People

MURRAY & ROBERTS CARES

Murray & Roberts will introduce an employee wellness program across the Group from 1 March 2009. The launch will be accompanied by a comprehensive communication process to ensure that all employees are aware of it and know more about their current health.

Murray & Roberts has made a commitment to promote and maintain healthy lifestyles and the wellbeing of its employees. The Group recognises the risk associated with employees’ personal and work-related problems both for the individual employee and the organisation. Organisational consequences of such problems include heightened absenteeism, lower productivity and morale, high staff turnover and the risk of incapacity.

By establishing the Murray & Roberts Employee Wellness Program (EWP), the Group has made a commitment to the creation of a caring and supportive working environment that is peoplecentred and people-driven. The Murray & Roberts EWP is designed to assist employees who experience personal or work-related difficulties and ensure optimal performance of employees.

To provide employees with a high quality wellness program, Murray & Roberts has partnered with ICAS Southern Africa, an independent external company specialising in employee support service provision. ICAS is part of ICAS International (a division of AXA PPP), the world’s leading provider of behavioural risk management services to the business community.

Murray & Roberts is committed to promoting and maintaining the wellbeing of its employees and creating caring and supportive working environments.

Since its local launch in 1999, ICAS has established itself as the country’s foremost specialist in the provision of behavioural risk management and employee wellbeing programs, contributing to the health and performance of employees and organisations in all sectors of the economy. In terms of the Department of Trade and Industry’s BBBEE scorecard, ICAS is a ‘Level 2’ contributor.

The work context within which we live is challenging and is characterised by:

• Competitive pressure, earnings, value, reputation and market share
• Continuous transformation and change at a societal and personal level
• A demanding work environment
• Vulnerability to violent crime, HIV, trauma and substance abuse
• Significant prevalence of lifestyle risk factors: sedentary lifestyle, obesity, poor nutrition, smoking, chronic disease
• Evidence of mental health and related problems: anxiety and depression, sleep disorders, tension headache and chronic fatigue
• A myriad of social problems, the most prominent of which is debt
• Pressure of work affecting family life

The primary goals of the Murray & Roberts Employee Wellness Program are to recognise this work context and and enhance the health and wellbeing of Murray & Roberts employees by:

• Assisting employees to seek professional help to deal with challenges that affect their personal and interpersonal work relationships
• Improving employee morale in order to improve productivity and efficiency
• Providing life skills, awareness and education programs to promote healthy lifestyle choices and coping skills
• Increasing employees’ awareness of healthy lifestyle choices by providing emotional and psychological support
• Making all services accessible to all employees, regardless of occupational level and literacy
• Assisting in the development of a supportive workplace culture
• Capacity building for managers to use the service to identify distressed employees and refer them to appropriate resources
• Developing wellbeing partnerships within Murray & Roberts and encouraging participation by all employees, managers, health practitioners and employee representative unions
• Addressing organisational risk factors that impact on employee wellness
• Providing support for any and all work and personal related trauma

WHAT IS AN EWP?

The EWP is a program that helps individuals deal with a broad range of personal and work-related challenges and problems early and effectively and helps the organisation to understand, protect and improve the resilience and productivity of its employees. The EWP incorporates assessment, intervention and consultancy on a range of physical health, psychological, occupational, social and practical issues and aims to protect and enhance the functional capacity and performance of all employees and their dependants. One of the core services offered to employees is 24/7/365 Professional Counselling provided by registered psychologists and social workers via a multilingual call centre or face-to-face (on- or off-site). The services can be accessed via a toll free number to be communicated to employees. ICAS also provides critical incident/ trauma management support to management and employees. In partnership with ICAS, Murray & Roberts is enabling employees to be proactive in improving their wellbeing and that of their dependents.

NEW APPOINTMENTS

Allan Knott-Craig was appointed an independent non-executive director and chairman of the health, safety and environment committee with effect from 27 November 2008. Allan was previously chief executive officer of the Vodacom Group.

Frank Kruger has accepted a secondment as managing director of Murray & Roberts Engineering Solutions (MRES). Frank was a director of the company for a number of years with executive responsibility for mining & minerals, following the Group’s acquisition of JCI Projects, where he was managing director. Frank has been a senior projects executive in the office of the group chief executive for the past few years and has developed a strong relationship with all group companies involved in the implementation of major industrial and mining-related projects. The success of the Voorspoed Project is testament to Frank’s leadership in establishing the alliance contract with De Beers and his involvement in its implementation coordination. Frank has a mandate from the Group to initiate the rebuilding of MRES into an industrial projects EPCM service provider for the South African market and to re-establish MRES as the Murray & Roberts project management and engineering centre of excellence. This will leverage off the company’s core competence in project management and engineering, which specifically includes systems, standards, procedures and leadership capability.

Eduard Jardim has been appointed group communications executive in the corporate office within the enterprise capability team. Ed has advised and supported Murray & Roberts for the past five years, primarily with media engagement and the bi-annual financial results presentations. He joins the Group from its communications service provider, Arcay, with which he has been associated for the past nine years. Ed has taken immediate leadership responsibility for client service, the Murrob website, the interchange and further development of the corporate library, incorporating the archiving of our 106 years of history and a comprehensive project reference. He will increasingly engage with media and investor relations and development of the group communications strategy.