Eskom brings in former employees, manufacturers to deal with crisis Eskom, which readily concedes it does not have the skills to maintain its plants, is on a drive to bring back former employees to mentor and train staff. It is also, at last, bringing in the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to conduct maintenance on parts of its plants where its own engineers and artisans are having difficulty. This has previously been difficult due to red tape around public procurement. Eskom's chief executive André de Ruyter and chief operations officer Jan Oberholzer are frank about Eskom's lack of capacity, which is a large part of the downward trend in the performance of its generating units. Unscheduled breakdowns, which cause load shedding, have been on an upward trend for a decade. In 2011, for instance, Eskom's energy availability factor – which is the proportion of its plant available to dispatch energy – was 84.5%. By 2020, this had fallen to 66.6%, and now sits at 56%.While Eskom management has previously suggested bringing former employees back to the company, the suggestion led to pushback from current employees and unions. But in an interview on Tuesday, De Ruyter said the proposal had received full support from the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan. Introducing a mentorship programme at Eskom is also on the list of interventions suggested by the ANC in a statement on Tuesday. Said De Ruyter: "We are now in the process of bringing in previous employees. It has been difficult due to legacy race issues, which are still sensitive and we cannot be oblivious to that. But from the perspective of the shareholder, there has been strong support for this on the basis that they come in to transfer skills." Oberholzer said that two senior people had already been brought back, one to Koeberg and another to the generation division. He said a list of 45 people had been compiled and individuals would be approached to return in a mentoring role at senior and lower levels of the organisation. An accelerated loss of skills at Eskom has been underway over the past two decades when old employees were encouraged to take voluntary severance packages to bring in new black graduate engineers. But while the new entrants often had superior qualifications, such as engineering degrees, compared to the artisans they replaced, they lacked the experience of their predecessors, many of whom had worked their entire lives at Eskom. While transformation did occur, mentorship and training processes that had long been part of Eskom's work practice began to fall away. Questions i. After reading the above case study, discuss the potential challenges of mentoring to mentors engaged at Eskom. ii. In your own words explain the rationale for mentoring and coaching interventions at Eskom
Question 1
Eskom brings in former employees, manufacturers to deal with crisis
Eskom, which readily concedes it does not have the skills to maintain its plants, is on a drive to
bring back former employees to mentor and train staff. It is also, at last, bringing in the original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to conduct maintenance on parts of its plants where its own
engineers and artisans are having difficulty. This has previously been difficult due to red tape
around public procurement. Eskom's chief executive André de Ruyter and chief operations officer
Jan Oberholzer are frank about Eskom's lack of capacity, which is a large part of the downward
trend in the performance of its generating units. Unscheduled breakdowns, which cause load
shedding, have been on an upward trend for a decade. In 2011, for instance, Eskom's energy
availability factor – which is the proportion of its plant available to dispatch energy – was 84.5%.
By 2020, this had fallen to 66.6%, and now sits at 56%.While Eskom management has previously
suggested bringing former employees back to the company, the suggestion led to pushback from
current employees and unions. But in an interview on Tuesday, De Ruyter said the proposal had
received full support from the Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan.
Introducing a mentorship programme at Eskom is also on the list of interventions suggested by the
ANC in a statement on Tuesday.
Said De Ruyter:
"We are now in the process of bringing in previous employees. It has been difficult due to legacy
race issues, which are still sensitive and we cannot be oblivious to that. But from the perspective of the shareholder, there has been strong support for this on the basis that they come in to transfer
skills."
Oberholzer said that two senior people had already been brought back, one to Koeberg and another
to the generation division. He said a list of 45 people had been compiled and individuals would be
approached to return in a mentoring role at senior and lower levels of the organisation. An
accelerated loss of skills at Eskom has been underway over the past two decades when old
employees were encouraged to take voluntary severance packages to bring in new black graduate
engineers. But while the new entrants often had superior qualifications, such as engineering
degrees, compared to the artisans they replaced, they lacked the experience of their predecessors,
many of whom had worked their entire lives at Eskom. While transformation did occur, mentorship
and training processes that had long been part of Eskom's work practice began to fall away.
Questions
i. After reading the above case study, discuss the potential challenges of mentoring to
mentors engaged at Eskom.
ii. In your own words explain the rationale for mentoring and coaching interventions at Eskom
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