WORKPLACE. Dressing to impress

Amanda Masondo 

Dressing up to impress the boss, colleagues and clients 

In every company there are rules and regulations that all employees need to abide by if they hope to secure full time employment in that company, Eskom is no exception to the unwritten rule. Wancareerlife speaks to Tshetlwane Darius Moila, a System Design Engineer at Eskom. 

Tshetlwane Darius Moila (26) is employed by Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in Cape Town, The only nuclear Power station in the whole of Africa. When asked to describe the corporate culture at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station, he mentioned that because they are part of a big Eskom organisation, all Eskom offices regardless of where they are located be it; a power station in Mpumalanga or Limpopo, their headquarter offices in Megawatt park or Sunninghill, all Eskom offices look the same and all have Eskom colours. Usually the managers have their own office space, while others use sits in the cubicles (Eskom encourages open plan set up). “So as such we have open plan office layout, the cubicles are 2m high” states Moila. 

Moila describes the department he works in as really quiet; this is as compared to other departments like maintenance. “At the maintenance department they get to work while playing music at the same time”. Moila continues to mention that there are currently three Civil Engineers at Koeberg (all junior and all males) as well as two Civil senior Technicians (who are females), “as a whole all of us have the responsibility to offer civil engineering duties to the whole plant, so work really gets hectic: this includes regular plant walk downs and coming back to the office to write reports and do some design work,” adds Moila. Eskom is very strict when coming to work procedures, health and things that have to do with safety, mentions Moila, these are all combined under 1 umbrella called life “lifesaving rules”. 

Eskom insists that all its Employees and contractors wear a seat belt at all times, be sober- I cannot come to work under the influence; another important requirement is that you must have a work permit, failure to do so may result in a fine and/or a reduction in salary or dismissal. When looking at work procedures according to Moila, Eskom has work procedures for all the work that needs to be executed. This is to ensure that there is uniformity and accountability in every work element that is carried out; failure to follow work procedures might easily result in disciplinary hearings and ultimately dismissal. 

The strict measures put in place by Eskom ensure that all employees are instilled with discipline. Moila mentions that according to him when comparing an Eskom employee to another opposition Employee from a huge organization like Eskom, Eskom Employees are more disciplined and exercise more safety measures. 

When asked how he would personally explain Eskom to prospective employees, Moila states that Eskom is an ideal company South Africa, when one is still at school, you want a good and well-paying career; a company with a lot of benefits like – medical aid; car allowance and housing subsidies to mention a few. So for many it’s a dream company to work for. From an engineering point of view it is mostly good experience for mechanical and electrical engineers. For Careers like civil engineering and chemical engineering you can easily get frustrated especially if you are still a junior engineer. Other professions one could be find at Eskom include careers ranging from Engineering; Law; Commerce; Human resource; environmentalists; scientists etc. occupations ranges from engineers in training to engineers- to seniors’ engineers and advisors – to chief engineers and managers. 

The dressing up culture at Eskom is dependent on the department that you are in. At a power station one would normally wear jeans and a pair of boots, as long as your attire is not revealing. This is how one would dress in such an environment because at a construction site there is a lot of dirt, machinery, so protective clothing is required, this is why staff is allocated overalls.