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Industry news, views and advice
The Right to Disconnect: Why It Matters for Employees and Employers
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally reshaped the way we work, pushing remote and hybrid work models into the mainstream. While this shift provided flexibility, it also blurred the boundaries between work and personal life, making it difficult for employees, especially...
Business Unusual: Rethinking DEI and the Global Backlash
Diversity isn’t just about what you see — it’s about diversity of thought, which gives companies a true competitive advantage. - Advaita Naidoo If there is one conversation worth listening to this week, we recommend the recent discussion aired on 702's The Money Show,...
How to Manage a Downsize in Your Workforce
Facing the Aftermath of Workforce Downsizing? Downsizing isn’t just about reducing numbers; it’s about supporting the people - both those who leave and those who stay. In a recent radio interview, Stephen Grootes from The Money Show and Debbie Goodman, CEO of Jack...
Building winning teams relies on spotting future stars
How to harness top talent without compromising company culture is key to scaling your business. Building your team is one of the most important things founders will do as they establish and grow their business. “When you see an exceptional talent, you need to make...
How to negotiate a better salary for 2025
Requesting a salary increase is a daunting challenge, with anxiety often causing employees to delay or avoid the conversation for way too long – sometimes years, even forever. However, Advaita Naidoo, Africa Managing Director (AD) at Africa’s largest executive search...
Shrinking teams: Company support crucial as fewer employees carry greater burden
As companies across the world face RIF – reduction in force – whether through hiring freezes or retrenchments, it is important to focus not only on the impact to those who are made redundant. Equally important is to consider those who are left behind: the so-called...
The impact of stigmatisation of menopause in the workplace
The "M" word ... Not purely a "woman's issue" and not limited to "older" colleagues. Menopause in the workplace is NOT just about hot flashes. If you’re at all concerned about: ✅ Employee wellbeing ✅ Productivity and performance ✅ Team dynamics and culture …then you...
ADHD in the workplace: from stigma to strength
In an evening session of Psychological Matters on Radio 702, Debbie Goodman spoke with Aubrey Masango about ADHD in the workplace: from stigma to strength. Despite an increasing awareness globally of the impact of ADHD in the workplace, the challenges and...
Boreout? Chronic boredom at work is insidious
When we’re thinking about goals and New Year’s resolutions, we should be seeking new opportunities, learning new skills, taking on more responsibility to counter ‘bore out’ – Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer. SIMON BROWN: I’m chatting now with Advaita Naidoo,...
The Hidden Cost of Meaningless Meetings
Meetings have been a part of the business landscape and company calendar for as long as anyone can remember, and indeed have played a valuable role as a forum to communicate, collaborate and innovate. However, many, perhaps even most meetings today no longer serve a...
Busting the 5 behaviours keeping you stuck in a rut
Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer, joins Gugulethu Mfuphi on Kaya Biz to help listeners understand how to avoid being stuck in a rut, adapt behaviours, and equip themselves to change gears and propel them into cruise control with their careers. Advaita says it’...
Performance reviews are dying. It’s about time
The world of work has changed dramatically over the past few years, even before the pandemic and the rise in remote work cemented new ways of working. But while many historic business processes and practices have long since fallen along the wayside in favour of more...
Fighting fire with fire: How to identify and deal with gaslighting at work
Gaslighting is a popular game played by bullies and narcissists in the workplace, and has a devastating impact on both the individual victim, as well as the culture and performance of teams and businesses, writes Debbie Goodman. In recent years, the term gaslighting...
A Wakeup Call for ‘Quiet Quitters’
Quiet quitting became a trend after lockdown, but it is time for this trend to stop and rather change to trying to be the best at your job. Workplace trends in recent years have been dominated by phrases like quiet quitting and ‘acting your wage’, which involves doing...
