labour unions, via collective agreements and bargaining councils. All labour-related practices are framed
within the context of the ILO Decent Work Agenda, to which most countries of operation are signatories.
We offer our employees additional benefits based on factors such as performance, or length of service.
During the year under review, the group spent approximately R289 million on the provision of benefits to
our employees, such as accommodation and amenities, health care, educational assistance and
community projects. Given the challenges of poverty, lack of infrastructural development, non-delivery of
basic services including health and education, and the rural location of many of our operations, there is
significant “below-the-line” transfer of employee benefits to local communities across the regional
footprint of the countries within which we operate. In total the company spent R2 565.2 million on
employee compensation and benefits.
Additional employee benefits
Retirement funds
• Contribution towards post-retirement benefits(includes risk benefits such as
death, disability and critical illness).
Accommodation
• Predominantly on our sugar estates outside of South Africa, combined with
associated utilities. The accommodation that we offer our employees and their
families varies between formal staff housing, villages and hostel dwellings for
fixed-term contract employees. The accommodation includes the provision of
utilities such as potable water and electricity, together with day-to-day
maintenance eg, sanitation management.
• The recent introduction of group minimum accommodation standards, as
informed by the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) guidelines.
Health care
• Group-run primary health care clinics / hospitals (the use of which extends to
employees direct dependants), or medical aid / insurance.
• Public health services (provision of potable water and the proactive prevention
of communicable diseases eg, malaria via co-ordinated spraying and
educational programmes).
Educational
facilities /
assistance
• As part of our commitment towards social upliftment, our estates embrace
community-based educational activities, extending from pre-school through to
secondary school levels. This includes support for local projects to upgrade
schools, such as classroom-building, and to provide assistance to improve
school administration and management. In many instances, these entities are
funded entirely by Illovo.
• Financial assistance for employee dependants’ education is available to eligible
staff members. An allocation of bursaries, grants and loan funding for
higher/further education is also administered in all countries of operation.
Utilities
• Includes the provision of amenities such as potable water, sanitation,
electrification, sewerage disposal and refuse removal.
Community
• Estates provide club and community centres, estate community policing, sport
and recreational facilities along with sponsorship.
These benefits, with a number of variations, are available to both permanent and non-permanent
employees. The only exceptions (ie, benefits which are not available to non-permanent employees), are
educational assistance and membership of retirement funds.
