AT THE HELM with TIM HACKNEY

This month Tim says 'ONE DOWN THREE TO GO'

Manpower globally assesses its progress of Actual performance vs Budgeted performance on a quarterly basis. South Africa has certain led the way in quarter 1 with a good solid performance and some very impressive growth compared to the same period in 2006.

Temporary Staffing Sales Revenue is 21% above budget with a Year-on- Year increase of 25%.

Wagemaster Sales Revenue is 15% above budget with a Year-on-Year increase of 54%.

Permanent Placement Sales Revenue is 15% above budget with a Year-on- Year increase of 26%.

Total Sales Revenue is 17% above budget with a Year-on-Year increase of 39%.

Gross Profit is 12% above budget with a Year-on-Year increase of 28%.

The above performance is as a result of your on-going commitment and the ability to “rise to the occasion” and outperform the targets that have been set. Since the Manpower South African team across all of the three geographies is a cohesive unit, it is imperative that all of the branches strive to continually outperform their monthly and quarterly budgets. Special mention must be made of the first quarters’ results from the Cape Town branches - Finance led by Shireen Goldschmidt and Office Support/Engineering & Technical led by Lilly Figueira, the Bryanston General branch led by Rodney Govender, the Finance branch led by Rowene Bowker and Key Accounts nationally led by Taryn Doubell.

It is pleasing to note some sterling individual performances by many of our consultants across the country and in particular the short period of time taken by some of our newer consultants to start billing.

We have completed 25% of the 2007 journey and there will most certainly be challenges we are faced with in quarter 2. You all have the tough-mindedness and resilience to whether the storm and collectively we will conquer whatever is in our way.

The bar is raised for the next three months and a few areas I urge you to focus on are as follows:

- ensure that we attain the minimum Temporary staffing GP percentages. Our average Temp GP for quarter 1 was 24% vs a budgeted GP of 26.9%. The 2006 Q1 GP percentage was 26.2%. Why should we compromise our GP% in a market crying out for suitably qualified personnel??
- As we know, Project Titan is a global project designed to save US$ 140 million and it is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that we review all and any expenses before we incur them.
- The importance of achieving the minimum activity KPI’s is aligned to the product we need to place on the “conveyor” belt. However greater focus on our efficiencies will result in a better closing ratio and a quality end product. Let us all make a concerted effort to only take on job orders in our various areas of expertise and where we are confident that we have a better than 33% chance of filling them.


I salute each and every one of you for all your hard work and dedication in Quarter 1 and wish you every success in achieving not only your personal goals but those of your respective branches and Manpower SA as a whole.