Shamlata Ballakistein
Johannesburg,Gauteng
Summary
Human Resources Executive with 22years of progressive HR experience and advanced knowledge of employment law, compensation, recruitment and employee relations. Engages with HR service providers and suppliers on HR systems, payroll, insurance and training and development to promote high performing organization with efficient operating systems, professional and skilled staff and sound financial resources. Maintains strong stakeholder focus and service-oriented attitude with excellent organization and interpersonal skills to excel in multi-cultural environment.
Overview
6
6
years of professional experience
Work History
HR Director : Africa & Middle East
Nielsen
10.2020 - Current
- The HR Director serves as the HR leader for the Africa & Middle East supporting Nielsen's Media population
- The HR Director provides strategic guidance on all areas of HR support mainly in South Africa, UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, Tunisia & KSA and will ensure best in class HR practices as designed by our COEs are deployed throughout the Region and adjusted where necessary
- I am accountable for compliance with all employment laws and regulations in the region, and also partnering with the Global Talent Strategy team to provide input and align People actions with the larger Business Unit-specific talent strategies
- Responsibility of leading a HR team to help support the ongoing operations of the country/countries and is an integral part of the Regional People Leadership team
- Full Time
- Key Responsibilities:
- Strategic Partnership with Country MD's across Africa and Middle East
- Partnering with local Leadership to provide strategic advisory through Workforce planning and business direction
- Sits on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee within the SA entity
- Lead a team of people accountable for providing effective HR service delivery and operations for a population of400 employees across Africa and Middle East
- Responsible for a team of HRBP's across Africa and Middle East (4 HRBP's and1 Sr Payroll Specialist)
- Interfaces with Global Talent Strategist teams to:
- Provide input on Talent conversations and processes
- Give visibility to talent needs in the region
- Ensure continuity in career and development plans for high potential employees
- And to provide any other insight that may be helpful or necessary for the Global Talent Strategists holistic view of their organizations
- Accountability for local deployment & delivery of HR processes, projects and change programmes as determined at a Corporate/business/functional level
- Including policy and procedural compliance across the area and responsibility for Diversity & Inclusion deployment, monitoring and compliance
- Drive the effectiveness of the HR delivery model ensuring consistency and optimization of HR processes and approach across countries or location ( where possible)
- In particular;
- Utilising resources at a country or site level to ensure effective use of team resources
- Maintaining strong partnership with all key stakeholders in the HR model to enable integrated HR Service delivery
- Maximise synergies and the coordination of shared resources in order to deploy processes and local projects across the site/areas as effectively as possible
- Ensure good employee relations in conjunction with Work Council & Employee representative groups and line management
- In particular;
- Have a broad knowledge of Statutory Information and Consultation processes at country or site level to ensure legal compliance
- Manage sensitive and complex ER issues at cluster level including collective negotiations, where appropriate working closely with the HR Country Lead & Global ER Leader
- Providing employee advocacy and workforce intelligence to ER Leader to support development of ER strategy
- Lead local components of projects and wider change programmes
- In particular;
- Implementation of organisation change / re-design, in response to needs identified through HR or local line management
- Deliver wider business /corporate and HR change programmes across countries as required
- Interface with COE's (Talent Acquisition, Compensation & Benefits, Talent, Engagement & Development and DE&I) to ensure a consistent approach on Nielsen's Employment Value Proposition, Culture, Leadership and Engagement initiatives across the Region
- Identifies, designs and delivers country-specific or regional needs in the areas of onboarding, employee relations, total rewards, benefits, compensation, Learning, engagement and internal communications
- Partner with the local Corporate Functions ( Finance, Legal, Integrity Real Estate) to ensure integration of HR operations and policies into the larger regional and country-specific operational needs, such as budgets, compliance and regulatory requirements, and so on
- Coaches and develops an internationally distributed team of Human Resources representatives
- Be an integral part of any current and future Regional HR Leadership team; work closely with other Cluster leaders for deployment
- Work closely with other Regional HR Leaders and other Cluster HR Leads to identify, streamline & provide effective & optimized HR services
- Ensures all practices adhere to the utmost integrity and compliance in all regulatory matters
- Support the smooth integration of new acquisitions
- Own country policies & practices
- Host Local Alumni Activities
- Crisis Management
HRBP - Operations (15 Aug2018 -31 May2019); HR Director SA (01 June2019 -29 Feb2020); HR Lead Media SA (01 March2020 -30 Sept2020)
Nielsen
08.2018 - 09.2020
- Core responsibilities listed below:
- Full Time
- Promoted Internally
- Key Responsibilities:
- HR When & Where it Happens
- Delivers best-in-class operational processes throughout the employee lifecycle as the cornerstone to engagement
- Onboarding
- Career transitions
- Life events
- Issue resolution
- Offboarding & More