How to successfully negotiate a salary increase in 2023
Debbie Goodman, CEO at Jack Hammer Global, was recently featured as a host speaker on Channel Africa Radio, to discuss how to successfully negotiate salary increases in 2023. Debbie discusses why negotiating a salary package is prickly and awkward (particularly for...
Showing up: Tips for managing a successful hybrid career in 2023
Next year will be the true test of companies’ work-from-home (WFH) and hybrid workforce strategies, as the novelty of having some staff in office, some out of office, and some dipping in and out wears off and new routines become entrenched. But WFH and hybrid workers...
The Great Breakup: SA women ditching inflexible workplaces
Clement Manyathela spoke to Advaita Naidoo, Africa Managing Director at Jack Hammer Global on the employment trends of South Africa’s population of working women. A recent study shows, only 1 in 10 women want to work full time in the office. The McKinsey & Company...
Getting back to business travel
Travelling for business – locally and globally – is starting to pick up rapidly again in the wake of the pandemic, as companies once more start dispatching employees to the in-person conferences, events and meetings that were the normal order of business pre-2020....
Disruption in the workplace: gaining employee buy-in for in-office time
Bringing coherence and a new kind of clarity to the workplace will be the key to ensuring successful teams in a post-pandemic future, and should be one of the major considerations for company leadership in coming months as 2023 comes into focus – particularly because...
Your boss should let you work from home in South Africa – but here’s why it isn’t always a good idea
Bringing coherence and a new kind of clarity to the workplace will be the key to ensuring successful teams in a post-pandemic future, and should be one of the major considerations for company leadership as 2023 comes into focus – particularly because of continued...
Proximity bias threatens gender transformation in the workplace
Proximity bias is a new threat to gender transformation in the workplace. That's according to Advaita Naidoo, Africa MD at Jack Hammer. Speaking to 702's Refiloe Mpakanyane, she warned that companies must be careful not to reverse transformation gains, as they grapple...
Employee Activism Seeks Education And Opportunities To Thrive In Global Economy
Talent expert, Debbie Goodman, has been in the corporate trenches supporting the pursuits of executives and the companies they call home into better suitable placements that match intention and vibe. She is Group CEO of Jack Hammer, a global group of executive search,...
Working Well
Debbie Goodman Of Jack Hammer Global On How Companies Are Creating Cultures That Support & Sustain Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical & Financial Wellness The pandemic pause brought us to a moment of collective reckoning about what it means to live well and...
Return-to-office ultimatums in a post-pandemic world
Our MD: Africa, Advaita Naidoo, was interviewed by Nhlanhla Sehume on Newzroom Afrika's business segment about return-to-work ultimatums.
5 ways founders and CEOs can diversify their leadership teams – Business Insider
Companies with a rich tapestry of diversity are more likely to out-perform, as well as create thriving, highly engaged cultures. In this Business Insider article, Debbie Goodman – Jack Hammer’s Group CEO – shares advice on how to drive real change within your...
Top 10 inspiring women driving industry impact
Earlier this month, Jack Hammer’s Group CEO, Debbie Goodman, was included on the list of the Top 10 Inspiring Women Driving Industry Impact! For more than 20 years, Debbie and the Jack Hammer team have been shaking up the male-dominated world of executive search....
5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees
Normalize and Educate. If your team doesn’t know what burnout looks and feels like, they will not be able to know that is what they are experiencing in the first place, let alone take the proper steps to heal. I’d almost compare it to being in an abusive relationship....
Defuse the ticking mental health timebomb
Workplaces across the globe are facing a mental health crisis of unprecedented scope, as the effects of almost two years of anxiety, uncertainty and fear will transition into another period of flux as we enter 2022, a leadership expert says. Debbie Goodman, group CEO...
Preparing for the future of work: Debbie Goodman of Jack Hammer on the top five trends to watch in the future of work
Social impact is a critical differentiator for attracting top talent. The way in which high-quality candidates make decisions about their future has changed. Emerging as one of the key differentiators in the talent attraction process is the value, purpose and meaning...
