Access Bank To Retrench 75% Of Staff

As a result of the drastic effect of the novel coronavirus on global economy the Access Bank Plc has now decided to cut salaries to avoid job losses as a lockdown to contain the effect.

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.

However, 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 made this known through a 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.”

“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 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.”