- Eskom has turned to crowdsourcing skilled labour to aid it with its challenges.
- A new digital platform has been launched by the power utility where those with the right skills can apply to become temporary employees.
- The caveat is that workers onboarded through the crowdsourcing process must transfer their skills to the permanent employees that will work with them.
With South Africans currently dealing with all-day Stage 2 rotational loadshedding, the country’s embattled power utility Eskom announced today the launch of a digital crowdsourcing platform.
The company is calling the platform “a future-fit invitation to electricity industry experts to support Eskom’s turnaround.”
“Over the past few months, Eskom has received an overwhelming response to its call for highly skilled power generation personnel to come forward,” writes Eskom in a statement shared to its official Twitter account.
Eskom is proud to announce the launch of its crowdsourcing digital platform – a future-fit invitation to electricity industry experts to support Eskom's turnaround pic.twitter.com/OD6jSISukf
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 8, 2022
The utility has been looking for skilled workers to aid with its “operational recovery and rebuilding of skills.”
To this end, Eskom has launched a digital platform and “governance mechanism” designed to crowdsource skilled workers from across South Africa and include them in its business.
Importantly, Eskom says all individuals who join on a crowdsourcing basis are required to transfer their skills to the permanent Eskom team that they work with.
Crowdsourcing is when information is obtained by asking for the services of a large number of people, hence the name.
Examples of this are when a fast food company may release a competition asking the public what their next big meal item should be called, or when an institution runs a poll to decide the name of an advanced polar research vessel.
For Eskom, crowdsourcing skills differ from usual recruitment as there are no job adverts posted. Instead, the entity is seeking to target specific technical challenges.
To that end, Eskom is looking for specific personnel, including:
- Electricity experts with at least 10 years of related experience;
- Professionally-registered and experienced engineers, technicians, operators and artisans, etc.
- Those that are able and willing to “support Eskom;”
- Those that are willing to transfer their skills and expertise.
“Crowdsourcing will allow Eskom to tap into this talent pool by creating a central database of these skills. Individuals who wish to be considered are welcome to apply,” Eskom says.
The platform launched today is accessible from any mobile device and aims to simplify the entire sourcing process. Individuals with the respective skills can simply submit their details directly to Eskom’s crowdsourcing database.
The database has collected 238 individuals to date, according to Eskom, with 153 shortlisted as “potentially active, skilled, and willing candidates.”
Of these, around 25 people have been selected for the first phase of the utility’s crowdsourcing intake. Eskom says that additional recruitment will take place as and when required by the company to address specific needs.
Eskom has not published how these crowdsourced workers will be compensated but it seems the positions will be on a temporary basis. The crowdsourcing platform can be found here and applications are open.
[Image – CC 0 Rodolfo Clix on Pexels]