Preparing For The Future Of Work
Debbie Goodman of Jack Hammer On The Top Five Trends To Watch In The Future Of Work Social impact is a critical differentiator for attracting top talent. The way in which high-quality candidates make decisions about their future has changed. Emerging as one of the key...
The future face of the office
COVID-19 has changed the way we work, not only through global hard lockdowns, but also with a hard reset in the world of work. The traditional sense of the workplace has met its demise and it’s time to think of the post-pandemic office in creative, new ways. Remote...
Jack Hammer’s annual bonus and business sentiment survey
At this point in the year, we would typically survey executives from dozens of companies on whether they expect to receive a bonus this year, whether they’re expecting increases next year, what their overall business outlook is and whether they’d consider job...
Invitation to AI World Summit – Leadership DNA of Top Women Leaders
Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman, will be participating in the upcoming AI World Summit, which will take from the 30th of November to the 4th of December. The summit aims to explore how AI’s transformational potential can be best used to create a better future. It will...
Podcast – Debbie Goodman on EO Wonder
In honour of Women's Entrepreneurship Day, listen to Jack Hammer CEO, Debbie Goodman, giving a glimpse into transitioning from a contemporary dancer to law student to the powerhouse behind three s successful businesses.
How it works: Managing Remotely
Our CEO, Debbie Goodman, recently shared her expertise on remote managing with Bruce Whitfield, on The Money Show. Listen to the session here.
Podcast: Practical advice for managing remote teams
With close to 30 countries across the globe in full or at least partial lockdown, working from home became the norm overnight, speeding up a process that normally would have taken weeks and months to set up. As someone who's spent a year dealing with the teething...
Leading remotely: management mindshift in time of crisis
Advice abounds for the suddenly remote workers across the globe on how to adjust to the new normal for the foreseeable future, yet leaders of companies and teams who may have resisted the idea of remote work until now may need an even greater mindset shift during...
Coronavirus: The end of the office?
Could the coronavirus pandemic hasten the demise of the traditional SA office environment? The country is several years behind much of the world in adopting "remote working" — the ability to work for your company from wherever you want. But now, as in the rest of the...
New perks which could be widely introduced in South African companies
Companies are increasingly softening to the ideas of remote working and flexitime as the understanding of the importance of employee wellness on productivity starts gaining ground. This was one of the major trends identified in a new survey by executive search firm...
Podcast – Are companies increasingly softening to the ideas of remote working and flexitime?
Advaita Naidoo, COO of Jack Hammer, had a conversation with Oliver Dickson of 702 on the cultural shift when it comes to the working conditions in companies and who drives the change in remote working and flexitime. She also discussed the benefits for employers and...
Companies & Candidates: The 5 ground rules of job offer negotiation
As companies and candidates enter a fresh hiring season in 2020, the time will come where both parties stand at the door of a potential new partnership – arguably the most fragile period of the hiring process. At this stage, when both have clearly indicated their...
Podcast – Gearing up for great hires in 2020: ditch the job description shopping list
Debbie Goodman, CEO of executive search firm Jack Hammer and author of "Inside the Interview" had a conversation with Wasanga Mehana on how businesses can create a responsible recruitment plan and how hiring a wrong candidate can affect the organisation. She also...
Jack Hammer: Women in Leadership
A Diversity Study on US Women CEOs Jack Hammer has initiated an independent study project with contributors from Harvard Business School to analyse a sample pool of organisations in the US with women at the helm (in CEO roles). The objective of this study is to...
Ailing economy douses hopes of any bonus, pay increases
South African senior professionals, especially in the retail, manufacturing and finance sectors, are neither optimistic about a bonus this year nor a salary increase in the new year. The belt-tightening as a result of the sluggish economy has doused expectations of a...
Dread getting out of bed? You’re not alone. SA is facing a burnout epidemic
In SA, some executives need sabbaticals or breaks by their late 30s and early 40s to cope, says Debbie Goodman, the CEO of the executive search firm Jack Hammer. She says successful black women in particular have had to work harder all their lives to reach the top....
