COVID-19 Distress: Access Bank To Lay Off 75% Of Staff, Says MD Herbert Wigwe

Herbert Wigwe, the group managing director of Access Bank, has mulled the bank’s planned mass retrenchment of its workforce over what he said was the outcome of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The bank boss who spoke via video conferencing in a town hall meeting with the bank’s staff said those to be affected by the mass retrenchment are 75% of the bank’s staff, most of whom are outsourced and are offering “non-essential services.”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmqdpu179s

“We probably don’t need as many securitymen as required, even to the fact that we are not gonna have all our branches open between now and December. We don’t need all the tea girls. We don’t need all the cleaners. We don’t need all the tellers etcetera, etcetera,” Mr. Wigwe said in a video obtained by The Trent on Thursday, April 30, 2020.

“The second has to do with our professional cost. Now that is one that is very tricky and it is tricky because I do understand and appreciate that its gonna, you know, bring its own pain to staff. We basically have to make the adjustments the same way you sounded when we spoke 10 days ago with respect to basically cutting down cost.

“I will be the first to take the hit and I’m gonna take the largest pay cut, which would be as much as 40 percent. The rest we would have to cascade right through the institution. Everybody may have to make some adjustments of some sort.”

Mr. Herbert Wigwe, one of the principal conveners of CA-COVID, a coalition of Nigeria’s private sector against COVID-19 said the proposed measures are aimed at keeping the bank afloat in the face of the economic realities of COVID-19.

CA-COVID which is led by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is credited to have raised about N30 billion, feeding up to 1.7 million Nigerian, ordered 400,000 coronavirus test kits, and building isolation centres worth over N500 million isolation.

Access Bank has been giving its involvement with the COVID-19 intervention a strong PR push, sending out regular emails to news platforms, including The Trent. The running thread of the press statements from the bank’s publicist is that Mr. Wigwe is leading the coalition.

Industry watchers believe that Mr. Wigwe’s retrenchment policy affects the most vulnerable of his staffers and will be counter-productive for many families especially the poor if the books of the bank truly show just as his philanthropy does, that it has the capacity to cushion the effect at such a precarious moment in history.

Source: https://www.thetrentonline.com/covid-19-distress-access-bank-to-lay-off-75-of-staff-says-md-herbert-wigwe/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Nigeria’s Access Bank to Cut Staff Salaries to Avoid Job Losses - Bloomberg

Access Bank Plc plans to cut salaries to avoid job losses as a lockdown to contain the coronavirus hampers the operations of Nigeria’s biggest lender, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The reductions are expected to start from May unless business conditions improve, said the people, who were briefed on the matter during a conference call and asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly. Some management will get as much as a 40% decrease, they said.

A spokesman for Lagos-based Access Bank declined to comment.

Nigerian banks are facing the threat of rising bad-debt levels as a crash in oil prices and the risk of a naira devaluation coincide with the Covid-19 pandemic that has shuttered businesses.

Access Bank, which acquired rival Diamond Bank Plc last year, had 6,898 permanent staff at the end of 2019, according to a presentation on its website. The acquisition partly contributed to a 31% increase in operating expenses. Personnel, recruitment and training costs account for more than a third of overheads after the deal boosted employee numbers and resulted in “wage harmonization” across the businesses.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-30/nigeria-s-access-bank-to-cut-staff-salaries-to-avoid-job-losses?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=africa&utm_source=twitter&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-africa&utm_medium=social&__twitter_impression=true

Person wey lose him job this period then go contact Corona virus that one na double wahala for deadybody...

It is better to cut staff salaries than to sack them. Even if the staffs will hunt for other jobs, at least something still comes in monthly to pay bills. Complete sack is terrible.

They should better ask FG to refund their 1 billion naira nd use same to pay salaries..

Small small Covid 20 (hunger nd suffering) is setting in..

Uwa Mmebi..

