Rectron’s social committee, led by HR, put together a month-long programme to celebrate the men in the organisation.
Kutlwano Rawana, chief of people at Rectron, says the company puts together an annual calendar of staff activities with the aim of not only appreciating their staff but also celebrating differences, encouraging employee wellness and driving overall staff engagement. This year, it decided to include the men to show them they are valued and appreciated.
“Following a successful women’s month of celebration, we felt and decided it would also be appropriate, in the interest of diversity and inclusion, to celebrate Rectron men too during the month of November (coinciding with the global Men’s Health month),” says Kutlwano.
The activities dedicated to men were carried out across all Rectron’s branches (Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Gqeberha and Johannesburg). Male employees form 51 percent of the company’s total staff complement.
“One of our strategic people pillars is transformation, which includes a focus on diversity and inclusion,” she explains.
What makes the programme unique to Rectron?
According to Kutlwano,not many organisations celebrate men. “The focus has always been on women in the organisation alone which, if not balanced accordingly may end up making our male colleagues feeling less valued within the organisation,” Kutlwano says.
How the men were pampered
The activities the company put together for men included office massages, barber treatments, coffee tasting, desk drops and a close-out social braai at the end of the month. Included in the social braai was a health talk by clinical psychologist Thabang Tlake.
“During our women’s month campaign, the women of Rectron ran a “donate a pack of sanitary towels campaign,” through which we raised more than a thousand sanitary towels for our PEU (CSI) programme beneficiary schools and for men’s month, the men at Rectron are driving a ‘donate a roll-on/deo spray’ for the boys.”
The impact of the initiative on the men in the company
Kutlwano says the men in the company have expressed gratitude for being appreciated.
“We (HR) have received phenomenal feedback from our male colleagues, who have largely expressed their gratitude for being included and appreciated for the first time at Rectron. This is something we will definitely continue to do annually. This has nicely set the scene for our 16 days of activism campaign,” Kutlwano concludes.
