SQS Software Quality Systems, a specialist for software quality, has been named “IT Leading Employer” in South Africa for the second time in three years, in recognition of its strong staff engagement principles and effective employee management.
Based on an independent survey of non-management IT staff, run by TalentAlign IT in conjunction with the Computer Society of South Africa (CSSA), SQS’ investment in employee recruitment and care earned them the award over two other shortlisted IT companies at the annual CSSA awards.
The ceremony, held at the Hilton Sandton Hotel on Thursday 10th November, saw SQS South Africa’s Sales Director, Kim Johnston presented with the CSSA’s “IT Leading Employer” award in association with TalentAlign IT.
Tony Parry from CSSA commented: “The “IT Leading Employer” award is one of only five titles we award on an annual basis. SQS has put significant effort and thought into the recruitment and management of its employees while demonstrating an understanding of employee engagement as a critical success factor. The award recognises SQS as an outstanding, employee-focused company that has succeeded in establishing itself as an IT Employer of choice for staff across South Africa.”
SQS has celebrated receiving the “Leading IT Employer” title in both 2009 and 2011 while being named one of the two runners-up in 2010.
SQS South Africa’s Sales Director, Kim Johnston, continued: “We’ve had a phenomenal year with highlights including our work to support the end-to-end testing of the UK’s largest Smart Metering adoption drive in our offshore Test Centre. Investment in our teams underpins our strong financial performance and has led to a greater opportunity to work on international projects as an outsourced quality assurance provider.”
SQS’ success in the annual CSSA awards is also a testament to the company’s global employee relations. Many of the company’s international graduate in-take attend a software quality boot camp in Durban. An intensive three week training course for up to 20 graduates at a time, the boot camp hosts graduates from South Africa, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom to further their training in software quality as a career.
Sue Martin, SQS Training Manager (SA), explains: “Our boot camp creates a campus feeling that limits distractions and allows graduates to focus on learning and networking with like-minded attendees while experiencing and embracing the rich African culture. Interacting with SQS’ South African team provides the graduates with more local experience and is part of our commitment to the professional expertise and practice of each member of our team, started from graduate level.”
SQS has been located in South Africa since 2004 and has grown from three initial employees to 165 currently. Each year, SQS has enjoyed significant growth within South Africa, opening a new office in Johannesburg in 2008 to support demand.
Staff writer
