1. What made you decide to open a branch in Sandton specifically?

How is it attractive and why

not other (African) cities? (Also, do you have a global location strategy and if so, what is it?
What do you look for in an ideal location?)

Sandton is quite central to most of our clients. It is safe and very modern. There is easy access to
the airport. We are a global company with offices in LatAm, Europe, Apac and Africa. We
intend to open more offices in the various regions in Africa in future.

2. What are the main challenges your company and staff have encountered with an office in the
global City like Sandton.

For our staff leaving outside Sandton, it is always challenging to commute to work given the
traffic at peak hours.
They tend to find prices of necessaries in Sandton a little elevated from what they are use to.

3. Apart from these social issues, what are some of the other HR challenges your company needs
to deal with in a global city?

Tax compliance. Because of the tax paying population in this area, the pressure on SARS is high.
As a result, it takes a little too long to get served by SARS
Competitive salaries: given the very nature of a global city, there is a high demand for talent.
This drives the expectations of employees up and companies like ours have to raise salaries
among other things to retain talent.

4. What are the challenges that South African employment legislation presents to you and have
you encountered locally unacceptable or illegal requirements as per the parent firms policies?

The main issue which we realize is the applicability of non compete clauses in South Africa.

5. What skill sets and attributes are important for managers to succeed in a global organisation?
Specifically Africa (Sandton)

Flexibility, empathy, communication skills and language skills

6. Do you use Internal and/or External recruitment? What methods are used and any need to
adjust your recruitment process for the SA market? Any challenges for recruitment in a global
city?

We use both. No particular difference in the process. But the talent pool is smaller in SA market.
The main challenge for recruiting in a global city is that of wages.

7. How do you assess, motivate and reward performance? Is it the same globally or differ per
region? What challenges are experienced in pay for performance, perks in global cities and
retaining employees?

Performance is gauged on deliverables. There are certain kpis used in our company which are
very clear and measurable. Staff are motivated primarily by bonus schemes but also there is a
clear development plan which includes an international career.
In a global company like ours, pay for performance does not always reflect the input of an
employee to the global network. Alternative means of motivation have to be sought.
Given that most jobs in most countries are centralized in the major cities, retaining staff is an
ongoing challenge we face. There is always a next company looking to poach staff.

8. What is your attrition rate in your offices in global cities? What are the main causes in your
opinion?

I cannot be precise. But when I joint the company 3 years ago in Argentina, it was really high.
Mainly, staff left because of better pay in bigger companies. The main cause of such attrition rate
is poor communication which leads to employees feeling undervalued, lack of formal training to
improve legal skills and an unmotivated staff.

9. What are the challenges of employing different nationalities in a company? Any challenges in
foreign/local employees working together?

The main challenge is that of culture. Being a global company, time difference also poses a
challenge in terms of global conference calls.

10. What are the challenges experienced in moving the resources between global locations and
retaining them in one location for a longer period of time.

The local laws relating to work visas vary from country to country. This is a hurdle we have to
jump many times over as we expand. Focusing resources in one location stifles growth as we
perform better when we are closer to our clients.