Aspiring entrepreneurs were this past Monday advised to liaise with Business Botswana in order to learn about labor laws as to prevent legal battles with employees.
“It is amazing how entrepreneurs know the steps they take to become registered business entities. They know one has to go to CIPA to register. Then go on to take further steps like registering for Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) and even for Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) but fail to ensure they practice labor steps that allow for the business to flourish,” said Opelo Baleseng, a labor laws expert. Baleseng is part of a team currently in the process of forming a Union for Retail Business workers. He said these remarks at a business breakfast meeting at Jeycee’s Bistro restaurant in CBD organized by News Bureau and Brainpower.
Baleseng said that it is vital that once entrepreneurs start businesses they engage a Labor Consultant or the Labor office to determine the recruitment method to use following which he took time to define the different types of recruitment processes available in the country. He gave the example of casual laborers explaining that they work three days out of a week and are called by phone to come to work. He said that after 12 months such workers are automatically referred to as contracted employees. Their benefits, he said, are limited to leave days. Baleseng then added, “Then there are the temporary employees. These are engaged for three months and at the end of their term their benefits include leave days and severance benefits. Then there is Permanent and Pensionable employees- have fixed term of contract and employers have funds from which the employees deduct their dues even after retirement.”
He advised attendees to take heed to the message that says business people should take care of the people they have employed and they in turn will take care of their businesses.
