Nation Media Group (NMG) employees will have a very anxious Christmas after the company today announced plans to fire employees at the beginning of the year.
At a pre-Christmas staff meeting held today at its headquarters at Nation Centre, CEO Joe Muganda said the final phase of its new strategy of transforming the group into a modern 21st century digital content company would climax with the sacking of employees as NMG seeks to grow new revenue streams while securing its current print and broadcasting business in a much more efficient and effective manager.
In a press release issued after the meeting Nation, the leading media house in Kenya in terms of revenues, said it had merged its business, foreign and sports desks under the converged newsroom model, thus making some positions redundant. Under this model all its print, broadcast and digital platforms operate under one team.
“We are satisfied that this process is beginning to deliver the intended benefits including the digital division recording the fastest growth in 2016,” the press release says.
The management says the final phase of the strategy will involve the reorganization of all its operations across the group to prioritize our resources and investments in content development, monetization and innovation in line with the emerging media trends.
“Regrettably, this will result in a reduction of our workforce through job redundancies,” it says. “This exercise will be undertaken in January 2017 with due respect to our employees and within the provisions of the law.”
This announcement comes barely two months after BusinessToday reported that Nation was targeting to offload over that employees, most of them journalists. Insiders say it will follow last year’s Standard Group model where older staff will be given the option of early retirement.
In June, the media house closed all its three radio stations and merged its QTV with NTV, leaving close to 100 workers without jobs. “It’s all tension here,” said a Nation editor. “We can’t even work well. It’s going to be the worst Christmas for most of us. We really don’t know who will go. It can be anyone.”
[crp]
