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SCHOOL Johannesburg Business School, University of Johannesburg South Africa NEW OBSERVATORY SEEKS TO BOOST PUBLIC SERVICE A new research centre at Johannesburg Business School has launched with a view to strengthening data-driven skills planning in South Africa’s public service, building institutional capability and supporting more effective delivery. The PSETA–UJ Research Observatory is the result of a collaboration between the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA). Its launch was attended by leaders from government, academia, industry and the public sector, under the theme of credible, data-driven labour market intelligence and sectoral research. Speakers at the event emphasised the new observatory’s intended role as a bridge between policy, research and implementation. Delivering the opening address, PSETA accounting authority chairperson Kennedy Maimela said: “We are working to ensure that this evidence – and the strategies it informs – translates into meaningful impact for the country’s development and for public service delivery.” Buti Manamela, recently appointed as South Africa’s minister for higher education, science and technology (deputy minister at the time of the event) framed the observatory as a vital national development tool, arguing that South Africa must move from reactive compliance to anticipatory skills planning. Meanwhile, a panel session on reforming planning around public service skills encompassed the topics of leadership succession, responsible AI use, implementation gaps and accountability. CD
FLEXIBILITY FALLING SHORT FOR WORKING FATHERS, STUDY FINDS
Heejung Chung, director of the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership. “Without tackling the stigma associated with flexibility, fathers fear using it or feel forced to use it in ways that protect their image at work while damaging their and their family’s wellbeing.” Addressing this stigma and better supporting flexibility for fathers, the study suggests, can boost employee engagement, productivity and crucially, retention. According to the data analysed, for example, around 17 per cent of fathers who currently have some work-from-home arrangements would quit their jobs outright if they were required to return to the office full time. Supporting fathers’ ability to take on more family responsibilities, such as the school run and dinner
SCHOOL King’s Business School King’s College London, UK
hile fathers enjoy the benefits of work-from- home flexibility, it can often be accompanied with stigma, according to new research from King’s Business School (KBS). In its analysis of data from the Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes UK , the KBS report found that among 8,123 responding full-time working fathers, the preference would be to double their current working‑from-home arrangements, on average, from 1.1 days to 2.1 days per week. However, it also found that employees who work from home are rated less favourably for promotion by UK managers and that working fathers are the group most likely to be penalised for this. “Simply providing flexibility is not enough,” stressed report co-author W
time, can also help reframe narratives around gender, as
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Chung emphasised. “When men are involved, not only do their ideas of what it means to be a man change but so do those of their children.” EB
Business Impact • ISSUE 4 • 2026
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