Testimonials

A Relationship by Objectives (RBO) exercise between Management and Organised Labour.  Their understanding of the sources of conflict and facilitation skills greatly assisted these parties to move closer to one another.  The facilitation undertaken greatly assisted the parties to develop the relationship we enjoy today.

Sean September

Senior Manager

A Team Building Exercise for HR Dept: This process allowed the HR team to become even more cohesive.  Again. the knowledge of the facilitators around HR and the HR dynamics assisted in making this a success.

Riga has used HRNetwork for various HR related matters over the past few years and has found them to be knowledgeable and provide a professional service. They have been a great ally in resolving some tricky employee matters. Services we used them for were the Employee Disciplinary Process, Policy and Procedures Manual, Employment Equity and other general advice

Kind regards

Shelly Pitout
Riga Boutique CC | FINANCIAL MANAGER

21 February 2013

To whom it may concern

Letter of reference of HRN Consulting (HR Network) and Stan Horwitz

This serves to confirm that HRN Consulting CC and Stan Horwitz in particular has provided a range of services to Cape Gate over a period of 20 months.  He has acted as an Executive Consultant.
These services included, but were not limited to:
Organisational Strategy
Organisational Alignment
Structure Alignment
Change Management and Change Projects Management
Organisational Development
Culture Change
Performance Improvement
Leadership Development
General HR and IR support during change processes
The primary focus and service provided by HRN Consulting CC, has been in the area of change management and organisational alignment which included a wide range of sub projects (reflected above) which he has led.  Stan provided invaluable service, guidance, leadership and support at every level especially to the Executive team.

During the time I have worked with him and HRN Consulting CC I have found that he is a very open minded person and good listener.  He displays an exceptional ability in understanding the intricacies and interaction of functions and activities in the “big picture” and how to articulate and relate back to the requirements of the organisation on an operational level.  This resulted in a right sizing and re-alignment of functions and roles with clearly defined and developed goals and measures, i.e. completing full circle from Strategy to behaviour change and measurement of performance and results.
Stan is very good in changing people’s thinking and behaviour, to achieve different and improved results, whether it is throughout or quality.  Behavioral change is one of the most difficult things to do in an organisation, especially if people are “caught up” in a comfort zone of “this is how we did it for years”.

He facilitated a strategy management cession for the Management Team and I was surprised by the insight and depth of questions he asked an “outsider”, about Cape Gate and its challenges.. He clearly figured out in a very short time, what “makes the business tick”.  This is very important as top-down direction setting is only successful with solid bottom-up implementation.

I recommend him highly and use him all the time as a sound board, as I value his input.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further queries.  Stan continues to provide advice and guidance to our organisation.

Retief Ueckermann
Chief Finance Officer
Cape Gate Fence & Wire Works (Pty) Ltd

25 November 2005

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I originally came to know Stan Horwitz while working as General Manager: Research and Development (R & D) at the Land and Agricultural Bank of South Africa in the late 1990s.
Included in my agenda was the ontake of staff to research and develop new financial products more appropriate to the needs of historically disadvantaged farmers and to redevelop many of the existing lines of product to make them more competitive and more sustainable in the rapidly evolving markets in the bank found itself competing.
Also on my agenda was the training or retraining of branch managers and their senior field staff – existing (mostly White) and incoming (mostly Black) – in the operation and marketing of these products.
As someone without any formal training in Human Resources process, Stan’s services both in were recommended to me to guide and assist all HR aspects of these tasks – from job descriptions, to recruitment, to induction of my new R & D staff to the development of training material on the new and reformulated products and the running of the courses themselves.
I have only the highest praise for the services that Stan and his staff offered.  Their understanding of my needs, design of processes and material to respond and their delivery to schedule was outstanding.
After I moved to the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) as Executive Director: Integrated Rural & Regional Development in 2001, I used Stan’s services again in the recruitment and training of staff in the course of developing another new venture – the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) – which has since achieved the usual distinction of being floated off as a successful independent non-governmental organisation (NGO), rare among government or parastatal-initiated enterprises.
In the new position that I now occupy at the HSRC, Chief Operating Officer, I continue to use Stan’s services, so positive has my experience been of them.
Stan received his academic training at Rhodes University and Wits Business School where he received a Bachelor of Social Services degree with half academic colours and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (HR) degree in 1989 and 1990 respectively.  He cut his teeth in the practical field of HR development as a HR Manager at Woolworths for a number of years and then as Organisational Development consultant at the Standard Bank of South Africa’s headquarters in Johannesburg.  Following that he joined Price Waterhouse Coopers in Cape Town as a Senior Consultant in HR serving their client base.  On the strength of this, he left to start his own firm, HR Outsource, which he has since built up into a much larger HR Network that it is today.  Based in Cape Town, they service clients countrywide and have continued to prosper and grow in a fiercely competitive market.
Stan is a first-rate contributor in discussion and brainstorming as well as being an excellent listener and it goes without saying that his experience adds much to the groups with whom he works – spiced by his quick sense of humour.
It is a pleasure to be able to commend Stan without reserve.  Should you need any further information, I can be contacted at the HSRC.
Yours sincerely
Mike De Klerk
Chief Operating Officer

To whom it may concern

Business and Technology Services are predominantly information technology division within the Metropolitan group, has been for the past two years and still are in partnership with Stan Horwitz, HRO and HR Network. The relevance of this partnership have been ranged from expert advice on change projects, focus sessions to staff through to strategy alignment workshops.

