Leveraging a diverse and change resilient culture

We want to create a change resilient and adaptive culture that leverages our collective and diverse intelligence to drive deeper engagement, promote innovation, support business growth and improve productivity while ensuring the wellbeing of our employees.

To be truly inclusive, we must empower our people to make meaningful contributions, and treat all our employees fairly with equal access to opportunities, information and resources. We are working to embed DEI into the bedrock of our culture, business processes and talent management.

All interactions, including disciplinary actions and negotiations on terms of employment, are managed with utmost responsibility and in a fair, open and respectful manner. Various mechanisms are used to engage with employees, including employee engagement surveys and engagement initiatives within the individual businesses. For example, Mercedes Benz in the UK provides all employees with an application (app) on their phone so that they can share information about their activities. In South Africa, a toolkit helps our human resources personnel and business leaders to provide emotional support, communicate effectively, and embed our values and desired culture. In the UK, informal groups help address issues raised in employee engagement surveys.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Our people policies convey the behaviours we expect of our managers and employees to provide a working environment where everyone can perform to their full potential. We ensure that our employment policies and practices do not unintentionally create potential for discrimination or unconscious bias behaviour. Policies are in place to accommodate the needs of people living with disabilities and to guard against harassment in the workplace.

In South Africa, our Employment Equity Plan supports social justice norms and labour legislation that drive the advancement of designated groups (Africans, Coloured, Indians, women and people living with disabilities). Since the Motus listing, the representation of South African black employees in management levels has grown considerably.

Black representation – South Africa

Our diversity training programmes in South Africa and the UK raise awareness on the value of diversity, empower managers to lead diverse teams and educate employees on how to work in diverse teams.

In South Africa, we have development programmes and learnerships that target women and people living with disabilities, and in the UK, our apprenticeships target women and people of colour. The Women in Leadership Programme (a partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science in South Africa) is a seven-month programme which develops women to effectively lead in a male-dominated environment. Participants gain insight from female industry and Motus leaders who share their career experiences and are assigned a coach to help them work on their personal development areas which are identified using 360-degree surveys.

Motus has a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Roadmap in place. We held an externally facilitated workshop for the executives in South Africa to reimagine a purposeful DEI vision that engenders a better sense of belonging for employees. The workshop interrogated the collective understanding of DEI and the benefits of pursuing this culture. Similar sessions were held with the management teams of our business segments as well as with other key personnel. We were pleased that the results showed a common understanding of the value that DEI creates and that the feedback highlighted opportunities within each business segment. It has since been agreed that the DEI framework and tone will be set at a Group level, with the implementation thereof to be managed at business segment level.

Building our portfolio of future-ready skills

A top priority for the Group is to develop and train our 17 283 employees so that they are knowledgeable and empowered to deliver our growth ambitions. Learning and development is also vital to their growth and development, and positively contributes to a more efficient, competitive and engaged workforce.

Digitisation is impacting skills and job roles. The future workforce will need to be change resilient. Employees will need digital and commercial astuteness, an increasing set of new skills and the ability to collaborate more to navigate increasingly integrated organisations. They will have to understand the digitally savvy customer and be able to educate the traditional customer. Our learning and development approach must therefore also become more agile to ensure organisational success.

For Motus this means we must understand our reskilling needs and ensure that our workforce has the capability and digital IQ to support a future-fit organisation across multiple platforms (digital dexterity). Big data and analytics, coding, design thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving and social platform sales and services skills are increasingly needed in the experiential workplace. Key is the digital capability of our sales teams; however, as dealerships evolve digitally, human interaction will still be critical at certain points to foster trust, knowledge transfer and other value-added services as well as deliver an enhanced customer experience.

Training and development opportunities

Tailored training and development opportunities are delivered at all employee levels. In addition to achieving our strategic objectives, our programmes support the achievement of our DEI targets and ensure a pipeline of skilled people for appointment to critical positions when they become available. In South Africa, each business segment manages its own technical and product-specific training, and the Group delivers non-technical training programmes.

Our Group-led programmes range from generic programmes that help employees deal with increasing uncertainty and complexity, to leadership and management programmes that focus on driving our desired leadership behaviours.

Digital astuteness

As the business model becomes increasingly digital and the technological component of most jobs grows, it is incumbent on the Group to build the digital dexterity of our employees. Programmes are needed to upskill lower skilled employees to ensure they can adapt to new ways of working, supporting their continued employment and enhancing their prospects of securing quality jobs. Our Digital Enablement Programme in South Africa teaches employees how to confidently navigate digitisation and use it to work more productively and effectively.

Performance management

Our performance development approach drives better engagement between employees and their line managers, aligning employee standards of performance and expectations with strategic business objectives, and ensuring that employees are assessed fairly, developed appropriately and rewarded and recognised for exceptional performance. It also identifies corrective development or supportive actions to manage poor performance. Employees are assessed on their performance and values-based behaviour.

Fair remuneration

When necessary, we adjust roles and remuneration according to level of complexity, decision-making and skills required. This process enables us to empirically demonstrate the value of roles and jobs in relation to one another, regardless of the incumbent, and to defend our pay philosophy.

As part of the annual employment equity reporting cycle in South Africa, we assess the remuneration gap between the highest paid and lowest paid employees and at the same time identify if there are inequalities in remuneration in relation to race and gender in the various occupational levels. In the UK, we issued a report on the gender pay gap in 2022 and are taking steps to address gender pay equity.

