You garra go, You garra leave; the Telkom shocker

The rumor that Telkom, the third largest mobile network in Kenya was laying off some of it’s workers has been confirmed. The mobile network company has now officially issued a requisite 30-day notice to its stakeholders and relevant authorities including the Ministry of Labour of a workforce-restructuring exercise.

The restructuring of the Telkom comes as a blow to the employees after the CEO, Aldo Mareuse dismissed the rumors on national television only to come and change the story a few weeks later.

“Our engagement with Mckinsey is purely on how to improve our performance and market. Nothing about letting go of staff,” said Mr. Mareuse.

The workforce restructuring exercise will see 500 employees of the company lose their job in just thirty days.

The company issued a statement which reads, “To enable Telkom to invest more into the growth and sustainability of its business, it must align its cost structure and skill-set with its Strategy. This requires Telkom to restructure its business, and as a result, this will impact the current and long-term needs of its workforce. This restructuring will enable Telkom to not only invest in its business but more importantly in its people.”

According to the management, the move is aimed at aligning Telkom’s cost and skill set with the organizations future strategies. The company which re-branded in 2017 has put in more that 14 billion in expanding the network coverage across the country, launched LTE services in various parts and started T-Kash, the company’s mobile financial service.

The move to lay off its workers comes after Telkom announced the launch of their All-Network-Bundles, that enables customers on the network make calls for as low as KSh 1.50 cents, per minute. The bundles, spaced out into four tiers, will see customers pay KSh 19 for a daily bundle, through to KSh 199 for a 30-day bundle.

Speaking during the reveal of this development, Telkom CEO Aldo Mareuse said that despite the impact of the Finance Act 2018, Telkom was dedicated to ensuring that their customers have access to affordable voice, SMS and data services. The CEO added that the carrier will continue to offer products that cushion costly services.

While Telkom subscribers are excited about the new network bundles, there are 500 employees who are mourning the reality of their retrenchment by end of November this year.

Telkom Kenya is not the first mobile network service to lay off its employees. In 2017, Airtel which is considered Kenya’s second largest mobile operator sent home 100 of its staff in an exercise the telecommunications termed as a “strategic organisational restructuring to improve efficiency across function.”

“Airtel Kenya is undertaking strategic organisational restructuring to improve efficiency across functions with an aim to enhance customer experience. This initiative will impact some roles that will be merged or become redundant” Airtel Kenya said in a statement.

 

Do you feel like you have some level of job security in your current workplace?

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