I was talking with one salary earner , he said he wish the lockdown never ends , he was full of confident

I laughed him ,

It's better than being sacked

What

Nigerians don’t even know the present harsh economic situation they are in.
Expect other institutions to follow suite.
We presently have a government tht have ran out of propaganda, tht don’t even kn how to face the problem squarely.

.
THE HEADLINE IS A TAD MISLEADING....

Access Bank outsources most of its NON-BANK functions (such as security, cleaners, etc.). Those people are not employed directly by the bank itself, but rather by third-party subcontractors. It is these services that Access Bank intends to rationalize, which would end up presumably disengaging about 75% of such contracted persons. Doubtful that more than a small percentage of actual Access Bank core staff will be disengaged (albeit there are probably several areas of duplication post-merger with Diamond Bank that might be trimmed during this crisis).

Either way, some people are due for pain and an uncertain near-future...
Perhaps all those generous Access Bank Covid donations should have been reserved for these folks. Good luck to all.
>

Na who come remain ooooh!!

It's funny that most of the people who were agitating for lockdown extension would be affected by this job losses, they will now know what it means to earn a daily living and know what faced during this one month without salary and assistance from the government.
I am not a prophet neither am I trying to sound negative, but a lot will die of suicide and frustration

Access bank is not alone in this, even my company.

If you have your job intact after this pandemic, you don't know what God had done for you.

Oh my God.

I really feel for those non-essential workers. And many of those that previously worked in Diamond Bank. Especially those Diamond bank branches close to an Access Bank branch. We have too many branches of both banks few feet away from each other.

I really hope some of those workers saw this coming and took measures to cushion the incoming retrenchment.

For those talking about a 1 billion naira donation. 7000 people x N100,000 = N700,000,000 or N700 million in a month.

Their permanent staff is just 7000. Their temporary/contract workers are far more than that. Also, many workers collect far more than N100k. So that N1 billion is far less than their salary budget for a month.

Access Bank has a total staff strength of 28,000 with a personnel expenditure of N76 billion in 2019. That's over N6 billion a month.

You must also realise that some of these donations are eye-service that is key to getting contracts and favors from the government. Also, it is a PR move. In the next few years, they will tell investors and the general public how they helped Nigerians during the Covid-19 crisis. Everything is well-calculated and factored out.

There will be a global recession, and it makes no sense to have a bloated workforce. In the end, I blame China for all these.

Hmmmm

The realities of the universe have no care about your dreams, plans and future ambitions.

In a day, disruptions can occur and all will be lost.

So will the coming of the Son of man be.

Amend your priorities.

E don happen.

No job security anymore
The banking industry will be worse

Naija banks are d most laziest and mediocrity
set of banks in d entire world.the only tin they ar gud at is to carry out all kind of daily,weekly,monthly deductions 4rm their customers and dat brings d question wot do dey do with dose money cos dey make alot of fortunes 4rm such deductions

.

Part two of recession is here.

Pretends to be shocked

Nawa o access bank staffs right now

Scary!

We actually expected this. So we are nor surprised

after them dash FG 1 billion say na donation

No more joy again

Those who knows how the economy works will surely anticipate this. This is partly a reason sensible countries are paying their citizens some monies to ease the effect of this pandemic, but in naija its the highest thief gets it all. Nonsense country

75% what

Who go come remain for the bank?
Only senior staff?

Coronavirus, this is not just fair, we saw somewhere here yesterday that over 30 million Americans are currently without jobs.

Sh#t ain't funny!

lalasticlala:


Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-30/nigeria-s-access-bank-to-cut-staff-salaries-to-avoid-job-losses?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=africa&utm_source=twitter&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-africa&utm_medium=social&__twitter_impression=true




Source: https://www.thetrentonline.com/covid-19-distress-access-bank-to-lay-off-75-of-staff-says-md-herbert-wigwe/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

75% is too much naaa. Na to start to the bomb be dey koko now !

Nigeria is a mess !