BY DAYO ADESULU
Group Managing Director, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe has guaranteed job security to the company’s 30,000 employees, but not without a 40 per cent salary slash.
The management decision for a slash in workers’ salaries is not unconnected to global meltdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access Bank believes that the best decision to take at such a time like this which can both help the employees and employers is a slash in monthly remunerations.
In a statement on Sunday, Wigwe said: “ We are today, as an institution faced with the current economic crisis resulting from the pandemic, we have taken certain measures to control costs across the institution at all levels, to achieve greater efficiency and continue to run a profitable business post-COVID-19.
”The Bank, with a strength of over 30,000 employees, is not oblivious of the difficult times but is determined to ensure that its staff remains in employment.
“To keep to this commitment, we have made a decision at the management level to restructure salaries. This will start with me, who will have a salary restructure of 40 per cent while other employees will have their salaries slightly reduced as well.
”It has become essential to take this decision in the interim, considering economic realities and hope to reverse it as soon as economic activities become stable,” Wigwe said.
Herbert Wigwe, however, assured the bank’s customers of smooth customer service experience to enable them to transact seamlessly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, while it continues to apply sustainable business practices to ensure that it delivers value to stakeholders even after the Coronavirus pandemic.
“As part of the Bank’s commitment to protecting the lives of our staff, we adhered to all directives from government agencies and global health organisations and reduced our capacity to operate profitably.
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“For an institution like ours, it is important for us to rationalise our cost structure, service provider structure and salary structure, all in a bid to drive greater efficiency to weather the storm ahead.
“In fulfilling our promise and ensuring the long-term durability of our commitment not to retrench employees, we have made the difficult decision to minimally reduce salaries of staff, using a top-bottom approach.
“This is a challenging time for businesses all over the world and while we can’t predict when the pandemic will end, we are committed to innovating our business operations to ensure normalcy is restored to our payment structure,” he said.
The statement further explained that the drive for greater efficiency to withstand the effects of Coronavirus pandemic on businesses underpinned recent decisions by Access Bank Plc.