Their dedication, commitment and thorough understanding of our business needs have played a strong role in our division realising its business strategies.

We therefore recommend any organisation that truly wants to ensure that an equitable and thorough change processes set in place, utilise the professional services of Stan and his team.

You are welcome to contact me for any further feedback In this regard.

Kind regards
Ilse Coetzee
HR & Finance Manager
Divisional Support
B&TS

20 October 2006
Emerging Leadership Programme (ELP)
We approached Stan Horwitz (HRO and HR Network) and his team to assist us in upskilling some of our junior management who had recently been promoted or who had been identified with potential to progress into management positions in the short term. They produced an NQF aligned program which consisted of six modules. The feedback received from staff and management was excellent. The learning outcomes were clearly identified and are being obtained as per feedback obtained from individuals and management to date.

The programme is extremely practical and outcomes based. We, HR Manager and Stan Horwitz met with the managers and involve them in the process which had also been fundamental to the success of the program. Managers meet with the delegates & sign off assignments after each model to ensure save the file they remain involved and are able to ensure that skills learnt are being practically applied and support individuals. The program is being viewed as a developmental tool as opposed to traditional training course. We split the program over an eight-month period to allow for practical application, assignments and report back between each session and allowed a month or two between sessions.

The training team delivered an experiential, practical and effective program which is accredited and as certainly met our needs.

Stan and his team have also developed and delivered other training and HR interventions for our group (including a full Performance Management System) in the past which have been well received. We would highly recommend this company.
Should you require any other details do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards

Cathi Eastment
HR Manager

In my previous capacity as Strategic Transformation Consultant in the CEO’s office at Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery I had the opportunity to work closely with Stan who was the external consultant during a SAP Implementation Project.

Stan was responsible for the Change Management facets of the project and provided both great strategic focus to the executive team as well as empathetic support to the change agents and employees affected by the change. He is able to successfully integrate the technical and human elements in order to ensure effective project implementation.

Amongst other interventions we conducted a comprehensive Attitude Survey that was used as a vehicle for driving change.

Yours sincerely

Anthony Hill | Director
Future Mangers (Pty) Ltd

Hi

I have over many years worked with Stan Horwitz of HRNetwork and have always found him to be knoweldgeable and professional.  Stan is higely committed to his clients and works with real care and passion.  I would without hesitation recommend him/HRNetwork for any HR related project.

Kind regards
Cathi Eastment

Hi
Stan assisted the City of Cape Town`s Traffic Department during 2011 with the development of a Strategy. His knowledge on the development of strategy is excellent. He is also an excellent facilitator and have definitely add value to the Traffic Department. The management team of the Traffic Department was very impressed by his professionalism.

Barry Gouws
City of Cape Town | Business Improvement Unit

Stan and the team have been great over the years and have a very hands on approach to the job – they become part of your team!  We launched a new product in a short space of time at the Land Bank and they came on board, got up to speed and did the training as if they had been involved for years.  Stan remains involved even after the job has been completed and he guides you through challenges.  It is great to have somebody so clued up on HR matters to call on.

Ingrid du Toit
Land Bank and HSRC SARPN Projects

Dear HR Net

We have recently had the pleasure of working with HR Net in developing our Human Capital Development Strategy.  We found the company responsive to our needs and willing to accommodate the very tight timeframes set by our organisation for the completion thereof.  The workshops held were very interactive and generated lots of participation.  The final draft was approved with very little amendments to the content; which proved that even in such a short time period; HR Net understood our business and were able to produce a strategy that is practical and implementable.

I would definitely recommend HR Net for any HR related projects.  In the past they have also assisted our organisation with facilitation of various processes related to strategy; and have found them to be experts in their field and the services rendered to be professional and of a high quality and standard.

Warm regards,
Rowena Vaughan
Cape Nature | Human Resource Manager  | Human Resources

 “HR Network was a equal part in a consortium called OD Net who were appointed to assist the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) and Supplier Park Development Company (SPDC) merge into one new entity with an expanded mandate.  Both entities were diverse in its nature of business, are government owned and operate in the very demanding automotive environment so a challenging process was anticipated.  OD Net’s appointment was also done relatively late and they were brought onboard 3 months prior to merger effective date.  Despite this they endeavoured to support the process by going well beyond their mandate and had to very often respond to changes in plans and additional reporting deadlines with extremely short notice.  Their team always conducted themselves professionally and understood the challenges that our environment brought, in so doing we managed to focus on the key deliverables and successfully complete the project.”

Barlow Manilal | Chief Executive Officer