- Local footprint enables familiarity and continuity of support with our employee populations throughout the globe
- Ensures everyone feels included by delivering Company and HR materials in local languages
- Curators of Culture & Workplace Experience
- Brings to life an underlying consistency of the Nielsen Experience regardless of team or business unit or geography
- Through an intimate understanding of local culture and nuances, adds local ‘moments' that matter' to curate a vibrant approach to living our culture across the globe
- Champion ERGs and other local initiatives for a diverse workplace and inclusive culture
- Partners with local real estate teams to deliver great workplaces and the ways of working of the future with Smart Work
- World Class Leadership at All Levels
- Ensures Leadership Values and Operating Principles are cascaded and made operational across all levels and touch employee's every-day lives
- Supports managers to build positive, engaged teams and continuously shares best practices to lead in both a physical and a virtual environment
- Uses data and insights to curate and implement development plans to elevate manager quality across locations
- Adept problem & conflict solver
- HR professionals with strong local knowledge of regulation and requirements in all Media markets to ensure compliance
- Uses data to develop a preventative approach to Employee Relations focused on strengthening the skills and abilities of our management populations
- Fosters a non-litigious and collaborative environment in a range of matters ranging from coaching conversations to formal investigations
- Adeptly resolves local Employee Relations issues minimizing Company risk, and implements Works Councils/Union strategies in partnership with Legal Counsel
- SPIN
- Responsible for the planning, implementation and execution of the SPIN project in SA
- Setting up the People team in SA
- Successful closure of the Sports business alongside a number of RIF's
- Responsible for the HR Management for the Operations Division across SA and Global alignments by ensuring the strategic alignment between HR and the business objectives and plans by building a partnership with managers and employees to support fair practice
- Enabling and being the curators of Change through supporting business Leaders
- Managing a People Team of5
Education
Diploma - Management Principles
Varsity College
JohannesburgBasics in Business - undefined
Unisa
Certificate - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Damelin
Diploma - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Damelin
Train The Trainer - undefined
EC Training Provider
Assessor Training - undefined
Cool Ideas
BCOM - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Oxford Brooks University (Damelin)
Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA) - undefined
Henley Business School
12.2019
Post Graduate Diploma - Management
Henley Business School
Johannesburg11.2016
Matric - English, Afrikaans, Mathematics, Biology, Science and Accounting
Lenasia Secondary School
01.1998
Skills
- MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, VIP Payroll, Oracle, SAP, Google
- HR policies implementation
- Compensation design
- Retention strategies
- Payroll management
- Workforce improvements
- Recruitment strategies
- Labor law compliance
- Employee relations
- Strategic planning
- Human resources operations
- Human capital management
- Workforce planning
- HR analytics
- Recruitment strategy
Additional Info
English and Afrikaans
HR TASKS EXPERIENCE
- TASK
- EXPERTISE LEVEL AND EXPERIENCE: BASIC/GOOD/EXPERT
- Payroll - Good
- BBBEE - Expert
- Provident Funds - Good
- Medical Funds - Good
- IR – all functions, including hearings, Unions - Expert
- Organization Culture - Expert
- Individual Skill Development and Skills development Annual report giving - Expert
- Employee Retention and Turnover Rate - Expert
- Personnel Planning and Resourcing - Expert
- Apprentice Training: Grants - Expert
- Exit Interviews - Expert
- EAP services - Expert
- Induction Training - Expert
- Exco assistance : ad hoc aspects - Expert
- Employee Satisfaction - Expert
- Staff Turnover - Expert
- Team conflict Management - Expert
Other Employment History : Only Name of Company, Position, Date
- SANBS – Senior Human Resources Business Partner,01 November2013 –08 August2018
- Zurich Insurance – People Management Consultant (Contractor),02 November2012 –31 October2013
- Primedia Unlimited – HR Business Partner,01 March2012 –31 August2012
- MWEB Business – HR Practitioner,01 December2008 –28 February2012
- MWEB Business – Learning and Development Practitioner,01 April2007 –30 November2008
- SBV Services (PTY) Ltd - Training & Development Officer,01 December2005 –30 March2007
- SBV Services (PTY) Ltd - HR Admin Clerk,01 July2004 –30 November2005
- PAG for Barlow World (PTY) Ltd – HR Officer,08 March2004 –08 April2004 (Contract)
- Damelin Education Group – Credit Liaison,05 January2004 –28 February2004 (Contact)
- THE Rand Mutual Assurance – HR / Payroll Assistant –18 November2002 –31 January2003
Timeline
HR Director : Africa & Middle East
Nielsen
10.2020 - Current
HRBP - Operations (15 Aug2018 -31 May2019); HR Director SA (01 June2019 -29 Feb2020); HR Lead Media SA (01 March2020 -30 Sept2020)
Nielsen
08.2018 - 09.2020
Basics in Business - undefined
Unisa
Certificate - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Damelin
Diploma - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Damelin
Train The Trainer - undefined
EC Training Provider
Assessor Training - undefined
Cool Ideas
BCOM - Human Resource Management and Business Management
Oxford Brooks University (Damelin)
Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA) - undefined
Henley Business School
Matric - English, Afrikaans, Mathematics, Biology, Science and Accounting
Lenasia Secondary School
Diploma - Management Principles
Varsity College
Post Graduate Diploma - Management
Henley Business School
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