Our occupational health and safety (OHS) procedures are closely monitored to ensure we remain vigilant and aware of where risks exist or may occur, as well as to ensure that they meet business requirements and comply with legislative requirements and guidelines.

In the UK, we have adopted the principles of ISO45001 (the revised OHS standard which includes environmental aspects) as our minimum standard.

We adopt a zero-tolerance approach to non-compliant OHS behaviour. Our employees are responsible for their own safety as well as the safety of others and are required to raise OHS concerns and non-compliance with their line managers and OHS representatives timeously. This includes what they feel may be potential hazards.

We recognise the importance of employees who are adequately trained, informed and supervised to fulfil their activities in a safe manner. OHS training and awareness is customised to the workplace environment of each business and region. Training ensures that employees clearly understand their OHS responsibilities, how to operate equipment safely and manage hazards responsibly, as well as adhere to legislative requirements.

In the UK and Australia, training is supplemented with method statements, toolbox talks and morning briefings. In the UK, we have three categories of OHS training: induction training for new employees, job-or task-specific training and refresher training. In Australia, all new employees complete online training on safe working procedures prior to starting work.

COVID-19 management

2022 was a year of navigating intense and differing responses to COVID-19 across our various operating jurisdictions. We were able to adjust our OHS practices accordingly to meet health authorities' COVID-19 guidelines and government regulations. COVID-19 measures are now included as part of our standard OHS practices.

COVID-19 vaccination is encouraged but not mandatory. We support vaccination given its proven ability to help reduce the chance of severe illness or death and the spread of the virus. As such, our employees are allowed time off work to vaccinate.

Supporting the wellbeing of our people

The physical and mental wellbeing of our employees directly impacts their performance and productivity. We provide preventive care and health education and awareness covering COVID-19 and the importance of mental health.

In South Africa, our Employee Assistance Programme is managed by external service providers. The confidential short-term counselling services help employees who are facing personal challenges, including financial and legal advice, and work-related problems that are affecting their work performance, and health, mental and emotional wellbeing. Beyond this programme, our people have access to a wide range of professional communication and self-leadership events.

In the UK, an independent occupational health provider oversees health surveillance interventions, including legislated medical examinations. The provider also assists employees who need counselling, help with stress and health issues, and rehabilitation from workplace accidents. The UK Employee Assistance Programme provides employees and their immediate family members with 24/7 access to a doctor, confidential counselling services, mental health support and professional financial advice. Advantageous savings and credit interest rates are available to those earning lower incomes.

Our Employee Assistance Programme in Australia comprises four counselling services and access to government bodies, which assist with relationship issues, depression, suicide and self-harm tendencies and domestic violence.

Effective economic inclusion and transformation can only be achieved with collaboration between the South African Government and the private sector. We support the Automotive Aftermarket Guidelines, which aim to expand the inclusion of SMEs owned by black individuals in the automotive aftermarket value chain as well as increase local production volumes and create jobs. As small businesses play a critical role in creating desperately needed jobs, it is government's intention to grow local production and manufacturing, and open big business supply chains to SMEs.

South Africa's automotive industry bodies promote the sector's interests and ensure a competitive yet collaborative industry. Our industry body memberships enable us to share our expertise and experience to support broader national strategies and progress the transformation of our industry and enrich its leadership. They also provide us with insight to the perspectives of other industry leaders and allow us to identify opportunities to drive our own transformation initiatives and contribution to society at large, over and above our community initiatives.

Our transformation strategy

Our Level 4 B-BBEE rating supports our commercial competitiveness and secures our relevance in South Africa's society as a business that positively contributes to the economy and communities.

Ownership is an important factor for organisations making purchasing decisions in South Africa, as buying from a company that is at least 30% black women-owned or 51% black-owned improves the customer's preferential procurement score. Having the best possible B-BBEE rating and ownership level therefore enhances our relevance and ability to compete.

Given the high level of our procurement spend linked to franchise agreements or OEMs, OEM scorecards have a knock-on effect on our points for procurement. South African OEMs have committed to the Equity Equivalency Programme that aims to improve their contributor status to a minimum Level 4 B-BBEE rating. This should positively impact our B-BBEE scorecard and rating.

Transforming our workforce

Our long-term objective is to have a local workforce that is reflective of South Africa's economically active population by 2028. Our key focus is to increase the number of black people and black women in management positions and continue to develop the skills of our black employees.

See the progress the Group has made in transformation since listing.

Our Employment Equity Plan sets out co-ordinated and targeted interventions to recruit, develop and promote candidates to achieve our race, gender and disability targets. We ensure an appointment, promotion and training ratio of over 50% in favour of employees from designated groups.

Supporting black-owned and managed businesses

We are developing sustainable working models for black-owned and managed businesses, including non-OEM branded workshops and majority black-owned dealerships, in historically under-served areas near and around informal communities. We are also making our parts and services more accessible to informal traders and technicians. Not only do these initiatives aim to support communities, but they also provide us with access to new markets.

Our enterprise and supplier development strategy is to find opportunities within our controllable procurement spend categories (that is outside of our franchise and OEM procurement) to provide training, mentoring and financial assistance to SMEs, particularly black-owned enterprises, to help them build sustainable businesses.