Sage HR & Payroll’s work readiness programme helps Grade 10 to 12 scholars from underprivileged areas to prepare themselves for life after school. Some 45 youth - learners from Louis Botha Children's Home, Jafta Mahlangu High School, the Voortrekkers as well as children of Sage HR & Payroll colleagues - are currently involved.

Each year, the learners join Sage HR & Payroll during the winter holidays for self-discovery sessions and training in business basics such as time management, office productivity software, business writing, payroll, compiling CVs, managing job interviews, and payroll software. The initiative is led by Marcia Bunton and the team in Sage HR & Payroll’s internal training department.

Pupils are invited to join in Grade 10, based on their academic performance. Those that remain in the programme until Grade 12 get an opportunity to write a letter motivating why they should be chosen to attend the Sage HR & Payroll Academy to be trained in payroll skills that will make them immediately employable.

Says Karen Ekron, Head of Recruitment at Sage HR & Payroll, “This initiative is a way for us to give something back to the community and do something about youth unemployment in South Africa. We started this programme in 2012, and we have been privileged to watch the growth and development of the learners we have worked with since then. It has been exciting to see how committed the learners and our volunteer staff have been to this programme.”