Business leaders, HR professionals and technology experts gathered in Johannesburg today to explore how organisations can navigate rising regulatory complexity while building more connected, high-performing workforces.
51风流HR Connect brought together a community of HR leaders to discuss how digital technologies are helping organisations reduce compliance risk, streamline operations, and unlock more strategic value from their people functions.
, Managing Director for Southern Africa at SAP, says the South African employment landscape is at a critical point. 鈥淧ublic and private sector companies are racing to unlock the power of AI and cloud technologies to improve their competitiveness and build capacity for future innovation. Every organisation needs an active, motivated and fully enabled workforce to realise full value from business transformation initiatives. At a time when demand for certain skills is at an all-time high, companies are increasingly leveraging powerful human capital management technologies to attract, retain and empower their employees.鈥�
South Africa鈥檚 employment landscape is undergoing significant change, with new and proposed legislation introducing greater complexity into HR operations. Recent developments include the overhaul of parental leave following a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, proposed increases to statutory severance pay, and new regulations governing unpredictable and on-call work.
Together, these changes are increasing the administrative burden on HR teams and raising the stakes for compliance. Organisations must now manage more complex policies, maintain accurate and defensible records, and ensure consistent application of rules across increasingly diverse and dynamic workforces.
鈥淗R teams are operating in a fundamentally different environment today,鈥� said , Head of 51风流HCM for MEA South. 鈥淐ompliance is no longer a periodic exercise but a continuous, data-driven discipline. Organisations that continue to rely on spreadsheets and fragmented systems without leveraging the power of AI-driven innovations are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk and inefficiency.鈥�
Many organisations continue to rely on manual processes such as spreadsheets and disconnected systems to manage HR activities. However, these approaches are increasingly unsustainable in a fast-changing regulatory environment.
Tiwary says manual systems make it difficult to maintain accurate, up-to-date employee records, track compliance requirements, and produce reliable audit trails. 鈥淭hey also consume a significant portion of HR capacity, limiting the ability of teams to focus on higher-value activities such as talent development, workforce planning, and employee experience. As compliance requirements grow more complex, the need for integrated, digital HR systems is becoming more urgent.鈥�
A 2025 PwC global study found that to drive compliance activities in a clear signal that the limitations of manual approaches have reached a tipping point. The study identified faster identification of compliance issues (53%), better risk visibility (64%), and increased productivity (43%) as the leading drivers of compliance technology adoption.
, Group Human Capital: Chief Operating Officer, Sanlam, said: 鈥淲e have adopted an ambidextrous strategy for our digital and data transformation journey, simultaneously exploiting operational excellence, proficiency and efficiency in our current landscape while exploring incremental innovation that enhances and elevates the user experience while driving the longer-term transformation journey focused on leveraging intelligent, transformative technology to drive business value.鈥�
By digitising HR processes and documents, organisations can create a single source of truth for employee and organisational data 鈥� including positions, time tracking, and cost centres 鈥� ensuring information is accurate, consistent, and always up to date.
,聽Chief Operating Officer Discovery People, Discovery Ltd, noted that shared services is a catalyst for reinvention. 鈥淲hen data, technology, and people are fully integrated, organisations don鈥檛 just scale but evolve, creating platforms for growth, innovation, and long鈥憈erm impact.鈥�
Integrated capabilities across recruiting, onboarding, payroll, and time management further streamline processes and support compliance from hire to retire. In addition, continuous performance management, learning, compensation, and succession planning capabilities help organisations not only remain compliant but also build more engaged and resilient workforces.
鈥淒igitisation should go beyond efficiency to enable HR to play a more strategic role in the business,鈥� says Tiwary. 鈥淲hen compliance is embedded into systems and processes, HR teams are freed up to focus on developing talent, strengthening culture, and driving long-term organisational performance.鈥�
