Alcohol abuse and drunkenness are common problems in the hospitality industry. How do you deal with this in an effective way?

By drunkenness we mean someone who gets to work under the influence of alcohol or who gets drunk at work. There are different degrees of drunkenness - and different ways of dealing with it. In the case of an employee who simply smells of alcohol, a short trip to the bathroom with a toothbrush will do the trick. At the other extreme, you could find yourself dealing with someone so drunk they can barely walk. When deciding how to approach the situation, you should consider the degree of drunkenness, and also look at the type of job the person performs. A drunken gardener may not cause as much damage to your establishment's reputation as a drunken waiter or chef. You need to establish whether the person is affected to such an extent that they are unable to do their job.

First, check your facts. If you suspect a worker may be drunk, make sure you can provide good reasons for saying so before confronting them. Red eyes, a smelly breath, slurred words and unsteady balance are all signs of drunkenness - and pretty common knowledge. But it doesn't amount to scientific proof! A simple, cheap test kit is available from most police stations or clinics and is a better gauge of whether or not the person you are facing really is drunk.

So, what do you do now you know for sure that your employee has had a few too many? Think about whether this is a person who suffers from alcoholism or just someone taking the previous night's celebration a little too far. If you are dealing with a habitual drinker, then you will need to decide whether their case needs to be treated sympathetically, as you would handle an employee with a debilitating illness or injury? Or, do you feel you need to deal with the case as you would any other disciplinary issue, following your standard disciplinary process. Remember, if your employee truly has a drinking problem, you might get into trouble if you treat theirs as a disciplinary case. You, as an employer, have a duty to ensure that the person gets some sort of help - professional counselling is the only acceptable way to deal with this type of case.

The bottom line is simple.

Use procedures. Make sure your employees know what the procedure is. Through the last twenty years labour legislation and the courts have developed procedures for dealing with any disciplinary infringement.  Don't make rash decisions on the spur of the moment. It may cost you a few months wages when you get to the CCMA. Remember that, despite your annoyance, you have to ensure that you have a fair workplace procedure and you follow that procedure to the letter.

Use common sense. Ensure that your employees know what happens when they get to work drunk or smelling of booze. Make sure the punishment fits the crime and that the sanction you apply is fair. Don't just dismiss the employee. First, work out how badly the infringement affects the employee, your business and most importantly, your customers.

This is yet another industry scourge. You work long hours. You put everything into your business to make it a success. And then, you have a few rotten apples who seem to lose interest. They show no devotion to your business. They're not team players. They take days off, take long lunch and tea breaks, arrive late and slip out early. It's bad for team morale and you must do something about it, but what? At first, it might not seem like a serious thing, something that you can handle with a simple "don't do it again". But what if that doesn't work? Can you start disciplining them? Will the CCMA approve if you dismiss someone for being late? What now?

If an employee is off work, then it's up to them to justify it. Remember that you are paying for them to be at work, not just for their work. The reason for their absence should be reasonable - don't just believe any story they serve up to keep out of trouble. If someone is off for more than two days without letting you know what the reason is, start procedures to dismiss them for absconding. Even if your employee lets you know they're not coming to work, but doesn't provide a reason - or you feel the reason is not valid, you have the right to start disciplinary procedures.

One of the problems you'll face is sick leave. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) protects people who take time off because they're sick. The BCEA allows a set number of sick days in a three year cycle: 30 days per three years on a five day week and 36 days per three years on a six day week.While sick absence is allowed when illness prevents the employee from working, there are cases of abuse. What do you do when after two days of absence you're faced with a dirty little crumpled note in scratchy handwriting and you're convinced it's a fake?

There are basic rules to follow. The first is, yet again, use common sense. Assess the situation carefully and decide what to do. Don't act rashly. Make sure that everyone knows what your attitude is about time-keeping and absence. Institute a rule that people who are absent must let you know somehow. This way nobody can say they never knew they would be dismissed for taking time off. Investigate sick notes - don't accept them at face value. If an employee is always sick, you can dismiss them because their poor health makes them incapable of doing their job.

More than most other disciplinary infringements, with absenteeism, it is vitally important to keep records. If you speak to someone about being late, make a note on their employee file. If it goes on, make sure you document it. This way, if you ever get to the point of "That's enough", then you have a full record of how many times you've spoken to an individual.

Be consistent. Don't fire the waiter who is five minutes late when you let the manager who is an hour late get away with it. If you hear excuses, then investigate them. It is important, again to assess what this conduct is doing to the work attitude of the person concerned, how it affects your organisation and how it affects your customers. You can dismiss for absenteeism, just make sure you follow the rules and if you're unsure, get professionals in the HR industry to help you.

These new documents published by the Department of Labour and the Department of Trade & Industry relate to bringing black people, women and disabled people into mainstream economics. Empowering them to start businesses, making sure they get a fair shot at a job, advancement and development. The government wants to make sure that South Africa 's economic make-up reflects its demographics and soon, all businesses will need to comply.

Let's look at the Empowerment Bill first. This is not law yet. It has been published and it will become law when the president signs it. It's only eight pages, but an important piece of legislation. White businesses will have to make sure that they comply with the directions given under the Bill.

It defines black economic empowerment as increasing the number of black people who own and manage businesses, developing the skills of black people, creating equitable demographics in the work place, preferential procurement and encouraging investment in businesses that black people own. It creates a Black Economic Empowerment Council to advise government on how best to implement strategies to ensure black economic empowerment.

The most powerful tool of the Bill though is that the Minister of Trade and Industry can issue black economic empowerment charters at will. These codes of good practice can contain any issue necessary for to achieve the purpose of the Broad-Based Black Empowerment Act. The Minister has carte blanche to do anything he and the Black Economic Empowerment Council think necessary to achieve the purpose of the Bill. A code of good practice can have targets for Black Economic Empowerment and set time limits to achieve those targets. These codes of good practice are not well defined, but we suspect they will be industry specific, like the finance charter and the mining charter, because the Bill also allows specific industries to negotiate their own charters within the framework of the government's broad-based black economic empowerment strategy. The Bill also allows the Minister of Trade and Industry to develop and publish a broad strategy for black economic empowerment to set goals and create a vision of what it intends.

White-owned businesses have to prepare to for black economic empowerment. The days of just seeing the huge banks and mining houses making empowerment deals is over. Government is going to start filtering empowerment down to smaller and smaller businesses and expand their empowerment programmes to other industries. If you are a white owned businesses, start taking steps now to ensure that when the code of good practice for your industry is published, you don't have to scramble about looking for someone to partner you. Also, pick your empowerment partner carefully. This will be a business partnership. Contact a consultant now and start planning a BEE strategy of your own.

The Human Resources Code of Good Practice is a misnomer. It should have been called the equity code of good practice. We have to differentiate between black economic empowerment, which envisages black business owners and equity, which envisages black employees at equal levels to their white counterparts. Again, this piece of legislation has just been published for comment and is not law yet. Once it is published in the Government Gazette it will become the standard for equity employment practices. It is long (65 pages).  In short it guides you on how to apply employment equity from recruitment, to the job itself to termination of employment.

Its stated objective is the removal of inequalities and the implementation of affirmative action policies in your workplace. It is overly involved. The code goes into minute detail about how to implement equity in your working environment. It is important to note that it expects employers to go out and
specifically develop a policy that attracts previously disadvantaged people to your business. The code applies to all employers and employees covered by the Employment Equity Act.

You should start looking at ways and means to implement the code. Again, getting caught not complying could get you into trouble. You may end up having to take extraordinary measures in a short time to comply with the code.

All of you know about the star grading system of the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA). Its systems and selection criteria are well documented. The application forms, together with the criteria, are available on the TGCSA website, www.tourismgrading.co.za The site tells you how your establishment is graded, how much it costs, and how to go about getting a grading. It also lists all the graded establishments in South Africa . This is a nice bit of free advertising. The benefits of grading are self evident.

Recently, however, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said that only graded establishments would be considered for governmental use. This sounds attractive at first and it is. It means that for the fee of joining the TGCSA, you have the opportunity of tendering for use of your establishment by government. That does not just mean the national government, but also the municipalities, provincial government and parastatal organisations like Telkom and SABC.

The catch however comes in when you look at government's procurement process. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Bill provides that government must use procurement strategies that are preferential to black empowered enterprises. It also binds the national government, provincial government, municipalities and parastatals. It is also important to note that the signatories to the mining charter and financial services charter have bound themselves to gradually developing a black empowered service provider base. If you are a white owned business and you do not start developing a black empowerment and equity strategy immediately, you could lose out on very lucrative business opportunities. So what to do?

The first thing to know is that equity does not just mean that you appoint your best waiter as a manager. Although this is equity, you may be removing a valuable member from your team and placing him in an unfamiliar role. The easiest way to start an empowerment process is training. Contact THETA at www.theta.org.za They will provide you with a list of accredited trainers. These trainers will help impart skills to your team. This is the first step to empowerment. You can also look at outreach programmes to empower the communities around you. Reach an agreement with a group of unemployed women to wash your linen on an outsourced basis. Not only does this create jobs, it allows you to outsource all the pitfalls of employment to someone else. It also means that you are empowering the communities around you.

You can also begin a recruitment process based around affirmative action. There are several unemployed young black graduates who are dying for the chance to prove their worth. This will allow you to grow and develop a core of black management and give them the experience necessary to work at management level. Once this is established, you can start looking at getting a black partner in your business. By a black partner, we mean any of the groups designated by the Bill, i.e.. black people, women or disabled people. Your business will need it to survive in the changing face of the South African business environment.