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DUT HR Department is Going Paperless 

DUT HR Department is Going Paperless 

The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Human Resources department hosted a Recycling Blitz, where all its employees cleared old papers in their workstations for recycling last week Friday, 19 October 2018, at the Tromso Building on the Steve Biko Campus in Durban.

The Senior Director: Human Resources, Dr Vuyo Mthethwa said the Recycling Blitz which was themed – “Clear the Clutter – Clear Your Mind”, was more than just about clearing and recycling papers. “The message that I’m trying to drive through this exercise is that we need to refresh ourselves as the Human Resources department. We need everyone within the department to have positive energy,” she said.

Dr Mthethwa said this exercise was prompted by her observation upon her arrival in the department that there is a huge amount of paper that is used within the department. “There is over-dependence on paper within the department, so I thought we need to change that, hence the theme of this exercise is ‘clear the clutter – clear your mind’. So we need to shift the mind-set and embrace new technology instead of always being paper driven. For example, our short-listing process is currently using a lot of paper, so I said this is too much paper and we don’t need it,” explained Dr Mthethwa.

She said all the papers that have been cleared will be recycled through the eThekwini Municipality. She also indicated that another objective of this exercise is to save costs for the University.

Dr Mthethwa added that she is hopeful that after this exercise the HR staff will have a different perspective about going paperless, and quipped that she will be able to tell if they are still in the clutter or they have cleared their minds.

Following the Recycling Blitz, HR staff also participated in a half-day teambuilding workshop, which was facilitated by the Director of Ethicalways, Penny Milner-Smyth at the Rendezvous Restaurant.

The workshop featured three highly interactive exercises for staff, which included looking at the perceptions of stakeholders about the HR department, it also looked at how the HR department would like stakeholders to perceive it as well as what the HR department needs to do in order to shift the negative perceptions of stakeholders about it.

Milner-Smyth said the workshop exercises revealed that HR staff share a common view and purpose on how the HR department should work.

HR staff members expressed their appreciation to the Senior Director, Dr Mthethwa for coming up with the Recycling Blitz and the teambuilding workshop, adding that it has re-energised them and assisted them to forge unity within the team. They added that they are hopeful that such teambuilding workshops will be hosted regularly.

Dr Mthethwa also expressed her sincere appreciation to the HR team for embracing and being part of this initiative, which aims to infuse new positive energy within the HR department. “I hope you all have learnt to be assertive and understood your value better. I wanted to drive a message that you can untangle yourselves from the clutter that you don’t need,” she said.

Pictured: DUT HR staff members standing in front of a truck with papers that were cleared from their offices during the Recycling Blitz.

Nduduzo Ndlovu

 

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