe do to stop, or at least halve rampant flight of skills?

AJ: An obvious response to this seemingly easy but difficult question would be to look at the so-called 'push and pull factors' associated with the brain drain in search of remedies. However, the reality of the situation is that there is a global war for talent and as companies increasingly become global in their operations, there is nothing that can stop them from traversing the globe in search of human capital. Similarly, skills will always go wherever they command a premium. Against this backdrop, we argue that the most credible and effective response to the skill shortages lies in increasing training given to existing workforce. Companies need to scale up their learning and development activities as part of dealing with the long-term deleterious effects of the skills crunch. Government needs to create an enabling environment for companies to come up with interventions that enable them to attract, retain and develop human capital. This obviously translates to long-term national economic competitiveness in an increasingly global environment. Let me reiterate that resolving the skills crisis requires a holistic response by all stakeholders i.e Government, business and labour and can never be solved through piecemeal or parochial interventions by individual actors.

JG: In your assessment, what strategies have companies adopted, if at all, adopted in stemming brain drain?

AJ: In a bid to combat the skill gaps and skill shortages in the economy, employers (who also include Government) have increased salaries and introduced retention allowances/perks for professional staff and there is also evidence of increased trainee programmes (Graduate Trainee Programmes and Apprenticeships). The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has also been supportive of the mining sector's efforts to stem the brain drain by introducing forex-denominated incentives for critical skills in the sector. We argue that the most credible and effective response to the skill shortages lies in increasing training given to existing workforce.
Companies need to scale up their learning and development activities as part of dealing with the long-term deleterious effects of the skills crunch. Clearly, this training involves two choices:
1 -- Employers can be encouraged to train for their own needs, in which case the emphasis must be on retention of staff and a less dynamic market for the skill,

2 -- or employers can be encouraged to draw skills from the market, in which firms need to be encouraged to train beyond their own needs to supply skills to the marketplace.

There is need for an integrated approach to training at firm, enterprise, sector and national levels to deal with skill bottlenecks in internal and external labour markets.Organisations which invest in staff tend to be happier and more productive places to work and have lower employee turnover. In some companies, training programmes have reduced staff turnover by 70 per cent and led to a return on investment of 7,000 per cent. Such learning organisations produce more outputs and outcomes and pay attention to individual needs in clients as well as workers. Although training costs time and money, it is fundamental to a successful learning organisation.

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