The strategic future of recruitment in South Africa
Insight Informs Excellence on Mandela Day
August 1, 2018
If nothing changes, nothing changes – or so the saying goes. In order to grow and continue to offer valuable services to their customers, South African companies need to roll with the times and evolve the way in which they do business to meet the needs of a diverse and ever-changing market.
As a leading South African employment services company, Stratostaff has taken a stride towards a future that will see them reimagine their already reputable brand. Stratostaff are always looking for ways to improve as they move into the future, and recently entered into an introspective phase to assess its value to market.
Established in 1969, Stratostaff is one of the largest temporary and permanent employment services companies in South Africa and is a level two rated B-BBEE rated company. Over the years, the company has celebrated many achievements in terms of providing Africa with reliable contract, temporary and permanent placements, in addition to payroll services, primarily in the logistics and industrial sectors.
Marc Schmitt, Managing Director of Stratostaff, said: “Working through a process like this is often challenging in that as we uncover an awareness of your customers’ challenges we are able to identify areas to innovate our service offerings underpinned by technology and ultimately continue to remain competitive and deliver value”.
The review of the company brought a couple of interesting facts to light. Firstly, that Stratostaff has evolved and offers a number of employment- services that are not strictly recruitment related. Secondly, that data, insight and strategy form a core part of many of the company’s existing processes, and that there is an opportunity to convert their extensive knowledge into extended value for customers.
Tracy Hardy, COO of Stratostaff, commented: “We have always known that insight and knowledge within our business operations was a priority, but today we realise that there is overwhelming customer demand to use digital technology to share this insight and knowledge. We now plan to embrace this even further and intend to build our business premise on this foundation… allowing us to continuously evolve, add enormous value to our client relationships and ultimately remain relevant indefinitely. We have great plans to transform this existing strength into something tangible from which our clients will benefit directly.
This shift in strategy, along with the realisation that Stratostaff has evolved to offer services beyond recruitment, forms the basis of a vital change for the company going forward. Stratostaff have made the decision to rebrand, and have launched a new brand name and identity.
Having travelled an introspective and reflective journey over the past few months the company has selected a name that reflects their true brand personality. Stratogo is a soft migration from Stratostaff and is closely linked to the original name, providing an easy transition.
“Strato” provides a link to the old name, and refers to a strategic approach driven by intensive research and insight. “Go” implies readiness to take action.
Stratogo will be driven by 3 concepts – knowledge, insight and strategy. The company will invest in research, and by applying what they learn, will be able to harness the power of data and offer personalised, responsive and relevant services to their clients.
The company has also committed to ensuring that the “proof is in the pudding”. Stratogo plans to innovate in the areas of project management, which will have an effect on processes and the ability to become even more research centric in order to improve on current services, and also provide new offerings. The company will be launching its Functional Outsourcing service over the course of the next few months, and further information will be shared in due course.
Stratogo’s affiliations with E-for-Exec and Lee Hecht Harrison remain unchanged, as does their official and exclusive partnership with Adecco in Southern Africa. These partnerships will continue to complement Stratogo’s new business strategy.
Tracy Hardy, COO of Stratogo, concludes: “We are ready to go… what we are doing hasn’t changed – but how we do it has”.
For more information on Stratogo services please call the head office on +27 31 267 1433.