Podcast – South Africans are embracing a multi-generational workforce, says expert
Leadership strategist and founder of Jack Hammer Debbie Goodman says, managing teams comprised of a range of generations is a growing challenge for leaders. Speaking to Refilwe Moloto, Goodman says if this challenge is not constructively and proactively addressed, it...
Multi-generational diversity impacts workplace productivity
Managing teams comprised of a range of generations is a growing challenge for leaders and, if this challenge is not constructively and proactively addressed, it can have a substantial negative impact on affected employees and ultimately the organisation, a leadership...
Beware the hidden cost of downsizing
As companies increasingly turn to retrenchments in response to pressures on their bottom line, they should beware the unintended but very real consequences that are likely to flow from a reduced staff complement, an expert warns. “In many instances, the reduced profit...
Transformation in SA companies is well underway
Another Women’s Month has come around and, depending on where you sit, the cause for women in the corporate perch is well and truly being secured – or is it? According to data from executive search firm Jack Hammer, the appointment of women in corporate positions is...
South Africa’s CEO bloodbath
The past few weeks and months have seen arguably the biggest exodus and purge of leaders from the country’s top companies and state owned companies in recent history, with more heads expected to roll in future. Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, leadership strategist and founder...
The 10% Investment That Will Get Your Business Game Back On
Disruption. Uncertainty. Rapid technological advancement. Obsolescence. We all know that the world of work and business is changing and transforming rapidly, even exponentially. I’ve seen some form of a Moore’s Law graph at every conference I’ve attended in the last...
More than half of managers, executives appointed in SA last year were women
Annual statistics for top leadership placements show that South African companies are taking gender transformation to heart, with more women than men landing management and senior leadership roles for the first time in 2018. Advaita Naidoo, COO at Jack Hammer, says it...
Podcast – Remote working: an emerging trend
As the remote working trend gains popularity in South Africa, our COO Advaita Naidoo shared our research findings that local companies reluctant to offer remote work options to prospective employees are losing out on top talent. Some of the reasons employees motivate...
Podcast – The jobs of the now and the future
Jack Hammer COO, Advaita Naidoo, recently spoke to Cape Talk's Refilwe Moloto about what the future of the job market looks like. What kinds of qualifications / skills / positions might the graduates of 2029 be looking at? Click here for great insights into the...
South Africa On The Radar For Global Execs & Entrepreneurs
Internationally-based executives and entrepreneurs continue to enquire about career opportunities in South Africa, despite the challenges facing the country, including political uncertainty and crime. But even though these high-level leaders are in a position to drive...
New rule and roles – no time for companies to stick their heads in the sand
The workplace of the future is here, changing rapidly, enabled by new tech and progressive thinking. As a result, a number of new senior leadership roles are emerging that companies must start incorporating into their leadership teams to position themselves...
Four women on top of their game about the ‘top seat’ at the table
Earlier this year the Grant Thornton ‘Women in business: beyond policy to progress’ report revealed that only 29% of senior roles in South Africa are now filled by women. While this is a small improvement on previous findings, it’s important to note that 20% of local...
International US companies are looking for you
Multinational companies seeking to establish or grow their presence in Africa are looking for qualified and experienced professionals to lead their organisations, both in South Africa and on the rest of the continent. This is according to Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, CEO of...
IRC Global Conference in Lima: Embracing the Future
Members of IRC Global Executive Search Partners met in Lima, Peru, on October 3-5, 2018. Delegates from 40+ countries celebrated 25 years of the largest global alliance of locally operated executive search firms. Our Partners gathered at the annual IRC Global...
Gender transformation in senior positions
Jack Hammer COO, Advaita Naidoo, recently spoke to SABC's Bongani Bingwa about our latest research into the leadership makeup of the JSE's Top 40 companies.