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Breaking Barriers: How Allardyce Academy is Shaping South African Workplaces

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Coming face-to-face with the discrimination and harassment faced by some women in mining in South Africa, Janet Askew set out to change the narrative and sow the seeds for establishing a labour law and consulting company.

In June 2024, her dream came true when Allardyce Academy was born. The company trains managers, legal professionals, and human resources experts to understand South African labour laws as a catalyst for creating better workplace cultures.

Janet, as the director, runs the company together with her longtime friend, business partner, and co-founder, Leigh Allardyce.

Allardyce Academy provides a key service to its clients by unpacking essential aspects of South African labour laws and simplifying areas such as an overview of key legislation, practical applications in the workplace, mitigating labour litigation risks, legal considerations in workplace disputes, proactive strategies to avoid costly disputes, and balancing employee rights with organizational goals.

Janet was born in Manchester, England, before settling in South Africa. After graduating from the University of KwaZulu-Natal with a law degree, Janet—who is also a qualified mediator—pursued a career in human resources. She admits that, at the time, she had no intention of establishing her own company.

“Entrepreneurship never really occurred to me while growing up. My parents both worked, and for me, getting a job was the norm. I began my working career on the mines and was horrified by the way people were treated in general—whether blue-collar or office workers. There was a strict hierarchy, and very little respect was shown to people.

“Women were particularly subject to overt discrimination and harassment. I began to take an interest in employee relations and training people to manage more effectively.”

The desire to become independent led Janet to embark on a number of entrepreneurial ventures before deciding to consider consulting.

“I have become something of a serial entrepreneur—some businesses have been successful, some less so—but I love being independent and able to craft my future. Allardyce Academy is an idea that my co-founder, Leigh Allardyce, and I have been playing with for some time. We met in law school, but Leigh went into practice as a labour lawyer, while I went the business route. We’ve worked together on projects over the years, and now, here we are!”

Allardyce Academy assists companies in applying the law as a foundation for building a positive workplace culture. Janet says their aim is to make enforcing the laws unnecessary by encouraging best practices, quality, fairness, and inclusiveness in organizations that choose to enlist the academy’s services.

“We offer training, coaching, and consulting on employment law, management skills development, and conflict resolution. Our goal is to build confident, people-centric leadership teams that understand employment laws but create teams that don’t need them.

“Work does not have to be a four-letter word. We spend so much of our life at work, so surely it’s worth making it a place that people don’t dread. Ultimately, it’s about leadership, good people skills, good management skills, as well as good communication and policies. We truly believe that if an organization sets out to be an employer of choice, it will reap rewards in many ways.”

Janet says that while she doesn’t always agree with Leigh at work, it is this diversity of thought that makes their business partnership so effective.

“I am the leadership/HR voice, and Leigh is the labour law/compliance voice. We approach the same problems from different angles and often don’t agree on the solutions. That’s part of the magic, because leadership and people are dynamic. We need to push ourselves and our preconceived perceptions to rise to new challenges.”

While Allardyce Academy may be a new company still trying to find its feet and punch above its weight in the labour law industry, Janet has already realized the importance of embracing technology to enhance their business.

“We have had to embrace digitalization and marketing, which is not a natural skill set for the two of us. However, work and business are about setting your mind toward achieving something and being open to learning. I can safely say that I now know just how much I don’t know about the digital world, and the goal now is to overcome this challenge.”

It’s not all about business at Allardyce Academy. To help more people appreciate the industry they work in, Janet and her team are now regular guests on Coastal Radio, where their “Let’s Talk Labour Law” segment has become very popular. They’ve also launched a weekly podcast where they unpack important issues about leadership and labour law.

Allardyce Academy may be a newcomer, but—fuelled by the determination of Janet and Leigh to succeed—they have shown a desire to overcome the challenges that confront new startups and chart their own path toward achieving their objective.

For Janet, that objective is clear: “We aim to be the leading legal and management skills training organization in Southern Africa.”

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