A Temporary Employment Service is a contractor who supplies workers to farms and packhouses, normally during peak season as seasonal labour. Temporary Employment Services are also sometimes known as labour brokers or labour providers. In line with the Labour Relations Act, these temporary employment services that provide the service of employees to producers are jointly and severally liable for any employment law, alongside the producer. Because of this mutual responsibility that rests on both parties, it is important that producers ensure that the temporary employment service that they use are compliant. In order to streamline the process for both parties, and ensure a lower risk for all involved, Temporary Employment Services can register with the SIZA programme as well and undergo their own third-party audit. This process allows for risks to be mitigated via a credible third-party process and allows the sample to be reduced on the day of the audit for the producer. Therefore, if you as a producer ask your TES to register with SIZA please remind them that registration alone is not going to give them an Audit Completion Letter (SIZA Certificate). They will have to complete the compliance process similar to what you as a producer have to do.
What is the process for Temporary Employment Services?
Step 1: Registration
The TES must register on the MySIZA platform as a level 1d which will ensure that they have access to the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). Once the SAQ is completed and approved they can apply to an audit firm of choice to be audited. To maintain a valid membership TES providers should also renew their membership annually once they completed the audit process. If they lapsed to do so, their certificate will not be valid anymore because the moment your membership lapse neither we nor the buyers can monitor compliance anymore.
Step 2: Complete Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)
The SAQ serves various purposes and is your first benchmark against legislative requirements. This will give you a very good idea as to where you are in your business regarding compliance. The SAQ also serves as a between audit monitoring tool and therefore needs to be updated every year. the SAQ also opens the door to request an audit. If your SAQ is not completed and approve you will not be able to ask to be audited.
Step 3: The Audit process
Once the SAQ is approved, you can request on the MySIZA Platform to be audited. Once this action is completed the audit firm will start with the scheduling process according to your preferences. When the audit day arrived, the TES will be evaluated against the SIZA Social Standard to ensure they meet all the minimum legislative and regulatory requirements. Once the audit is done for the day, the TES will receive a provisional Corrective Action Plan (CAP) report which will indicate the findings noted on the day of the audit.
Step 4: Completing the Corrective Actions
Once the audit day has been completed, it does not mean that the process has been completed in full. The TES will then need to submit corrective actions for each and every finding on the MySIZA platform, to allow the auditor to review the corrections. Once the auditor is satisfied with all the corrective actions, they will close it, and once the last corrective action is closed, the audit will be completed.
Step 5: Receive the Audit Completion Letter
The Audit Completion Letter is only issued once all the corrective actions have been done, addressing the root cause of any finding made during the audit. The issuing of the Audit Completion Letter happens automatically via the platform once the process has been completed in full – ensuring continuous improvement have been reached. If the TES has a valid Audit Completion Letter, they can show it to their clients who might require this ‘certificate’ in order to enter into an employment/service agreement. This does not mean that all the work is done – both the TES and the producer should continue monitoring all practices regularly to ensure that all requirements are met at all times, i.e., wages are paid correctly, payslips are received, contracts are place for each employee, health and safety regulations are being complied to etc.
Why does my TES business need a SIZA Audit Completion Letter (Certificate)?
As a TES, you need to be able to provide evidence that the way you manage your business is according to minimum laws and the SIZA Standard. It will also ensure that the producers can make use of your services with confidence and trust. If you complete the whole compliance process and get the SIZA certificate, your workforce will not need to form part of your client’s audit on the day of their audits, and your clients will be able to verify with SIZA if you already have an Audit Completion Letter (certificate) in place. This makes you a preferred service supplier.
To view the specific steps to follow, feel free to view the guideline document on the SIZA website here.
For more information, please contact Lynn Taute at lynn@siza.co.za / 021 852 8184.