More than 307,000 workers in SA across 118 firms have benefited from R70.3bn in wealth transferred through employee ownership schemes in the past five years.
The employee ownership schemes are spread across mining, food and beverages, retail and finance, according to trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel.
The schemes have gathered momentum as companies strive to meet broad-based BEE requirements and the conditions laid down by Patel and the Competition Commission for mergers and takeovers. Employee ownership contributes to scores under the broad-based BEE codes of good practice.
Since 2019, 81 employee ownership schemes had been formed or had been legally agreed to, Patel said during the Worker Share Ownership Conference held in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“Large companies almost exclusively use the employee ownership schemes programme but that has begun to change... we see that its migrating from only attracting large companies to something now that is increasingly attracting other firms in the economy,” he said.
In the last year, R3.3bn in dividends had been paid directly to workers in the corporate schemes with two-thirds in mining with beneficiaries receiving on average R12,800 each, Patel said.
“While we have increased the numbers significantly, there’s more scope for companies to increase their share of worker ownership programmes. We will be doing a lot more work with companies outside the competition area to encourage them to find ways to incentivise greater worker empowerment,” Patel said.
“The vast beneficiaries are black South Africans, but you can also begin to build that cohesion and solidarity that is part of our nation building project, Patel said adding that employee ownership schemes were open to workers of all races.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was at the event said the next step would be to develop best practice funding and dividend policies. Employee ownership schemes also provided greater understanding to workers regarding the challenges that companies faced, he said, adding that when workers were brought into the companies fold through the schemes they were more likely to work to improve it, leading to greater productivity and innovation.
“Worker ownership must transcend black economic empowerment. It must be a mechanism for wider economic inclusion,” Ramaphosa said.
“We need to expand the reach and impact of employee share ownership programmes, strengthen legislative and regulatory frameworks. Also foster greater collaboration with stakeholders. We should seize this opportunity to create networks and enable knowledge-sharing and improve the impact and reach of existing worker ownership structures.”
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