The year 2017 continues to show its ugly face to many workers barely into the second quarter.
2016 was a tough year and financial institutions like World Bank had already issued warning that tough economic times laid ahead and therefore investors knew what was coming
First was DFCU Bank which bought out Crane bank and went ahead to lay off hundreds of ‘idle’ staff.
Then, MTN Uganda also offered ‘voluntary retirement’ to hundreds of its workers, especially those that hadd served for long
KCB Group joins the fray
The latest entity to announce job layouts is Kenya’s leading bank, Kenya Commercial Bank
KCB is one of the largest banks in the region including Uganda and employes hundreds of East Africans who will be negatively affected by the lay off recently announced by the bank’s top management.
We have to let you go
KCB is in the last stages of sacking hundreds of its employees in order to save costs and remain profitable.
KCB group has unveiled plans to offer a voluntary buyout programme for employees considering early retirement as it seeks to fast-track its business strategy
The buyout programme is expected to save the bank an estimated $20 million (Kshs 2 billion) per annum, recovering buy out costs within 18 months.
Joshua Waigara,the group’s CEO says that the move has been prompted by an upturn in legislative and regulatory reforms and the emergence of non-traditional players into the financial sector.
“At the beginning of this year I shared with our employees our vision to accelerate our market leadership in each of the markets we operate in today.”
“In 2016 we invested Shs2.5 billion (Kshs) in upgrading our technology infrastructure among other projects meant to secure our future. This is a strategic initiative that will help us simplify our operations, reduce our expenses, stay closer and much connected to our customers and boost returns to our shareholders,” part of the statement by the bank read.
The programme kicks off immediately even though it’s not yet clear how many employees are targeted.